★★★★★
A delicious oolong with blackberry and safe notes for a complex but very enjoyable tea.
Bold, earthy flavors of berries and herbs; a grounding tea with a complex character.
Customers use these reviews to describe their experience with Blackberry Sage Oolong, 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.
A delicious oolong with blackberry and safe notes for a complex but very enjoyable tea.
I have tried this tea hot and iced and can't decide which way I prefer as they are both delicious. The sage adds an herbal flair while the blackberry provides a light sweetness. An enjoyable cup at any temp.
While there is a nice fruity flavor from the blackberry, and the oolong provides a smooth base, the herby flavor here cannot be ignored. This tea may be an acquired taste for some. I know I need to be in the right mood for it!
The sage in this tea is noticeable and splendid. It’s unique and fruity.
Sept 22 CommuniTea update: Still one of my fave teas!
Nice berry tea with a surprising burst of Sage. Flavorful even after multiple cold brew steeps.
This tea is more about the sage than the berries, which is lovely if you're a fan of robust herbs. The berries compliment the sage and make the tea well-rounded and balanced. It's perfect for September, as the summery fruit flavor makes way for the cozy holiday herb flavor. The oolong is mostly just a vehicle for the other components, but it's at least unobtrusive.
I cold brew this one a lot! I've gotten a bunch of free samples of this stuff for various reasons, so I've never been able to review it before. Its a really great tea, if you can get over the sage! The blackberry is refreshing and tangy, and It has just enough caffeine to keep you going! The sage is definitely hard to get used to, but not a bad flavor, just an odd one :)
Really enjoying this Oolong. A nice strong berry flavor with a lovely sage finish. Really creative blending. So glad to be part of communitea,I may not have sampled this one on my own and I would have really missed out.
This tea is very sage forward. I can smell but not taste the berry notes. Reading the other reviews, it seems this tea reads very differently after the addition of cream and sweetener and I look forward to trying that. Would be refreshing iced.
One of my favorites. What a unique blend. Always have a bag of this available at my house!
Delicious oolong with notes of sweet blackberry fruit and hints of sage spice. Wonderful to enjoy on cool fall days! Sip, sip away!
I added 1 tsp of tea sugar and 0.5 tsp of fruit tisane honey to my 12 oz mug as I waited for my tea water to reach 212° F. I steeped my tea for 3 minutes.
I had some concerns about this tea, since I don’t usually care for raspberries in tea.
Upon tasting the tea, I found the raspberry to be the predominant flavor. Raspberry is not a flavor I like, so I did not finish the tea. My Mom, who also drank this tea, liked the tea more than me, so dislike of the tea in a me thing not a tea thing.
2021-09-18 CommuniTEA Update:
The familiarly delicious scents of sage and blackberry revealed themselves as we opened today's packet. We decided to steep for the full 5 minutes to get full flavor from the Oolong, producing a bold blackberry scented brew.
Blackberry teas seem never to disappoint around our household, and this one's no different. Pleasant fruity blackberry notes complement the wooly autumnal sage, perfect for a fall tea time!
This tea was a perfect opening to fall, with the nice temperate seasonal changes outside. Really good tea!
2021-01-22 CommuniTEA Review:
Opening today's CommuniTEA packet revealed the scent of bright blackberries and sage. Steeping at 212°F for 5 mins produced a bold & strong brew with a medium brown colored liquor.
The first smells from the brewed cup really brought forward the wooly sage, complemented by a more subdued blackberry. Tasting was an experience of floral blackberry leafy raspberry, and bold tea tannins. The tea was earthy and full-bodied, with a slightly astringent finish. Comparing this one to the raspberry CommuniTEA sample from earlier this month, I found this one much more balanced and milder on the astringency and tannins, with less bitterness. Although I 'took the plunge' and steeped for the full 5 minutes, the blackberry tea was still bold and full-bodied without any of the unpleasant raw, harsh and rasping qualities that the raspberry tea had when steeped for this amount of time. This tea can provide a pleasant and milder experience when steeped for less time, or on second steepings.
