★★★★☆
Clean, traditional black tea. The flavor was nice, not bitter, the only thing missing for me was caffeine. Happy Sipping!
Decaf black tea from Sri Lanka. Tangy, sweet mandarin notes, and balanced astringency. The classic afternoon cup.
Customers use these reviews to describe their experience with Decaf Ceylon, including flavor, aroma, preparation preferences, strength, and how the tea fits into daily routines. Browse the full review history page by page to compare tasting notes, steeping tips, and favorite ways to enjoy this tea.
Clean, traditional black tea. The flavor was nice, not bitter, the only thing missing for me was caffeine. Happy Sipping!
Ceylon goes really well in blends with other teas, but by itself I'm finding it stands pretty weakly. Not sure if it's because it's decaf or not, though.
I found this tea quite bitter, even after steeping at a lower temperature (200F). I would not want to drink it without sweetener.
Dry tea smells a bit like hay. Once brewed into a deep dark brown liquor, with some honeysuckle notes wafting in the steam. When hot, it tastes like a basic black tea. I do not get much bitterness, and there are some tannic notes in the finish. The decaf process somehow made this into quite the nostalgic black tea, without the caffeine. This tastes like some of the black tea I had growing up. As the tea cools, there are some more complex notes of some honeysuckle and a slight astringency in the finish. Brewed at 212 for 3 minutes.
This is a good decaf, but I did find that it needed a bit of sugar to brighten it up. I used 1tsp sugar to 14 oz. (5 mins at 200°F)
Really nice decaf black tea. Perfect for when you want the flavor of a good black tea but not the caffeine.
Although i prefer non-decaf, this tea has a lovely golden mellowness, and my spouse enjoyed!
I like this tea, Delicious if I want a tea at night I could drink this one because there’s no caffeine in it,doing a seconds steep a Great Tea☕️☕️☕️🫖❤️
I had no idea what kind of black tea this was, but when I drank it I would have guessed it was the Ceylon- had no clue it was decaf though. Although I love black teas, ceylon is actually one of my least favorites- I find it on the bitter side, not smooth or malty as I prefer my black teas. I know this is used as a base for most of the black blends, but I find it a little disappointing, in that it lacks a smoothness, which makes for an easy drinking cup, as well as has a tendency to become bitter if over brewed. I did finish the cup and love the fact that this can be enjoyed any time of day, but it would never be my preferred tea since Adagio offers so many other lovely black teas that are much more to my taste.
Today's packet contained a single ingredient black tea: Decaf Ceylon!
Steeping at 212°F for 3 minutes produced a medium mahogany brown liquor.
The tea has an earthy aroma, with a hint of malty scents. It's nicely brisk and lively without being too bitter or astringent. The clean earthy flavors are crisp and autumnal, with a slight malty undertone. The decaffeination process seems to have tempered some of the pungency and bitterness provided by the caffeine. As a caffeine addict, this is slightly noticeable, as if something in the flavor has gone missing. However, the decaf version of this tea still has a good place and time to be enjoyed in its own right. It makes a wonderful afternoon or evening tea, and the more moderate briskness doesn't require cream to tame it down.
Overall, this one is a really good decaf option for black tea lovers.
A good solid black tea, not bitter and hold up well to a second and third steep
I'm not a decaf person. This is okay. Fortunately, I had enough coffee this morning to enjoy the decaf midday. The liquid is very dark for black. It doesn't taste any different from the regular stuff.
A classic black tea, delicious with cream and honey. Will do a 2nd steep later tonight since ots caffeine free.
When I logged in and saw that this is a *decaf* black tea, it make more sense. I do sometimes drink decaf black teas, but I am not a fan of this. It tastes more like a watery pu-erh than a ceylon. Drinkable, but not really enjoyable.
Side note, I wish there were more package colors for the Communitea pouches so we know at a glance what type of tea we are getting, including caffeine level. I usually assume see the brown color pouch means caffeinated and black (not today). If I see the orange-ish color I assume it is a non-caffeinated herbal (but sometimes there is a mate hiding in there).
