Chado Tea Room

Nice after dinner decaf.

This is the first white tea I ever tried, it has a smooth texture and floral taste to it. The tea had a very calming aromatic affect. Overall, it was a delicious but simple tea, perfect for when you want something light to drink.

Oh man! This tea is one tea that I cannot stop brewing. I went to Chado for the first time ever and the experience was good. I bought myself 2oz of this amazing flavored tea. I am a hardcore Oolong fan but a nice black tea is good once in a while. I’ve been searching for teas with my favorite nut/fruit in it (Coconut) and so far this little gem is doing the job! Definitely gives off the nice muscatel flavor of the tea black tea. I want to say the base of this is a type of Assam blend…correct me if I’m wrong (: You can definitely get the sweet notes of the vanilla when brewed on it’s own. I’ll give this tea an 8/10 on its own, straight, 3 minutes steep. But Holy Jesus, Joseph and Mary…This tea brewed for 4 minutes with milk and sugar is pure goodness! The coconut notes definitely come through with the milk. The milk literally tastes like sweet coconut milk, the vanilla is a bit subtle and the strength of the black tea only compliments this whole situation! I Love this tea as a milk tea. I would definitely drink straight as a breakfast tea but I have to say, this is going on my “good with milk” stash!

This was such a bummer. Another tea let-down from Chado. This just tasted like black tea. I kid you not. Where is the plum flavor? The safflowers are pretty, I’ll give it that at least.

Decided to give this chai another chance and made it over the stovetop with almond milk. Boy, does almond milk like to foam up on high heat! This got really dark, and I only steeped it for 3 minutes. I think it’s because of the leaf….almost like a CTC. The taste is kinda burnt. Oops! Maybe I need to watch my heat and steep time next time. Otherwise, it’s okay…there’s maybe some chocolate in there, but overall not a great chai.

This chai reminded me a lot of DavidsTea’s coffee chai, but it had too many high note spices. There was one large chocolate chip in the teaspoon and a half I steeped, but it probably needed more in order to have more chocolate flavor. I think the high note spice must have been the ginger, or maybe the green cardamom. Is there a difference between green and other cardamom? Not sure if I’ve noticed that distinction before. Anyway, it was not well-rounded enough for me and I would have liked more chocolate flavor. Not terrible, but not great. It had such promise…oh well.

I made this iced today (93 degrees in October? WTF Los Angeles), and it was great. Like drinking cold roses.

Very light milky scent as dry which later turns flowery when steeped. The third steep gave off the greatest creamy mild oolong taste that I prefer. I really don’t mind flavored milk oolongs as long as the company is honest about it.

I did really like this one. It has more of a subdued scent and taste than the Republic of Tea Milk Oolong.

This tea is delicious. Normally I find white teas a bit thin in flavor, but the floral fullness of this one really makes it memorable. It also makes a nice iced tea with a smooth flavor and wonderful aroma.

Sweet, interesting and worth buying just to smell it. I find that the smell is most of the appeal though. The cup doesn’t quite capture the nuance of it, but is quite good.

This tea is one of my favorite cups in the morning. It’s not quite a black or green tea, but something in the middle with an interesting flavor that is smooth with a bit of an astringent bite.

This is one of my favorite morning teas. The African Dew has a slight sweetness inherent to it, so little to no sweetener is required, yet it’s robust enough to do well with a little splash of milk and still retain its heartiness. African Dew is a delightful coffee substitute.

First, thank you ToiToi for this sample!

I’m backlogging this one. This is a nice black tea. It was very “clean” in that there were no unpleasant notes. I did find that it lacked flavor. I tried and failed to brew a strong 4 oz cup with this.

This stuff is MAGICAL. My friend ordered it for afternoon tea and from the second we could smell it we’d decided to buy some loose leaf. The mandarin is the most wonderful, subtle taste.

nice, pleasant and mild green tea with the distinct fragrance of the Jasmine flower. Also love the way the tea leaves are presented – three pellets ( the three brothers !) integrated with the jasmine flower !

The picture of this tisane has whole chocolate chips in it. The sample I received did not.
No real chocolate smell nor much chocolate flavor. Not a bad rooibos, just not chocolaty at all.

Actually I thought that maybe the sample had been mis-labeled, because I was getting a slight tart fruity taste in the rooibos. Not a prominent note, but there nonetheless. Together with a distinct lack of chocolate had me wondering. Some black fruit, I would guess – currant or black berries. But if it were a black currant tea, I would expect a more dominant fruity flavor.

Confusing tea….

I’ve been remiss in my tasting notes. A few weeks ago I made a large sample order at Chado Tea. See, I have a love of rooibos and am always looking for vendors offering unique flavors. More often than not international shipping is horrid, so I search for vendors that offer a variety, allowing me to order many samples of rooibos in one order.
Chado Tea Room as a large variety of rooibos. Many are identical to other vendors (same wholesaler, perhaps), but some that are unique, and of which I ordered many. I have tried almost all of the samples, but have yet to rate any of them. I will do that for each on my next round of tasting (sample sizes are generous, so that I can get quite a few cups from the sample).

It’s unfortunate that I’m starting my reviewing from this tea, because it is the one I liked the least so far. Most of the teas were good, some even great. This one is not.

