26 Tasting Notes
Like a mouthful of roses, according to my dear brother. And he’s right, this tea is basically like drinking a mouth full of roses. Now depending on who you ask , they may or may not be a good thing.
Personally I’m not bothered by this. Rose tea, to me, us far more tolerable than jasmine or lavender tea, which I despise. Though it is quite disappointing when a tea is marketed as ‘tropical’ with a hint of coconut and pineapple, ends up being the exact opposite. If this was called a rose tea I think adagio would do much better in ratings and sales for this one.
Flavors: Bitter, Rose
Let me put it this way. If I make this tea for you it means a love you, because I hoard this tea like an addict. All it took was one whiff of this tea through the box while I was in the store and I was in love, and I haven’t looked back since.
This is the tea that completely changed my mind about white teas. Its not as delicate as I expected, definitely lighter and lacking the sometimes unpleasant astringency of black teas.
Taste: succulent peaches. Seriously, this tea taste the same as it smells. Juicy, peachy with a hint of citrus. Not all that sweet on its own but requires just the tinest amount of sugar to really enhance its natural peachy flavor.
Liquor: pale gold when steeped in short periods. darker gold/light amber when cold steeped over night in the fridge. The taste remains more or less the same, but picks up a slight bitterness when steeped overnight.
Flavors: Citrus, Peach
For a tea that smells like literal chai heaven in package this tea was one heck of a let down. Seriously. Huge let down. It’s missing something important that give chai it’s spicy, complex uniqueness. Without it this chai is just very bland, and sadly I’ve had better chai from a bag.
It doesn’t help that I’ve been all chai’d and black tea’d out fir the last year and half either. Even my chai obsessed nephew wasn’t impressed with this one. Overall it’s a good comforting tea that will by no means, knock your socks off. Buts it’s still good to have in the cupboard for those chilly afternoons.
Cloves! That’s what this chai is missing! I had forgotten about that. I remember the first time drinking this tea thinking how ridiculous it was that it didn’t have cloves.
Unfortunately I don’t remember what it tastes like after adding my own cloves to it. But hopefully someday, when I can once again look at a chai without wanting to bury it far, far away into the tea cupboard and away from my person, I’ll write about it. But now is not that time. Oh well.
Smells divine while steeping. Very slightly vegetal, buttery and creamy, like clotted cream. The bergamot is definetly there but doesn’t transfer well after steeping. Not quite vanilla but definetly creamy and smooth. Not my favorite unfortunately. I’m still very much in love with my plain old Bigelow Earl Grey Green as my go to Earl Grey. But this is a second runner for sure.
Dry leaf: looks very pretty in pouch; rolled green leaves that unfurl while steeping with pretty blue cornflowers. Smells like bergamkont, gunpowder green and cream.
Steeps go a gorgeous golden amber cooler.
Flavors: Bergamot, Butter, Cream, Vegetal
While delicious this tea does not hold up well on the second steep. The butter smell is all but gone, and what little of the bergamot that was there to begin with is no where to be found. The light, slightly floral notes of the green tea dominate the second steep. Which actually isn’t a bad thing. The green tea itself is a good quality and very smooth, not at all astringent and the actual liquor is the most gorgeous yellow gold. Still a great tea. I’ll try steeping it in shorter intervals next time to see if it makes a difference.
