54 Tasting Notes
In the morning, cold
On my tongue pleasantly sat
such forgiving tea!
This tea was wonderfully forgiving! I think the best I’ve found for work. Drink it hot, drink it cold. Accidentally steep it for a half hour? Still drinkable without being metallic or otherwise gross! Forget to drink the last half of the cup before going home? Still drinkable cold the next morning! So great. Unfortunately, I’m writing this review after I’ve used up all of my sample, so I’ll not even try to trip over myself getting technical with taste. I just liked it, okay? xD
Debating origins
But I drink in the morning
A spicy wake-up
I’m curious because there’s nothing in the description, but on the tab title when I go to this tea on their website, it says “Chai Green by Adagio”. So perhaps they’ve some type of deal with Adagio and this isn’t a unique blend at all…?
Either way, this tea blew my mind. It is currently my favorite morning tea and I’ll be sad when I run out—tea #2 I’ve considered buying from the ones they’ve sent in my subscription box. The first thing that blew my mind was green chai—never thought of it! Chai was always black in my mind. Old box=blown.
This morning I brewed it for 3 minutes and the liquor is a light yellow. It’ll probably be drinkable for another two steeps, depending on how distracting my work gets. The green tea sits below the spices as a background note to the spices that get almost dusty and harsh when the tea cools. Not one to let sitting around, really.
Liquid biscuit dough:
Like an airplane heard
After it’s passing.
The second tea of our tea party took up the rest of our too-short time together.
The dry leaves have the dusty scent of crackers and hay. We steeped it for the suggested 2 minutes and we a bit surprised at how light the liquor was: a very green oolong. The initial flavor of the liquor is very light and green. The real body of this tea is at the end of the taste, even after swallowing. A taste that reminded me very like biscuit dough (without the heaviness) blossoms in the mouth, especially as you talk. We decided that this was a conversation tea, as to fully experience the flavor we had to keep talking. My mother kept going on about the sweetness whereas I kept tasting the doughy flavors more.
For our second steep, we went for 1 minute. The liquor color darkened(though still green-light) and had much more scent-bready, crackers. The flavor experience is evened out, where there is more green in front and less doughy sweet in the back. We decided that this steep took less involvement to enjoy, and would be a decent reading tea.
Our third steep lasted 45 seconds. The color was somewhere inbetween the first and second steeps. There was more bloom than the second steep and we wondered if the second steep had not been quite long enough. There are notes of toast as we sip-stronger as the tea is hotter and less prominent as it cools. The bloom is like biscuit dough-sweet and bready.
The fourth steep was 30 seconds and we decided wasn’t worth drinking.
Overall a very interesting taste-trip.
Flavors: Sweet, Toast
Little chamomile
Flowers floating in my tea;
Breathe refreshing mint.
The first “tea” of this month’s tea party with my mom.
The smell of the dried leaves was of mint and chamomile, but the strength of the mint was a bit worrisome to us. The instructions were a bit confounding—steep for 10 minutes? We opted for 4. The liquor was “peach” or “apricot”-colored as there was a tinge of warm orange-red. Our worry was revealed as unfounded as we drank the warm tea: it was a wonderful balance of mint and chamomile. They were definitely the stars of the show. There was a hint of the rooibos base, mostly enough to give the light tisane some body, and a sweetness that may be attributed to the vanilla? I thought so, but my mother disagreed. Though she’s always more sensitive to sweet notes than I.
A second steep of 6 minutes revealed a drinkable, but weak liquor.
I felt that this was a nice bedtime relaxing tea (and probably not the best way to start a day). Since I don’t often reach for tea in the evening, I left the rest of this sample with my mom for the $1.90 I owed her.
Flavors: Mint
Place holder until future steeps
I tried one sencha yesterday, so I thought I’d follow it up with another! The inside of the packet looks like the leftovers from a hay bale, except green. So perhaps an alfalfa bale. These leaves smell a lot sweeter than yesterday’s. Sweet dry alfalfa. I went for the minimum recommended steep time (2 min). The liquor is a pale gold with a tinge of green. It gives off a faint…..dry grass, almost roasted scent. The taste reminds me of high-summer hay. A little grassy, a little roasted, more body, but still light. There’s an almost metallic tang on the end, but it’s swallowed up by the sweetness in the breath. (I probably used too hot of water.)
Further steeps revealed this to be true….
Summer warmth glowing
Into my center it pours
Cleansing green sencha
The dry leaves are broken and flat with a few stems and variegated colors. There is a strong sweet alfalfa smell. I went for a 3 min steep (as opposed to the 7 max suggested) because I tend to really dislike the bitterness that comes out in greens. The liquor is a bright honey-gold and doesn’t really have a strong scent or flavor attached to it. A bit of warm grassiness, but more of a light palette cleaner. A second steep for 4 minutes yielded similar results, with perhaps a bit more grassiness but no dry astringency or bitterness. As a nice side note, I can feel the warmth of the tea sitting in my stomach and it makes me smile. This tea is summer. The third steep, for 4 minutes, left the liquor ringing with a metallic sweetness and a dry astringency, yet no bitterness. Maybe something closer to 7 minutes wouldn’t have been that bad.
Flavors: Grass
A sip of warm tea:
Mouth full of flavor and yet-
Dryness on my tongue.
I meant to steep this for 3, but ended up around 5 minutes (again, work). The liquor is a medium gold and it doesn’t taste over-steeped. There is definitely a dry astringency, but I don’t think that is a negative. I struggle to describe the taste, but it is bright and pleasant.
I’ll bet this would taste delicious with some brown sugar in it to add a bit of molasses! But, unfortunately, I’m at work and lacking in such delicacies. Despite this, it’s a nice tea. The dry leaves smell almost overly sweet with ginger spice and I’m happy that didn’t translate to the cup. It brewed up into a dark almost coffee-brown and the liquor has that telltale ginger and cinnamon spice smell. This tea seems…surprisingly light. I expected more umph. There is a bit of creaminess, but that is upset by a slightly astringent afterfeel flavored by spice. A great pairing with shortbread cookies, I’d imagine.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Ginger
Warm, caffeinated,
Uncomplicated, it’s a
Tea to wake up to
The wet leaves have a trace of tobacco scent, though the dull golden-brown liquor does not. Without dipping my nose in it this time, I’d say I smell no more than the typical “tea” smell with a suggestion of autumn leaves. The liquor is clear and goes down smoothly without bitterness, though there is a neutral astringency that puckers my tongue a bit.
Overall, I’d rate this an average tea. Seems to be a good “waking up” tea when you’d like to just drink something caffeinated and warm and don’t want to worry about subtleties and paying attention. It was decent on the second steep, as well.
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Tea, Tobacco
