Author: Michelle

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Tea Experience: Ladurée

Ladurée
Vancouver, BC
Afternoon Tea $55 each

If you’re ever walking down Robson Street in Vancouver, the Ladurée seems almost too whimsical to exist. With the pale green exterior, and the magical storefront windows feature macaron displays, Ladurée is a little Parisian escape in the middle of the city.

I had the pleasure of going to for Ladurée’s Afternoon Tea with a friend who (thankfully!) didn’t mind that I take photos of literally everywhere. The front of their Tea Salon is their shop – featuring beautiful desserts, and the back is the dining area for those wishing to take part in lunch or afternoon tea. Continue reading “Tea Experience: Ladurée”

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Adagio Teas’s Chai Latte Concentrates

Chai Latte Concentrates by Adagio Teas
Black Tea, Green Tea, Rooibos / Flavoured
$9.00USD for 18oz (6 servings)

Adagio Teas has provided me with Chai Latte Concentrates.

First Impressions

I received the Chai Latte sampler from Adagio Teas when I was getting my samples from Masters Teas to review, and I figured I would review these as well! I got one pouch each of the Chai Latte, Green Latte, and Rooibos Latte concentrates. From what I can tell from the Adagio Teas website, you can buy each type individually as a 6 serving box, with the concentrates portioned out in the pouches.

The pouches that I received look like this, containing 3oz of concentrate for a single-serve cup of latte. Chai Latte is definitely the darkest of the three, with Green Latte being a reddish colour and the Rooibos Latte being a milk chocolate colour. From the product pages, I was able to find out that the Green and Rooibos offerings are meant to be called Green Chai Latte and Rooibos Chai Latte.

Chai Latte and Green Latte smell the same – both have a strong spice aroma to it. Rooibos Latte has a spice aroma, but also a very mild rooibos fragrance in the background.

Left to right: Rooibos Latte, Green Latte, and Chai Latte

Chai Latte consists of: water, cane sugar, black tea, and natural flavour.

Green Latte consists of: water, cane sugar, green tea, and natural flavour.

Rooibos Latte consists of: water, cane sugar, rooibos, and natural flavour.

As someone who loves Chai and doesn’t have food allergies, I’m not too put off by the fact that Adagio Teas doesn’t list the spices in the concentrates, but I know a lot of people who do have allergies, so I think it would be great if they updated the product pages with the full ingredients. I can definitely smell ginger and cinnamon in the concentrates.

Preparation

Adagio Teas recommends mixing 1 pouch of concentrate (3oz) with 1 cup of warmed milk, so that’s what I did with each of them – I used warmed unsweetened soy milk because that’s what I had on hand.

First Taste

I found all three to be sweet and spicy.

Left to right: Green Latte and Chai Latte

I found Chai Latte to have a good level of spice flavour, I can definitely tell that it has a black tea base and it reminds me of a sweeter version of a Chai Latte from Starbucks.

The Green Latte is a bit milder in flavour in comparison to the Chai Latte, which I think is because of the green tea base. I don’t really taste green tea in it though, as I find that the spices really overpower the green tea.

Rooibos Latte

Surprisingly, I found the Rooibos Latte to be tasty. If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know I’m not generally a fan of rooibos blends but the rooibos base in the Rooibos Latte is mostly covered up by the spice flavour-forward profile so I didn’t really taste the rooibos at all.

A Second Cup?

The Chai Concentrates are good for one-time-use only, so there were no second cups.

My Overall Impression

I loved Adagio Teas’s Chai Concentrates. I would say that my favourite would probably be the Chai Latte (black tea), mostly because I didn’t really taste the green tea or rooibos base in the other two (Green Latte and Rooibos Latte). I found that all three to be on the sweet side, which I think could be easily corrected by adding more than 1 cup of warmed milk to 1 pouch of concentrate. It’s very easy to prepare each of them, and I didn’t have any issues with the pouches. I think it would be great if the concentrates came in a more environmentally friendly packaging, since I’m not sure if the pouches are recyclable. A Tetra Pak-like carton, or glass bottle, would be a great option to sell in a multi-serving option for those who don’t want to buy single-serving pouches and would make it recycling friendly.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

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Udyan Tea’s Chocolate Luxe Black Tea

Chocolate Luxe Black Tea by Udyan Tea
Black Tea / Flavoured
₹675 for 100g

Udyan Tea has provided me with Chocolate Luxe Black Tea for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Udyan Tea’s Chocolate Luxe Black Tea came in a sealed, resealable matte black foil bag. The label doesn’t provide a whole lot of information about the tea, I had to pop over to the product page on their website for details about the tea’s ingredients and steeping instructions.

When I first opened the package, I noticed that I could definitely smell the spices. I could primarily smell cinnamon and cardamom, with hints of chocolate in the background. Chocolate Luxe Black Tea consists of: black tea, natural chocolate flavour, cocoa nibs, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, and hops.

Preparation

Udyan Tea recommends steeping Chocolate Luxe Black Tea in 90-95°C (194-203°F) water for 4 to 5 minutes.  I opted for an initial steep of 93°C (200°F) water for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Chocolate Luxe Black Tea steeps to a deep reddish brown colour, with little flecks of oil on the surface of the tea. The aromas are a blend of chocolate, cardamom and cinnamon. When I tried the tea, I noticed it was slightly bitter with a slightly oily mouthfeel. I could taste the cinnamon and cardamom, and noticed a warming quality that I’m attributing to the presence of ginger, but the bitterness is what stands out the most when I sip this tea. It makes me think of like a mix between hot chocolate and masala chai – which worked for me taste-wise when I added a bit of evaporated milk to help temper the bitterness that I noticed.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Chocolate Luxe Black Tea once, adding an additional 30 seconds for the resteep. I found the flavour was pretty similar to the initial steep with less chocolate flavour.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Udyan Tea’s Chocolate Luxe Black Tea was just okay. The spices were nice in this black tea blend, but there was just something about the chocolate flavouring and/or cocoa nibs that just left a bit of bitterness in the tea that was just not appealing to me. The addition of evaporated milk definitely helped to improve it by making it more like a hot chocolate chai drink, and I really did enjoy the cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger in this blend. I just wasn’t a huge fan of the oily mouthfeel that I got mostly in the initial steep. I think this black tea could be better if prepared on a stovetop in milk, as if you were making a proper chai since the milk did help with the bitterness.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.