Next up from Chroma! I was feeling a black tea, and this one sounded nice enough. I used a bit of extra leaf since there are a lot of added ingredients here and I wanted to taste the black tea as well. The steeped tea smells a bit like gingerbread.
It’s quite lovely actually. They don’t mention anything about the black tea itself, but it tastes Fujian to me, with those slightly savory caraway and bread notes. The spices are nicely balanced – the clove is in the forefront, but I can still discern the cinnamon, ginger, and coriander as well. I don’t think I’m getting saffron, but I’m not sure I would taste it with so much else going on. The orange sort of melds together with the clove for me, and is a bit more subtle than I would prefer. As for vanilla… ehhh maybe a teeny tiny hint?
It’s sort of like a fancier interpretation of Constant Comment, on a much nicer base. I do wish I tasted a bit more of the more unique ingredients, like the dandelion root and the saffron. Maybe if the clove were toned down a smidge, I could taste those other components more. Also, a bit more orange please. But despite those shortcomings, I think this is a really nice, higher quality version of an orange spice tea and I could see myself sipping it in the autumn and winter months.
Flavors: Bread, Caraway, Cinnamon, Clove, Coriander, Ginger, Malty, Orange, Orange Zest, Savory, Smooth, Sweet, Thick
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I wish there was more orange too, but sadly it’s very challenging to convey a strong orange flavour using only orange peel. The fact it holds up to all the strong spices at all is a testament to just how nice quality what they’ve sourced is. It’s probably one of my least favourite Chroma blends though. Not that it’s bad, but it just feels too busy for me – could have probably dropped an ingredient or two and had something a bit sharper.
Yeah that’s fair.
I wish there was more orange too, but sadly it’s very challenging to convey a strong orange flavour using only orange peel. The fact it holds up to all the strong spices at all is a testament to just how nice quality what they’ve sourced is. It’s probably one of my least favourite Chroma blends though. Not that it’s bad, but it just feels too busy for me – could have probably dropped an ingredient or two and had something a bit sharper.
Yeah that’s fair.