Once Upon A (Tea) Time ... Adagio Story Time Tea review

When Adagio got in touch to tell us about their caffeine-free, child-oriented range of teas called Story Time, Tree House and Fairy Tales, I was intrigued. The names sound very appealing and magical so I wanted to see how they would be interpreted as tea. The Story Time collection is comprised of three products, Alice In Wonderland, Three Little Pigs and Red Riding Hood. The first thing that leapt out at me was the beautiful tins that the teas come in, representing the different fairy tales. Once the tea has all gone, I'll definitely be keeping the tins, possibly on show on the shelves or maybe for storing the kids "treasures".

The Red Riding Hood tea is a bright red tea blend, which Adagio promises will "keep the hungry wolf at bay on your journey over the river and through the woods" ! It is blended with rooibos tea, apple pieces, cinnamon bark, cocoa nibs, strawberries, cranberries, natural strawberry flavour, natural cinnamon flavour, natural cranberry flavour and safflower.

Three Little Pigs is described as "a delicious tea to make you tough as bricks, more cunning than the big bad wolf, and your chinny chin chin always pointed up". I love the descriptions ! This tea is blended with apple pieces, chamomile flowers, rose hips, lemon grass, natural blueberry flavour, blueberries, cocoa nibs and blue cornflowers

And finally Alice In Wonderland,  "a rose petal tea to take you down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass to meet the Queen of Hearts". Curiouser and curiouser ! This one is blended with green rooibos tea, apple pieces, raspberry leaves, raspberries, strawberries, natural strawberry flavour, natural creme flavour, blue cornflowers & rose petals.

The tea is quite unlike any other that I have seen before - I love the fact that there are recognisable flowers and pieces of fruit in the tea bags, proving how natural they are. I'll be honest, I thought they sounded quite strange when I read the ingredients but come to them with an open mind and you'll be surprised. The Alice In Wonderland one, for example, reminded us of a cross between candy floss and Turkish delight (so it could have been called The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, to keep in with the literary theme !) The flavours come together to create a tasty, unique combination and the taste is very clean and refreshing - light, fresh and sweet enough to appeal to children or those who aren't usually tea-drinkers (like me !).

Sophie's favourite is the Three Little Pigs one because the lemon flavour that comes through is great for easing a sore throat. We have also experimented with leaving the tea bags to steep overnight, adding sugar and drinking them as iced tea, which also works well, particularly for Pierre, who isn't keen on hot drinks.

I had never heard of the company before but having seen the quality of the teas, the unique flavour combinations and also the beautiful tins, I'll definitely be looking at the rest of their products. With Valentine's Day and Mother's Day coming up in the next few months, they could be a great place to start looking for original gifts too.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : individually £6 for a tin of 15 full leaf tea bags, £16 for the three tins together

for more information : http://www.adagio.uk.com/gifts/story_time_bags.html

Disclosure : I received the products in order to write an honest review.