Overall, the Blackberry Sage Oolong tea is a good morning tea blend! It is more balanced and drinkable even when steeped as a standard black tea according to the VelociTEA maker button. Given that raspberry leaves are also included in the original Raspberry blend, it seems that the Oolong is key for providing a milder experience and taste profile and can stand up to the heat and longer steeping times to yield a well balanced and bold tea.
I really love this flavor combination, but I do wish that it had a stronger blackberry flavor so the sage wouldn't so easily overwhelm it. The longer it steeps the more sage-y it is, so if you want more blackberry flavor go for less steeping time. I've previously had this tea cold brewed and am glad to have experienced it different ways. I felt like cold-steeping it resulted in less sage flavor. When cold, I prefer it with no additions. When hot, I really enjoyed it with a touch of sugar and a good dose of milk because the creaminess complements all the flavors. This is a tea that works both hot and cold and fits with any season. Definitely one I will drink again.(4 min @ 195)
Update: With a 3 min brew, blackberry and buttery oolong notes shine. Sage is still a bit stronger than I want, but the blend is far more balanced!
This blend is fruity, summery, and medicinal in a pleasant way. The sage flavor really dominates this blend.
Very sage forward, with lingering berries on the end. Pleasant, but not one I'm likely to reach for
CommuniTea: Not for me. Had a medicinal taste to it.
The tea’s aroma is delightful, and it’s flavor is good. But I’ve discovered that I prefer my oolong without the blackberry sweetness.
If one is looking for a sweet and savory tea, then blackberry sage oolong would be the one to choose. The blend yields a cup that immediately savory thanks to the sage. One can't miss it's flavor, and that herbaceous note works well with the smooth but subtle minerality of the oolong. The blackberry is subtle and adds a touch of sweetness to the brew. Adding a touch of sweetener does bring out the blackberry as does allowing the cup to cool some. I appreciate the subtle fruity notes as Adagio's blackberry flavor sometimes tastes a little medicinal to me. Though I tried this oolong hot (working from a single-serve CommuniTEA pouch), it would be interesting to try it iced. (3+ minutes @ 190F)
Okay tasting, I like the blackberry elements but is pretty light I would say.
Oh this tea is truly SUBLIME! Upon opening the pouch, I felt transported to a fruity yet overcast forest… the sage really grounded the fruit. I felt minimal astringency. I added half a tsp of honey, which creamed it up considerably. This tea is wishlist material! I loved it hot, enjoy it as it cools, and plan to finish it with a little ice.
I love blackberry and oolong, but I am not crazy about sage. My CommuniTEA packet smelled very strongly of sage, not a good start. I am tempted to get a sample and try it cold brewed to see if that tames the sage.
This makes a delicious cup of tea that’s very appropriate for fall, with all the flavors in the name equally present in the taste. It’s nicely sweet even without honey, and the sage provides an almost but not quite spice that is really unique.
I have loved this tea for years. I have mainly enjoyed it as an iced tea in the summer. Drinking this hot this morning was a nice change of pace. The sage is a perfect partner for the blackberry.
I always adore this brew. It's just so inventive and delicious. The oolong imparts a nice minerality and the blackberry flavoring is at just the right level. Sometimes Adagio's berry flavorings can seem bitter to me but that's not the case here. The sage is a truly inspired addition, creating fall in a cup without the use of the usual suspects. I mean, I love pumpkin spice as much as the next fall sipper but it's nice to have an alternative flavor profile. This one does well with just a hint of sweetener but also sips great plain. This one is a staple in my tea pantry. Happy Sipping!
This is a sweeter oolong due to the raspberry leaves. This maybe a good starting point for trying oolong as this blend is not as savory as some oolongs can be.
I made this iced. There was an odd flavor that kept this from being really good.
Update for Communitea: still delightful!
Unexpectedly delightful blend. Sweet fruit combined with earthy herbal notes makes for a wonderful iced cup on a hot day.
