Tea Info

All of our teas come with temperature and steeping time recommendations written on the label. For leaf quantity, the general recommendation is one teaspoon of loose leaf tea per 250ml cup of hot water. Please note that most modern mugs are more voluminous than that, so adjust accordingly.

How many cups do our sizes make? You'll be pleased to know that 454 grams makes about 200 cups. The 85-gram package makes about 38 cups, and the sample pouch, about 10 cups (depending on type). The cost-per-cup appears next to each packaging size we offer. We hope you may be pleasantly surprised that our fresh, artisan teas may cost so little to enjoy.

To search our website, look for the 'magnifying glass' icon in the upper right, in the orange menu bar. Click it, and you'll see the field open where you can type your search term.

We also offer an Advanced Search feature which allows you to search our catalog for specific things like caffeine level, and country of origin, as well as ingredients.

We hope this feature will make finding the items you're searching for much easier.

The ingredients of our various teas and blends appear on the individual page that describes the product as well as its packaging. Simply scroll down below the customer reviews. However, many of our teas contain just one ingredient: tea leaves. In such instances, a list of ingredients is not provided.

We unfortunately do not offer free samples of our products. However, we make discovering our teas very easy and inexpensive with a package that may introduce you to loose teas.

Most samples contain 23 grams ounces of tea, enough to steep about ten cups. We recommend trying samples of unfamiliar tea to ensure that you like it before committing to a larger quantity. Some lighter varieties of tea contain 11 grams per sample. However, these still provide about five cups of tea to ensure you have ample opportunity to decide if you like it.

From time to time, you may be receive an email with a free sample of a tea we think you will enjoy. To view it, you must be signed in. This is the reason the link directs you to an "account" page. Once you've signed in, you'll see the free sample in your cart.

We are disappointed in the efforts of the Fair Trade programme. For example, Fair Trade coffee growers receive only 5 cents more per pound of coffee over market price. This trivial amount is meaningless when it comes to gourmet tea, where a kilo of product costs five to fifty times more. In lieu of forcing our suppliers to join the Fair Trade programme, we've devised our own means of highlighting the people who grow our teas, called the Roots Campaign. Please visit to learn more.

Our teas are sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, vegan, and in virtually all cases, contain zero calories (as long as you don't add milk or sugar). They are processed in a facility devoid of nuts, but that also packages cookies containing wheat and eggs.

Our teas are quite good for you too! See our health benefits page for details.

Cream and Creme Flavour
Our cream and creme flavourings are totally vegan and dairy free.

Sugar Exceptions
The only exceptions to the above are teas that contain sprinkles, marshmallows or chocolate chips. These ingredients do contain sugar and trace amounts of other ingredients such as corn byproducts. Check the ingredient list on the corresponding product page for details.

Other Dietary/Allergy Exceptions
Other dietary exceptions include: sprinkles that may contain non-vegan ingredients (including egg-derived ingredients and carmine) as well as soy lecithin, marshmallows that contain gelatin.

Teas are processed in a facility that packages cookies containing wheat and eggs.

Avoid Your Allergens
Do you have allergies that concern you? Allow us to assist you in safely navigating our website and avoiding particular allergens. Go to your Account page and select "Allergens". From, there, simply choose the allergens from the provided list that you wish to be careful about. Afterward, any teas containing those ingredients will be highlighted, simplifying the process of avoiding them.

Nutritional information for brewed tea depends on factors such as the amount of tea steeped per serving size, the temperature of the water, what is included in the blend, etc. For this reason, we don't necessarily have readily available nutritional panels for our teas.

For our selections of black, green or white tea, in which the only ingredient is tea leaves, the brewed teas contain zero calories, and less than 1% of any other nutrient. This is in part due to the fact that we don't actually consume the tea leaves.

Herbal blends which include fruit pieces range, but may contain 5-9 calories for an 250ml cup on average.

Blends which contain inclusions like candy cane pieces or chocolate chips range at about 8-12 calories and between 1g and 5g of carbs per 250ml cup.

Matcha is a different example because we do consume the leaves. We'll be happy to provide more information upon request.

Our teas contain no ingredients that would make them unkosher. In most instances, they are simply dried leaves, with nothing else added.

In cases of added flavours, these come from natural sources, with no ingredients that would render them unkosher.