Plain Ceylon is not exactly my thing, so I don't have a ton to compare to, but my sample of this standalone decaf was perfectly pleasant. I normally don't add anything to my tea, but as plain Ceylon bores me to tears, I threw in a touch of sugar and that at least seemed to brighten things up. While hot it was almost too clean, clear, and mild for me, but cooling down with the sugar brought out some pretty good raisin-y flavors and more astringency.
A nice solid black tea. I am going to have to buy some of this for the summer and sneak it off on the kids as an iced tea. No caffeine + kids= one happy mom! 😀
It’s super good but I really love my caffeine lol!
This a classic cup. For people like me who have to limit caffeine, I'm grateful for this addition to the tea pantry. I don't think I would drink this alone often, but it's the backbone of a lot of blends for good reason. But if you do drink it solo, it's malty without being astringent and does great with cream and sugar additions. For a day when you want a quintessential blend in your cup but no caffeine, this is a great pick. Happy Sipping!
Sampled with CommuniTEA on 5/7/2021: Wow-- a decaf black tea! This is a first for me as I'm a semi recent convert from a daily coffee drinker to a daily tea drinker. This tea is a little less full bodied than a caffeinated tea, but is still very pleasant and stands up well as a black tea for those who can't handle caffeine at all. For myself, I think I'll stick to black teas in the morning/afternoon and tisanes in the evenings. 5mins at 212F
Good tea to blend in with other teas. Smooth with no bitterness. Love that it is decaf.
It's just plain black tea. It's good, but I'd much prefer a flavored ceylon. I like that it's decaf though!
This is a decaf version of their classic Ceylon, my sisters favorite. I sampled this tea as part of the Community May 2021 box.
Enjoying with the CommuniTEA today: Nice rich, but not bitter decaf eylon with lovely oxidized notes on the nose. Adagio's description is pretty spot on for this tea. I steeped the packet contents for just under 3 mIns at 190° F to minimize any overly bitter tannins.
Someone else said that this tea has a weird taste to it. I concur; to me this tea tastes like tea bags. Adding milk and sugar helped, but this isn't a tea I would want to drink black.
If I hadn’t looked at CT today I would not have known this was decaf. It was full-bodied and had a rich, smooth flavor. This will definitely be purchased in a bag for my pantry. I can’t wait to try it iced!
208 degrees for 5 minutes. Bright, refreshing and lightly astringent, this is a perfect afternoon tea to drink hot, or chilled. I chose to drink mine cold with sugar today, and it reminds me of a good ole southern sweet tea. Plenty bold enough to carry sugar and cream, this will be my new go to decaf for evening imbibing.
A great, flavorful option if you want to enjoy black tea in the evenings... or, if you're like me, and have a low caffeine tolerance but want to enjoy a few cups in a row.
Steeped mine for about 3 minutes at 212 and the result was a full-flavored black tea with no noticeable bitterness. I wouldn't know it was decaf unless you told me!
Wish it had caffeine but it didn't lack in flavor. Classic black tea notes - malty, astringent, with a hint of citrus. It was a satisfying cup of tea.
Not a fan, but not awful. On its own, its pretty lackluster, nothing special, but in a blend, it works much better with a bit of a supporting cast.
I shortened the steep time from what Adagio recommends, but even this is a little long for me. The tea was fine fresh out of the steeper, but as it cools off I'm getting more and more of the drying tannins I didn't want. Feh. I suspect it would be better with cream and sugar. (2 mins @ 212 F, no additions)
Something about this tea tastes weird, maybe I just got a bad batch. It definitely doesn’t taste like regular Ceylon. There is no bitterness, which is great. But it has almost a swampy aftertaste? I’d try it again from a new batch before giving this a thumbs down. I don’t miss the caffeine, it would definitely be nice to have a great tasting decaf black tea!
