Chado

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Recent Tasting Notes

55
drank Lychee by Chado
29 tasting notes

Daily cup of tea! I’m now going to try to cut down on all the drinks in hopes of losing a couple pounds before summer officially begins (I know it’s here for some, too bad I’ve summer classes, booooo)

The dry leaves look okay, doesn’t smell like anything special to me, but my roommate assures me that the lychee smell is there, albeit very very faint.
The brew is a very nice looking reddish brown color, still doesn’t smell like lychee, although I can now smell a little of it in the damp leaves. When drinking it, you get the typical black tea flavor up front, but as you swallow, your mouth fills up with the aroma of the lychee.
Adding some sugar helped a bit as it made the lychee pop more, but not by a lot. Not bad, but not good either.

It’s not what I expected, I was expecting more lychee upfront instead of having to fish for it.
Overall okay as a flavored black tea, nothing too wowwy (huh?), and just not my cup of tea.

EDIT: Okay, so I didn’t pay attention to time and the tea cooled and I took a swig…OMG this was not the same stuff I started with. The lychee flavor is now more prominent and it’s like drinking lychee juice, thought it’s less sweet.
I’m going to bump up the rating simply because this is quite good when cooled. Should make a nice cold brew or iced tea, yay!

Stephanie

I’ve been switching to unsweetened tea for the same reason!

Hikari

woot! stay strong fellow weight shaker! Although I’m having some trouble with all those flavored teas in my stash that I want to try..

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10

Too sweet for me and tastes of wet cigar and mystery fruit.

Tealizzy

Ooh, yum, wet cigar :P

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11
drank Orange Blossom Oolong by Chado
58 tasting notes

Tastes like I tossed an old orange rind I found somewhere in a cup of water.

I’m seriously fed up with my Chado order. I’m throwing most of these samples out after one cup. I was so excited when I ordered – I chose many teas I thought I would like. When they came, they were attractively packaged and the samples were all well over an ounce. Now I wonder if the generosity wasn’t to make up for the tea. (Full disclosure, I like the over-cinnamoned christmas tea and the banana tea so far, but by comparison to the rest of my Chado order, not by comparison to the rest of, well, tea.)

This tea is tasteless. So tasteless I actually chewed a few leaves to see if they had any taste. They did, but only barely. Also, it had very little tea aroma dry and no aroma (or flavor) once brewed. I’m guessing it is stale.

I don’t care for being so universally negative, but this tea is just not working out for me.

ifjuly

Yeah, I’ve noticed your low ratings for Chado over and over…yikes! Sorry to hear. When I’m disappointed by a tea but don’t actively find it disgusting, I throw it in a bin marked “for icing”. I have a much lower bar for iced tea flavor, partly ‘cause I can’t taste things as subtly when cold and also ’cause I often spike my iced tea. Just a thought.

Kaylee

Ha! What do you spike it with?

Anyanka

Yes, I do need to dedicate a spot for teas only suitable for icing. So far, I’ve only tossed the ones that have a flavor that’s just unbearable (or in this case absent).

Tealizzy

Ya, my order’s been a bummer too. Oh well. One less tea place to buy from!

ifjuly

Kaylee, usually homemade lemonade and vodka. I want to experiment more though ever since that recent thread on tea-infused cocktails yielded that recipe for Arnold Palmer where you steep gin with tea overnight first, and make it fizzy. That drink is awesome, and now I wonder if using some of my junkier/more boring teas that way will work.

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63
drank Green Christmas by Chado
58 tasting notes

This is quite nice (if you like cinnamon). I don’t taste all of the things listed in the description, for me it’s mostly orange and cinnamon. Maybe I need to mix up next time.

It smells delicious, dry, steeping, and brewed. I tried it first with no sweetener, and it was good, but a small amount of sugar really brightened it up and brought out the flavors. Even though this is supposed to be a holiday flavor, it doesn’t seem wintery at all, maybe because the green tea is so bright tasting.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 45 sec

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37
drank Phoenix by Chado
58 tasting notes

This is my first chado tea from a dozen samples. The teas were inexpensive, the samples are generous, and shipping was reasonable and quick.

This tea is supposed to be black tea with honey, caramel, and vanilla. I don’t taste the caramel or the vanilla. It’s heavily scented with what I guess is a very floral honey. I tried to smell one of the chunks to see if it smelled like honey and ended up snorting it up my nose, gagging, then giggling. I’m one of the dumbest people I’ve ever met.

Anyway, the tea is ok, but smelly. It’s better with sweetener than without. I haven’t tried it with milk because it seems like a bad idea and I’m at my bad idea limit for the day. Not destined to be a favorite or a reorder, but drinkable. It doesn’t go bitter if oversteeped. It leaves a lot of powdery sediment in the bottom of the cup.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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67
drank Banana Tea by Chado
58 tasting notes

This is black tea with banana flavoring and some essentially decorative flower petals.

It is very subtle. The banana flavor is realistic and barely there. I prefer a tea that has too little flavor to one that has too much, so this is ok. I’ve only had it with cream and sugar because I was dreaming of my granny’s banana pudding (banana, nilla wafers, sugar, milk, and no pudding!) when I picked this one out for my evening cup.

I’ll probably try some other banana teas before getting more of this one, but it’s palatable and the price was right and the sample was generous.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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40
drank Butterscotch by Chado
58 tasting notes

This tea smells so alcoholic it should have a proof on the bag. Or a warning label.

It tastes like alcohol too, but isn’t bad otherwise. Butterscotch schnapps maybe? It smells good, but potent. Leaves are very dark, clearly soaked in something, and chopped/broken up.