However, to certify our teas as kosher would be a very expensive undertaking, needing rabbis to visit China, Japan, India and all the other countries from which we source our teas. So the complicated answer to your question is we're not kosher certified, but there's nothing in our teas that would render them not kosher.

Our iced tea pouches contain the same wonderful teas that we offer as loose tea, or in teabags. The only difference is the packaging.

Each iced pouch contains about 18 - 28 grams of tea, depending on type. They're designed to be the perfect amount to brew a pitcher of 1 litre (4 cups). We recommend the cold-brew method: simply place 1 pouch in your pitcher of water, and store in your refrigerator overnight. Awake to perfectly brewed, cold iced tea! Check out our Iced Tea selection today!

The tea bags sold in your local market typically contain low-quality tea grades called fannings or dust. These yield dark colour, but very little flavour. In contrast, our gourmet pyramid bags contain the same quality of full-leaf teas as do our loose tea offerings. Most varieties of our loose teas presently come in bagged form to ensure you have access to quality tea when preparing loose varieties may not be convenient.

Tea doesn't go bad if stored in a moisture-free environment. However, over time it will diminish in flavour. We generally recommend consuming tea within one year of purchase. However, the specifics will vary according to variety. The Japanese green teas are most delicate, and may begin to show age after only six months. Black and oolong varieties will stay fresh much longer, and may continue to delight for years to come.

If you're looking to replicate the taste of a tea you've enjoyed in a Chinese restaurant, the possible options are two: oolong or jasmine. We hope you may enjoy our versions of these teas as much, and hopefully much more.

If you are searching for a particular tea on our website, and coming up empty, it may be that we don't offer that variety. Please email contact@adagio.com to confirm.

First, please view our handy comparison chart!

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to how much caffeine is in each tea, as this depends on the temperature of the water, the amount of leaves per cup, and the length of the infusion.

However, we may offer rough guidelines to select black teas when seeking lots of caffeine, and herbals when seeking none. Oolong, green and white teas have moderate amounts of caffeine, though all considerably less than coffee.

We offer many options with no, or low caffeine!

Our Herbal Teas are all naturally free of caffeine, as they're not blended with tea leaves, but other delicious fruit and herbal ingredients. The exception on this page are the Mate Teas; please keep in mind that Mate teas do contain caffeine, and they are marked with a badge on the page to alert you!

Our Rooibos & Honeybush Teas, or 'Red Tea' (although not from the actual tea plant), are made from a naturally caffeine-free herbal plant that grows only in South Africa. Along with Honeybush teas (also no caffeine), we have many flavour varieties.

Finally we have our selection of Decaf Black Teas. These teas are decaffeinated using the superior carbon dioxide (CO2) process, which retains the most flavour and antioxidants. However, please keep in mind that decaf teas contain a small trace of caffeine, typically less than 5mg per 250ml serving. For comparison, black tea contains about 40mg. The decaffeination process removes most of the caffeine naturally found in tea, but is unable to remove all.

Our decaf black teas are decaffeinated using the superior carbon dioxide (CO2) process, which retains the most flavour and antioxidants. However, please keep in mind that decaf teas contain a small trace of caffeine, typically less than 5mg per 250ml serving. For comparison, black tea contains about 40mg. The decaffeination process removes most of the caffeine naturally found in tea, but is unable to remove all.

The flavoring process for our teas begins with the black, green, oolong, white or herbal teas sourced directly from countries of origin. Upon arrival in our blending room, the teas are mixed with natural and nature-identical flavours derived from nature. These are mainly essential oils extracted from vanilla, cinnamon, or any of the other flavours present in our collection.

Once the tea leaves dry, we add inclusions of apples, cinnamon, ginger, or anything else that the recipe may call for. When the mixture is complete, the teas are packaged and made ready for sale.

'What is the grade of your teas?' is not an easy question to answer, as these designations have grown meaningless in recent years.

Decades ago, when Chinese tea industry was government controlled, the grades assigned to various teas were uniform and informative. These standards loosened with privatisation and every farmer claiming that his crop is always "first grade".

Indian and Sri Lankan teas have a different grading scale altogether, focusing more on the size of the tea leaves. Japanese teas are also graded differently, where leaf size may not be as important as the growing conditions or processing.

The best way to assess a tea's quality is to try it. For this reason, we offer small inexpensive samples of all our products. We also invite you to read unfiltered reviews submitted by verified customers.

Our teas come fresh, directly from origin. We hope you'll enjoy them!