Lovely decaf black tea! Just as good, if not better than the caffeinated version. I steeped for 3 minutes to avoid any bitterness. Definitely a great choice if you're needing decaf.
As others have mentioned, this is a nice and malty tea. I first sampled this as part of the CommuniTEA so I had no idea I was getting this. The package did not indicate it was decaffeinated and it certainly doesn’t taste like it. I did notice the lack of caffeine when I was drinking this as my morning cup. Overall enjoyable, so I’ll keep this in mind when I want an afternoon or evening tea.
I’m always surprised by a black decaf as I never think I would like them but I always do. It doesn’t have the astringency that regular ceylon has either. Nice drink.
A very nice tasting decaf unflavored ceylon black tea.
I don't drink a lot of decaf tea, but this one is excellent. Nice and earthy and smooths out very well with a splash of cream. It would be a great after dinner tea without worrying about being energized by the caffeine.
This is a tea for those of you that like straight up black tea.
It's a good solid black tea, nice and malty. But it's nothing too special.
Decaf Ceylon is a wonderful classic decaf black tea. When you want to settle down in the evening with a simple hot cuppa then this is the one. Would love it if Adagio made some of its other popular black teas available in decaf but for now this one is terrific and a favorite. A big bag of it is always in my pantry and never full since it’s either being brewed to sip or blended with other teas to make half caff versions.
My Ct packet today had 3 g/ 2 tsp of dark tea leaves which had a sweet raisin scent. I brewed 2 tsp of tea at 208F for almost 4 minutes in a 12 oz. mug. The medium brown liquor had a bright clean taste, a touch of malty flavor and a tangy finish. There was a bit of pleasant astringency also but no bitterness detected. This smooth tea was easy to sip plain and had enough body to hold up to a dairy add. I added milk and honey for a very comforting sip and resteeped another flavorful 8 oz. Chilled, this decaf tea tasted terrific. It’s one decaf tea that tastes good hot or cold and is as flavorful as the caffeinated version - there’s no sacrifice here for nixing the caffeine.
Good black tea, no jitters! I like to add brown sugar and cream.
I have tried making this several ways and it's so bitter every time.
This tea is one of my favorite to have blended. By itself I can’t seem to appreciate it as much, but that’s probably because I’m more of a green tea lover. I originally steeped this tea at 4 minutes then added a Little Rock sugar.
This is an update to my 7 May 2020 communiTEA review. I’ve had this on the shelf for a couple of years. It’s one of my “go-to” Adagio teas! A very pleasant malty black tea aroma was noted coming from my 2021 packet.
I had exactly three grams of tea, enough for a 12 ounce steep. I steeped at 200°F because past experiences with this tea have proven that it has a much lower bitterness than the caffeinated Ceylon black version. I pulled the steep at three minutes, when color depth reached a darkness to my liking.
When hot, mild malty and earthy flavors were noted. I added a bit of sugar ‘cause I like my black teas that way.
When warm, moderate malty and raisin flavors were noted. A very mild, but pleasant astringent aftertaste was noted.
I would say that I wouldn’t have known that I was drinking a decaf unless the website told me it was a decaf. This was a bright and clean tasting decaf black, as good, if not better than it’s caffeinated version. (¼ tsp sugar)
Great decaf tea that combines well with a variety of other black teas to make half-caff.
Unremarkable but decent black tea, good for when I just want a cup of something hot close to bedtime. I have it with milk and sugar usually.
Still my favorite for morning wake up tea. Lovely, yet soft aroma, and excellent taste
A great evening tea if you’re like me and have trouble sleeping with caffeine in my system. No loss of flavor here, either.
Overall not bad for a decaffeinated tea, but very mild. The flavor was not as robust as I was expecting.
This doesn't taste like most decaf teas. It is a good basic black tea for evening and nighttime sipping.
Sometimes I want a tea that just tastes like tea. This one perfectly fits the bill and is delicious as-is.