I can’t recommend it. It really tastes like a tea cocktail. I probably could have sold this to my classmates in high school.

(I’m airing out the rest of it in a paper bag in the hopes that the alcohol will dissipate.)

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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30
drank Lychee by Chado
58 tasting notes

Perhaps I only like fresh lychee, in cocktails, because that’s the only way I had it before this tea. And I don’t love this tea.

Very mild scent, relatively mild flavor. It tastes kind of like chapstick. More perfumey than fruity. I don’t like it, but it isn’t gross. Just not my thing.

Edited to add: this improves as it cools.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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82
drank Lavender Earl Grey by Chado
19 tasting notes

Delicious, floral, full bodied, and wonderful with or without milk.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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78

Sweet, rich, and delicious. The aroma is delightful with a bit of peachiness. With milk it is a real treat.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 4 min, 30 sec

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19
drank coconut chai by Chado
19 tasting notes

I love chai. I do not love coconut. This tea just isn’t so awesome for me. It smells like spicy coconut, and if you love toasted coconut you will probably love this tea. If you don’t like coconut, you won’t.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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74
drank Czar Alexander by Chado
19 tasting notes

I love the way this tea smells. It is one to go slowly with because the smokiness with the Earl Grey citrus is really interesting. Pairing it with the white tea really smooths it out in the sip.

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68
drank Casablanca by Chado
19 tasting notes

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67
drank Chado Evening by Chado
19 tasting notes

I like this tea with just a touch of sugar to heighten the rose. Otherwise with milk it’s a delicious pot of well balanced, somewhat mild black tea.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 45 sec

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89
drank Earl Grey Exotique by Chado
2201 tasting notes

This (#86) is one of those weird one-off teas, where I have only this tea from this company and nothing else. But I love it. Bergamot and rose and passion fruit and LOVE. An appropriate Valentines tea, I guess. It almost reminds me of DF’s Amore, but I do like that one a little better, and I am more likely to order from DF in the future than Chado. Even so, this is still quite a tasty tea.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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89
drank Earl Grey Exotique by Chado
2201 tasting notes

I got this tea a while ago and didn’t even expect that much of it, but it turned out to be really awesome (which cannot necessarily be said of the rest of this company’s tea).

I love the rose and passionfruit in this, and all the flavors just come together well. It’s slightly sweet and very smooth, and the base tea is substantial enough to give it some heft. I still find this very tasty and it’s a nice variant of Earl Grey to have around.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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89
drank Earl Grey Exotique by Chado
2201 tasting notes

This morning has not been a good one. I was going to go with a known comforting blend but I couldn’t decide so I thought I would try something new. I got this in a swap with IrishBreakfastLass because she wasn’t fond of it but it seemed right up my alley. Bergamot, rose, passion fruit, vanilla. I have to say, the dry tea smells amazing to me. Strong bergamot, rose, and almost like cookies. Bergamot can have kind of a cakey aroma/flavor sometimes, although it has been a long time since I’ve had a bergamot like that, and that’s what this reminds me of.

The steeped tea retains it’s lovely aroma. Now I think I can discern the vanilla, which adds to the cookie-ish aroma. And when I inhale really deeply I can also make out the passion fruit under there.

Mmm, this is definitely the tea for me, and boy did this swap really work out! :D I find this tea incredibly delicious. It tastes like a blend from Dammann Frères, which is really one of the best compliments I can give it (it’s somewhere between Coquelicot Gourmand and 7 Parfums). It’s one of those blends that is so thick with flavors that it is hard to tear them apart, but they are so delicious together you don’t need to. Bright, citrusy bergamot is the most prominent, and then I can detect luscious rose (which I don’t find to be that strong), a hint of vanilla and a lingering bit of passion fruit, all of which add up to make something like a bergamot cookie (somehow). Love it.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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85

Smooth and it not only smells like wine, but kind of tastes like it too! Also a beautiful dark infusion! My son picked this out at the LA Tea Festival last year and I must say, he has good taste! :-)

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80

This is a really good one. It’s not bitter in the slightest, and there’s cinnamon and pumpkin flavors that are prominent. Nice full mouth flavor. Yummy!

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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74
drank Wedding Chai Tea by Chado
892 tasting notes

Thanks for the sample IrishBreakfastLass! This one smells very rich in the bag. I wasn’t sure if I was feeling a chai this morning but this is definitely wonderful. The weather is windy, knocking walnuts off the tree onto the roof scaring the heck out of my cat. It’s cold and cloudy too :/ But I feel that this tea fits.
Anyways… This is a very light chai. I like that I can taste the black tea base through the chai. Or is it I can taste the chai through the black tea? The vanilla is very light as well. This was perfect for the first morning cup! Light and soft :] Thanks again!

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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92
drank Mate Carnival by Chado
892 tasting notes

Sample sipdown today!! This is #1. The aroma is interesting. It smells like coffee and roasted mate. And that’s exactly how it tastes too. But there is a nice hint of sweetness. MMMM

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92
drank Mate Carnival by Chado
892 tasting notes

Made a nice pot of this tonight. Toasty and sweet :)

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92
drank Mate Carnival by Chado
892 tasting notes

Thank you IrishBreakfastLass! I was so excited when I learned I was getting this in the swap! The ingredients made it sound so interesting. This reminds me of coffee. It’s warm and slightly sweet. I agree that it would make a fantastic coffee replacement. Thank you again!! :]

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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81

This is a nice one. It’s not too strong, no astringency really. A sweet, slightly fruity note, full-bodied. Not one of my favorites, since it’s pretty middle of the road black tea nothing special, but a good stand-by.

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