Recommended steeped; 3-5 minutes at 212°F. I steeped for 4 minutes at the recommended at the recommended temperature in 11oz of water with 1.5 tsp of tea/rock sugar.
I was prepared to like this tea since I normally like this type of blend and it didn’t disappoint. Lovely scent of blackberry upon opening the packet. It was sweet and yummy when hot. I think the black tea version has a little more strength to it, but this is a very nice cup as well. I very much enjoyed it. 5 stars from me.
I did not like this one, I found it had a very medicinal flavour and smell to it
UPDATED from 1/22/21 Smell of blackberry and sage hits my nose as the CommuniTEA packet opens. This blend has oolong, and raspberry leaves which can be bitter, so I steep it at a lower temp. The color is a bright red/orange, and the aroma is of sage and berries. What a unique oolong, with blackberries and sage spice in the cast. Luckily these are all agreeable flavors to my palate, although sage is more for food. Adding ¼ teaspoon of sweetener (to 10 oz) helps the berry flavor step down stage center, demoting the sage and oolong into more co-starring roles. They all blend well and create a clean mouthfeel and finish as they bow out. However, after tasting this tea for a couple of times now, I have determined I like sage better with food. ( 3 mins @ 200ºF + sweetener).
Wonderful aroma both dry and while steeping. I enjoyed the herbal flavor profile of this tea very much and could pick out more of the sage than the blackberry. The flavors blended well together both as a hot tea and after I poured it over ice. I was able to steep this several times. The last time I added white pear and loved it! Great blend Adagio!
I loved the blackberry aroma of the tea and it did have the nice blackberry flavor as well. When hot the blackberry was overpowered by the sage but as it cooled more of the blackberry taste appeared. It it definitely better at or near room temperature than hot.
I've ordered this one a few times, and every time I order it, I end up drinking almost nothing but Blackberry Sage Oolong until it's gone. Absolutely a favorite
Very pleasant berry flavor with enough sage to add a unique twist but not enough to be too overpowering. Tastes great iced as well!
This one was pretty good just a bit off putting because of the sent, it smell so much of the Sage, like the white sage smudge stick, I do enjoy that aroma but not in a tea lol. Otherwise it taste pretty good. This Tea wards off Evil Spirits!
Really yummy! I know sage in tea isn't for everyone but I really liked this as a cold brewed iced tea.
A delicately flavored oolong. Love the combination of savory sage with the sweetness of blackberry with enough caffeine to get me going in the morning.
Really enjoyed the sage overtones and the blackberry was not too strong!
Just as smooth and savory as I suspected it would be...one of my many new favorites.
Warm blackberry feel. Not as good of a tea as I had hoped. Not sure if I will reorder.
I really like the combination of flavors in this tea. I normally find blackberry teas too sweet but the sage and oolong base balance it out nicely.
Love this. The sage, blackberry, and oolong are in perfect balance. I will be getting this regularly.
I really like this one! The smell really hits just like you hope it will, and the taste manifests several different notes; initial taste, aftertaste, and again a new nuance with another sip. I was tempted to add sugar to help bring out the blackberry taste, but with a bit of trial and error I found that honey seems a much better fit for this one for some reason! It's on the strong side, so keep an eye on it to be sure you don't oversteep!
it was very strong so i would steep for an even shorter amount of time (i also like my teas a little mellow). the sage was a lot more present than the blackberry, which was kinda in the back
I found that the sage was overwhelming when steeped at the recommended temperature, so I experimented a bit with it to find a temperature I liked better. 195 seemed to be the right one and the flavour was much more balanced and enjoyable. This probably isn't a tea I will order again, but it was definitely worth trying.
this is so good. it is soothing to the mouth! simply amazing
it is great, the blend this time is just amazing. perfect
The blackberry almost makes me think of candy here. It's really excellent with the sage and oolong, crowd pleaser for the whole family
I love other blackberry flavored things from adagio but the sage in this is quite strong. It's still a good oolong, but not my favorite and is best as a single small cup.