Madison Bartholemew Send Message

Taken plain and with sugar.
While this tea is hot the vanilla flavoring is stronger than the flavorings in most black teas that include vanilla which is nice because I like vanilla and when I have to try to find the hint of vanilla in a cup it is frustrating.
On the other hand when this tea cools off it does take on that same woody kinda quality as the peach oolong blend but it is much worse in this tea.
I agree with some of the other reviewers in that it takes on a tobacco like flavor that is pretty gross. It is clear that they used the same kind of oolong to mix this flavor as they used for their peach oolong, as indicated by the distinct presence of a wood brick, and I’m wondering if they always use this kind of mixer. Cause it’s not very good.
Good extremely hot…
and then terrible as it cools.

Taken plain and with a little bit of sugar.
Without sugar the flavor is a deep woody peachy… thing. I was expecting more or a bright oolong to be pared with the peach flavor from a alishan to a monkey picked whatever but this is different. When you take it very hot the peach flavor is full and sweet with the underlying tea flavors giving a base to round the palate.
Very nice. Not was I was expecting but very pleasant.
And then the tea cools off a little… DON’T let the tea cool off too much! It starts getting woody… and the peach starts to fade… and then more wood and more wood and wood and wood wood wood wood.
All it ends up tasting like wood! And not good wood either… old musty wood.
With Sugar?
Add a pinch of sugar and it makes the peach sparkle when taken hot.
And as it cools… still woody… it takes longer to get to brick of wood but it still heads off down that path of why didn’t they pick a different mixing oolong.
… meh
Great at the beginning…

Taken with a little sugar.
The first time I made this I followed the instructions on the box thinking that even if it was a green Disney might have had a reason for saying bring the water to a boil… They don’t know what they are talking about so for trying the remainder of their teas I’m going to use my own know how and make them the way that it will taste good.
So… the tea really smells like fake blueberry! And it tastes fake like blueberry candy too! So if you like artificial blueberry candy (like I do oddly enough) you’ll love this.
And in case you were wondering about the ‘tea’ part of it… Disney took the vast majority of green tea flavor out the equation so you don’t have to worry about it mucking with your fake blueberries!
I know the only reason I like this is because it’s an Alice tea… there is no real merit to this tea what-so-ever… but I’m ok with that.
*This review is TOTALLY biased by my Disney nostalgia. But honnestly it’s not bad… and I have told the truth about what it tastes like. But if it were any other company I would have ripped it apart and not told you of my love of blueberry candies.

Taken Plain and with sugar.
Refreshing yes!
Tropical? ehhh… maybe?
The dominant flavors are hibiscus and lemon which is fine with me and there is a distinctly odd cooling feeling accompanying those flavors that I find minutely disconcerting. After you take a sip if you breathe in you feel a nice cool breath of ‘fresh’ air. It’s actually pretty neat considering you don’t taste whatever is doing that.
So this tea gets an automatic rating of super neato with magic and science!
And the hibiscus and lemon go great together with neither of them being over powering. With ‘tropical’ in the title I expected a bit more… I don’t know coconut or something that reminded me of the Caribbean and I’m not finding anything like that at all.
But it is yummy and refreshing.
And it has some kind of neat cooling science!
Yea Science!

Taken with sugar.
Good flavor. I feel like it needs sugar to make the jasmine pop and to smooth out the astringency in the black tea but it definitely doesn’t need milk which is nice. Not needing milk seems to be a sign of quality so good marks there.
The jasmine seems to over run the black tea on flavor though. It is not a balanced tea where you can taste both equally. Instead the jasmine is in the absolute spot light and the black tea doesn’t feel as developed as it could have been. Which is also a mark of quality so bad marks there.
The weirdest thing though is that lack of mouth feel from the black tea. I can feel the jasmine but the black under flavor seems washed out and without texture.
So this is a light tea with strong jasmine flavor.
Not over powering.
But in a sense not all there.

Taken Plain.
Flavorful for a lightly fermented Oolong.
The interesting thing about this tea is the mix of buttery and floral tones. Usually I think of those two kinds of flavors fighting for dominance but in this blend they compliment each other nicely.
That’s why I keep coming back to this Oolong. Great Flavor and balance while remaining light.

Taken Plain.
This is the only black tea I can take plain consistently. Rather good darjeelings are the only black teas I can take plain consistently.
It’s a good smooth tea with a sweet middle and woody start and finish. Not woody like smoked… but bite a two by four fresh woody kinda… it’s that flavor all darjeelings have. I can never quite pin that flavor on anything other than a darjeeling and that’s what it’s got.
Yea.

Taken Plain.
It’s not toasty…
It’s not really nutty…
and it tastes nothing like a brulee.
This might be the worst named tea ever… wait I found it!
The only hint of flavors that resemble the name are in the initial wash of flavor. All of the middle and after taste is of fruit and spice which really reminds me of the old blend of Sweet Oolong revolution. It even has that same mildly bitter after taste. This tea is nice if a fun different way until the after taste hits and then I don’t like the flavor at all. The tail end of the flavor reminds me of when I was a kid and wanted to know what nutmeg by itself tastes like and my mouth got all drink and I felt like I needed to drink something.
So I’m going to go drink something else…

Taken Plain and with Mild and Sugar.
Way too much spice… not enough pumpkin.
And no flavor development until milk and sugar are added. Is this a trend with flavored blacks from adagio?
Plain it just tastes like poorly spiced water.
And with milk and sugar it is totally drinkable… but not re-orderable.
sigh Of disappointment.

Taken with milk and sugar + plain.
Without milk and sugar the tea leaves are over powered by the strong spices. Drinking this tea plain is actually kind of unpleasant in the way that tasting cinnamon by itself is dry and bitter.
With only sugar the spices mellow out and become nice. My only complaint is that the spices still over power the tea and it has a very weak mouth. This tea really just tastes like spiced water. It’s nice but not awesome.
Adding milk with the sugar rounds out the body and flavor but they are still not at all robust. The spices become well mixed and the tea flavor pops out a little more.
This is a nice holiday change but if I could have it year round I really wouldn’t be excited because it could have been done much better.