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There’s something dangerous about tea people on the weekends. They have more time to think of weird things to do. My project for today is sipping through my chai collection—all six of them.

I decided to try Adagio’s Masala chai first because the scent was the least enticing. It smelled too spicy, too clovey.

Once brewed, it’s not surprising that this come through in the liquid. It’s extremely spicy, like a very strong pumpkin pie spice. It’s extremely clovey and gingery. It’s actually making me sneeze and making my nose run. That may be the cinnamon. It may be a good choice for when I’m sick.

The base is pretty hidden beneath the spice. There’s some bitterness, astringency, and tannic flavor, but that’s pretty much all I can detect of the base.

After the crime against humanity that was Caramel Corn, I was terrified to try this tea, as it looks very similar. Fortunately, after a check of the ingredients, I saw that there was much less in this tea to make an issue of.

The tea base is surprisingly detectable. I wouldn’t have thought that due to the strength of the artificial flavoring and scent. There’s a grassy oolong sort of taste to it. There’s also a vanilla flavor that feels like it’s coming from the tea more than the flavoring.

The artificial flavoring is extremely strong. It’s caramel corn. There’s a little something sour like apple. I wish they would stop doing that. Why make a sweet desserty tea then add something sour like apple? Again, I can almost taste the flavors on my nose as I breathe them out.

Despite my description, this tea is much better than caramel corn. Though this tea is a desserty slap in the face, it’s not entirely unpleasant.

So, starting with the typical stuff, it’s a Yunnan black. It’s malty, chocolatey, and sweet potatoey.

Comparing it to the other Chinese blacks I’ve had lately, it’s a little brighter in flavor. As soon as I take a sip, there’s a sharp tang of tannins that hits at the front of the tongue. Potato notes hit next in the middle of the tongue, and then the mouth is filled with a dark chocolate flavor at the end. There’s some astringency at the back of the palate.

Though this tea is excellent, I think I prefer some of the other Yunnans I’ve been drinking lately.

A bottom-of-the-barrel find at the Asian grocery store, but not nearly as bad as some of the shou horror stories I’ve heard. It’s actually not a bad pick for the price if one is looking for a cheap loose puerh, but there are probably better out there.

The fermentation flavor is pretty strong, but not in a fishy way. The flavor reminds me more of a tangy, fresh leather combined with musty books. Maybe throw in an old basement.

Comes out nice and black, and lasts for a couple of steeps Western style.

Rooibos isn’t my favorite, but it has no caffeine, which is what I need for 9:30 at night.

This is okay. The peach isn’t too strong, but it veers to just over the line of perfumey instead of fruity.

I wasn’t expecting much of this tea, as I haven’t been terribly impressed with much of what I’ve gotten from DAVIDs. I was actually surprised at how much depth I got from this tea.

The flavors are malt and earth for the most part, with just the very slightest hint of bitterness. Below that is a very nice sweet potato and dark chocolate flavor, but not as strong as some other Yunnan blacks I have had. There is a mineral tang on the finish of the flavor.

Overall, I would say this is a very low grade Yunnan black. For the price of this tea, it would be better to stick with other sources.

Sleep has been a very difficult thing for me lately, which doesn’t work well with my 7AM work schedule. Here lately, I’ve been loading up on the espresso shots, but I thought I would give this tea a try for my morning coffee fix.

It certainly didn’t have the stimulation of a 6-shot flat white, but the “coffee” flavor was there. Of course, this is nothing like real coffee. Imagine those cheap french vanilla powdered coffees that they sell in tins at the grocery store. The vanilla flavor is extremely strong, almost too strong. Though the website says that the nutty flavor is almond, it tastes more like hazelnut to me.

I can’t taste the puerh base at all, but it colors the liquid black, making me feel like I am drinking coffee. This tea is actually pretty great if you’re looking for cheap flavored coffee without the bitterness, but the flavoring is toeing the line on being too strong for my liking.

Still, the second steep is better. The flavors have mellowed a bit. It might be something I want to keep around.

Have you ever opened a bottle of peach flavoring and dumped it into a glass of water, then drunk it?

I don’t have to anymore.

It seems strange to go against everything a particular tea stands for. A gyokuro is supposed to be minimally processed, is it not? Why roast a gyokuro? According to Steepster, Davids is the only one to attempt it.

The dry leaf smells kind of like a barn, but in a good way. It’s more than hay; it’s the wood, the humid smell, something a little horsey.

The brew tastes like roasted chestnuts and cashews. There’s a little buttery flavor, but the dominating flavor is roasted—roasted nuts and hay. There’s also a hint of cedar wood. It’s a little drying as well.

Lovely tea, as I expected from these Chinese blacks. The dry leaf smells like grapes and cranberries, and at this point I’m hoping I’ll finally be able to taste the fruitiness of a black tea that people keep talking about.

No such luck.

It’s still a lovely tea though. It’s sugary sweet, like honey. There is a slight hint of mineral and astringency I could do without. At this point, I’m starting to wonder if it isn’t just my extremely hard water that’s giving my tea that mineral taste.

The dominant flavor is an earthy sweet potato flavor with an underlying medium caramel. Soooo tasty.