Author: Michelle

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Adagio Teas’s Raja Oolong Chai

Raja Oolong Chai by Adagio Teas
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$8.00USD for 3oz

First Impressions

I’ve come to really appreciate Adagio Teas’ packaging – colourful, resealable, with all the information I need about each tea blend, right on the package. The bag for Raja Oolong Chai is no exception to that. The first thing that I smelled when I opened the bag was the smell of cinnamon. It’s strong and makes its presence known over the ginger and cardamom that I can see in the mix. The blend itself is beautiful, but heavy on the cinnamon.

Raja Oolong Chai consists of: oolong tea, cinnamon bark, ginger root, cardamom, chicory, cocoa nibs, natural spicy cinnamon flavour, black peppercorn, and cloves. It’s easy to pick out the ingredients, although I did find that when I first took a scoop, there were no tea leaves! I gave the bag a good shake to redistribute the blend again, and got a more evenly mixed spoonful of tea.

Preparation

Adagio Teas recommends steeping Raja Oolong Chai in 100C (212F) water for 5 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions for my initial steep.

First Taste

Raja Oolong Chai steeps to a beautiful, deep orange. The aroma is primarily the cinnamon, although I can smell the ginger root as well when I smell the tea. The flavour of the oolong tea blend itself is mostly cinnamon, with some of the warming qualities of ginger and black peppercorn, with a hint of creaminess that I’m attributing to the cocoa nibs. I found that the cinnamon was the strongest and most prevalent flavour in Raja Oolong Chai. I don’t really taste the oolong base, but it could be adding to the creaminess as well – I do find quite a bit of oolongs have a buttery quality to them.

It does play nicely to be doctored – I added some evaporated milk to my cup and found that it helped to temper some of the cinnamon flavour while allowing the other spices to be more noticed.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Raja Oolong Chai, and found it to be weak compared to the initial steep. I would say that Raja Oolong Chai is good for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Adagio Teas’s Raja Oolong Chai was just okay. I found this tea to be very heavy on the cinnamon – which is great if you’re a big fan of cinnamon flavours. I was hoping for a more balanced spice flavour profile from this chai, and I think it could be accomplished with a bit less cinnamon bark or less of the cinnamon flavouring. This does work well with milk, so I think there is potential if you’re a fan of a chai latte. The warming qualities of cinnamon and ginger are quite nice in this oolong blend, so there’s a lot of potential in mixing it up with different dairy products or sweeteners.

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F & B Tea Co’s Sugar Scrubs

Sugar Scrub by F & B Tea Co
Green Tea & Black Tea / Flavoured
$3.95 for 20g (sampler)

F&B Tea Co’s Sugar Scrubs came to me as part of The Sugared Teacup’s August themed subscription box.

First Impressions

I received these two Sugar Scrubs from F&B Tea Co via The Sugared Tea Cup’s August box. They came in little zipped baggies with a label over the opening. I got two different flavours: Reinvented Chocolate and Cherry Rose. The labels have all the ingredients listed and the clear bags allow me to see the scrub itself. Reinvented Chocolate has a brown colouring to it, and it smells like chocolate. Cherry Rose is a light pink, I can smell the roses, but I don’t really smell the cherry.

Reinvented Chocolate consists of: organic cane sugar, organic coconut oil, organic Darjeeling black tea, organic coconut butter, organic cocoa powder, orange blossom water, Oreo chocolate crumble, cinnamon sugar, bergamot essential oil, and vitamin E. Cherry Rose consists of: organic cane sugar, organic brown sugar, organic coconut oil, red rose green tea, rapsflower blossom honey, organic pure cherry juice, rose water, and vitamin E. Both labels on the sugar scrubs state that they are edible.

Preparation

There were no instructions on the sampler bags’ labels, nor were there instructions on the company’s Etsy product listings for usage. The product listings for the company’s Sugar Scrubs did boast a shelf life of 4 to 6 months.

First Taste

I tasted a small amount of each Sugar Scrub. I found Reinvented Chocolate to taste like chocolate and sugar – which I’m not surprised at given the ingredients in it. I don’t really smell Oreo cookies in it, but they probably add to the chocolate flavour of the scrub. Cherry Rose tasted sweet, with a hint of roses. It has a nice floral flavour to it.

I did try both Sugar Scrubs in the intended manner. What I did was use a clean spoon to scoop some up and rubbed it into some rough dry spots on my hands, and then washed away with warm water. Now, the product listings do state to use the Sugar Scrubs daily for four consecutive days, and then as needed. I use them for two days (one day per flavour). I found that the gritty texture of the Sugar Scrub did help remove some of the dead dry skin, although I’m not sure if the flavouring aspect of each scrub did anything for me.

My Overall Impression

I liked F&B Tea Co’s Sugar Scrubs. I think I would be more likely to use these as a sugar alternative versus skin care product. The 20g bag is supposed to last 7 days, but I think that really does depend on how large of an area you’re trying to scrub. However, flavours are very similar to what the names are – Reinvented Chocolate especially. I think that Reinvented Chocolate would be a great addition to a black tea, while Cherry Rose would be great in either a flavoured green tea or a black tea. Both would be nice alternatives to plain sugar cubes for an afternoon tea.

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Trader Joe’s Earl Grey

Earl Grey by Trader Joe’s
Black Tea / Flavoured
$1.99USD for 40g (20 sachets)

First Impressions

Just wanted to start off with the fact that I’m really sad that this is my last tea that I’m review from my cross-border tea shopping haul that happened back in September. I’m pretty sure this just means that I need to go shopping again (right?).

I picked Trader Joe’s Earl Grey because I love Earl Grey, and I like to judge tea companies based on the quality of their Earl Grey blends. Earl Grey came in a cardstock box, holding 20 tea sachets. Each tea sachet is individually wrapped in a foil packet – so bad for the environment! However, unlike the last Trader Joe’s tea that I reviewed, there weren’t any staples holding the tag to the string or the string to the bag – so there’s that, at least? The tea bag material is slightly stained yellow on multiple bags, so I suspect that it’s due to the bergamot oil.

The aroma of Earl Grey is primarily the bergamot, such a nice rich citrus flavour! The black tea base isn’t as strong compared to the bergamot, but I can smell it. It reminds me a lot of an Assam black tea with its rich malty notes. Earl Grey consists of: black tea and bergamot oil.

Preparation

Trader Joe’s recommends steeping Earl Grey in boiling water (100°C/212°F) for 3 to 5 minutes. My initial steep was for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Earl Grey steeps to a deep reddish orange. The aroma of bergamot is strong in the steeped tea. On first taste, all I can taste is bitterness, the tea is very astringent. I did another initial resteep, this time at 3 minutes, and found that tea was more drinkable. I could taste the bergamot, and the malty notes from the black tea play well with the citrus flavours. At 3 minutes, I found no bitterness or astringency.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Earl Grey and found the flavour to be severely lacking. I would say that Earl Grey is good for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Trader Joe’s Earl Grey was just okay. Part of my problem with this tea is the packaging that can’t be composted or recycled (those foil-lined packets!), and that the tea was pretty terrible when steeped for 5 minutes (which is part of the recommended steeping times). However, Earl Grey did redeem itself when I did an initial steep for 3 minutes. The flavours were well-balanced, and it made for a decent cup of Earl Grey. That said, there are a lot of Earl Grey options out there that have less packaging (or more recyclable/compostable packaging). The flavour is on point for an Earl Grey, but it just doesn’t excite me as much as other bergamot black tea blends do.

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