I like the idea of banana and cinnamon, reminding me of a dessert I was served at a restaurant a while ago. Bananas in a creamy sauce with a hint of cinnamon. However the cinnamon here is so overwhelming that I am getting neither banana nor rooibos. Had the flavors been better balanced, I think the combination of banana and cinnamon could have been a winner.
It was so heavily cinnamon that I could not even get past the first sip, which is very rare for me.

Giving it a second thought, perhaps I oversteeped, although 6 minutes for rooibos is mostly standard. I will try this tea again soon, with a shorter steep time. Maybe it will redeem itself. The low rating on this tea is by no means representative of most of the other Chado teas I have had.

perfectly smooth. light flavor. no milk or sweetener.
perfect for afternoon tea with sandwiches and scones.
i drank the whole pot!

-★

Notes:
I’m not normally a Rooibos drinker by any means, but I received this as a gift and tried it.

Nose:
Has a very, very faint aroma of whiskey and flavored pipe tobacco.

Taste/Flavor:
There’s almost no flavor. In fact the flavor is so subtle I can’t really describe it or make an evaluation.

My Ratings…
★ = Didn’t Hate It.
★★ = Not Bad.
★★★ = Me Likey.
★★★★ = Impressive!
★★★★★ = AwesomeSauce!

Found myself reading through Chado Tea Room ‘Tea List’ looking for green teas to try. Listed as special tea – Emei Mountain Bamboo Green tea is that. The dry leaves are very dark in color as compared to other green teas with hint of white on the dry leaves. I think I was attracted to the the color of the leaves. Brewed the leaves turn in to a pale green color with none of the white showing.
I did three 8 oz steepings ~ the 1st was just over to bitter taste. The color was a color of the dry leaves. Very little veggie smell smooth taste with some honey overtones. 2nd was a wash – way too bitter. This is what I get to tasting teas at work ;-). The 3rd is very pale in color almost like a white tea but slightly darker.
I would say I did enjoy this tea but won’t be able to try it again. As I’ve found out I’m allergic to it. =/ Oh the joys of finding that out.
I did not find this on Chado’s web site but it is listed in their in-store Tea List. (S-314)

I had my list of teas ready to select when I went into Chado Tea Room. (I usually buy 1 oz sample sizes and buy up to 8 teas at a time. And buy more when I’m done drinking them.) I’m so nice I even took a friends list of teas to pick-up.
This tea wasn’t on my list nor was it their in store Tea List but made it there when the tea assistant said is there anything else you would like to try…hmmmm…no rush he says…lol there was only 20 mins left in his day! What about pomegrante? He said that they have a white tea flavored w/ pomegrante. I said, Yes, I’ll take that! I didn’t even smell it or ask the price. I just said I would take it.
Pomegrante is one of my favs. I like to spend time taking it apart when eat it fresh. =) I try really hard not to lose any of those arils. I also enjoy Pai Mu Tan white tea.
I tired the tea serveral times since I got it. (8 oz size cups) I liked it unsweeten and sweeten with sugar. The tea brews to a light brown color and smells really nice. Sweetening w/ honey may have been a mistake since the honey had orange blossm flavoring. I think I put too much honey in the tea making it too sweet. I stuck with just plain white sugar cubes.
The flavor is sweet & mild. There is an evenness to the flavors mixed in the tea.
Drinking it cold was great as well – so I will have to make this into an ice tea on those hot summer days of ours.
I think this tea will be ordered again when I go back to Chado =)

Brewed this one up today. The dry leaves are really dark – mix in are the white tea leaves. Reminded me of fall – light & dark mixed together. You get a mixture of leaves & leaves attached to the stems/limbs of the tea tree.
When brewed the color is dark brown almost like coffee. There is veggie smell when brewed. The tea could handle the addition of milk to it.
I brewed the tea in an 8 oz cup for 3 mins.

I woke up this morning tired and with a sore throat. First signs of getting ill. Yikes! Was thinking of a wake-up tea to drink but the throat won out.
I brewed several cups of this. Letting it cool each time before I drank the herbal tea. Smelling the tea reminds me of spring. Fresh – light. Seeing the tea makes me think of the sachets you put in your drawer. Fluffy & light. If the wind came it would blow away in a whirl of yellow.
Since I drink most of my teas at work I prepare them before hand in a Finum tea filter(extra slim size). I couldn’t put enough tea in the tea filter to get much of taste out of them. I ended up useing my infuser from my Bodum teapot. I added about 2-3 scoops of tea and poured the water over it. We had a busy day today- I didn’t pay attention to the brewing times. I added one cube of sugar to an 8 oz cup. I think it would taste fine without sugar too. (Think I was trying to trick my mind into believing I had honey instead.)
I must say I did enjoy this hebal tea. I’m looking forward to drinking it again when I’m not sick. =)

I found this tea by accident. I went to Chado in Pasadena, CA for some tea. I was looking at another tea to try and asked smell it but I didn’t like it. The person at Chado suggested this. I ended up saying I know this smell – Cardamom. =)
The tea is very lite and flavorful. Just a touch of sugar does bring out the flavors.
I really enjoy this tea. It is a regular in my tea stash.