Tag: Adagio Teas

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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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Adagio Teas’s White Ayurvedic Chai

White Ayurvedic Chai by Adagio Teas
White Tea / Flavoured
$8.00USD for 3oz

First Impressions

White Ayurvedic Chai came in a familiar foil bag that is resealable and features a print label that has all the information a tea enthusiast might need about a tea blend. The initial sniff of this white tea blend made me think mostly of cinnamon, ginger, and lemongrass. The cinnamon aroma is particularly strong and it really does overwhelm the white tea base as I can’t smell it all – although I can see it!

I’ve never had a spicy chai that had a white tea base, and Adagio Teas’ White Ayurvedic Chai consists of: white tea, cinnamon bark, ginger root, lemon grass, cardamom, black peppercorn, natural spicy cinnamon flavour, cloves, dried coconut, pineapple pieces, and natural ginger flavour. I can see pretty much all of the ingredients, although I did have to give the bag a little shake until I found what I believe to be the dried pineapple. I love the idea of coconut and pineapple in a blend (piña coladas, anyone?), and I’m hopeful that I will be able to taste them once the tea is steeped since I can’t smell them with the cinnamon (and other more aromatic ingredients).

Preparation

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

First Taste

White Ayurvedic Chai steeps to a beautiful golden yellow. The aroma of the steeped tea is primarily cinnamon and ginger. The flavour of cinnamon and ginger are quite strong, there’s a gentle sweetness in the undertones that I’ll attribute to the fruity ingredients. The ginger and cinnamon offer a nice warming quality to the tea, it does a great job of warming me up from the inside out. I didn’t find this chai to be as spicy as expected (especially with an ingredient called “natural spicy cinnamon flavour”), but it still has nice warming, spicy notes to it. I do think that the white tea is quite delicate and light in comparison to the other flavours, but there is a soft floral note at the end of each sip that I think is from the white tea base.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep White Ayurvedic Chai and found it to be very watery in comparison to the initial steep, with minimal ginger and cinnamon flavours. I would say that White Ayurvedic Chai is good for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked Adagio Teas’s White Ayurvedic Chai. I was pleasantly surprised by the nuances in the flavour of this white tea blend when it was steeped. With the dry leaf, it was pretty much just cinnamon, ginger, and lemongrass that stood out to me. Once it was steeped, there was the fruity sweetness from the coconut and pineapple, as well as floral notes from the white tea base. It definitely surprised me – in a good way! I was impressed by the warming qualities in the tea and just how well balanced the tea was when I was drinking it. I do wish that it resteeped better, however I think that the flavours are fantastic in the initial steep and it’s worth a try if you’re looking for a nice chai blend with less caffeine!

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Adagio Teas’s Masala Chai

Masala Chai by Adagio Teas
Black Tea / Flavoured
$8.00USD for 3oz (85g)

First Impressions

Masala Chai came to me in a resealable pouch that had all the necessary information on the label – which is always a nice touch. I have friends and family members with food allergies, so it’s always important to me to be able to check at a quick glance what ingredients are present in a tea blend (thankfully nobody has told me so far that they have an allergy to tea yet!). The rich aroma from the dry leaf is primarily that of the spices that are present in the blend. I can mostly smell the cinnamon and the ginger, as those are the strongest fragrances that I can pick out.

Masala Chai consists of: black tea, cardamom, ginger root, cloves, natural cinnamon flavour, and cinnamon bark. What’s nice is that the ingredients are easy to identify in the blend, there seems to be a fairly even distribution of most of the spices throughout the chai blend.

Preparation

Adagio Teas recommends steeping Masala Chai in 100°C (212°F) water for 7 to 10 minutes. I followed the steeping recommendations and did an initial steep of 10 minutes.

First Taste

Masala Chai steeps to a golden brown with a rich, spicy fragrance from the chai mix. I can easily taste the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. There’s a pleasant sweetness in the tea, which balances well with the spicy notes with this black tea blend. I do find myself searching a bit for the cardamom, which is a flavour that I quite enjoy in chai blends but I also do recognize that it can be easily overpowered by strong spices such as the ginger and cinnamon.

I did pour myself a cup of Masala Chai, and added a healthy amount of locally sourced honey as well as some evaporated milk. Like many chai blends, this is a tea that takes to the addition of sweetener and milk or cream well.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Masala Chai twice, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the first resteep was most similiar to the initial steep – it was a bit watery compared to the initial steep. The second resteep did not fair well, and frankly I did not enjoy it at all. I would say that Masala Chai is good for one more steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked Adagio Teas’s Masala Chai. The flavours of the spices were pleasant, and it did hold it fairly decently to being resteeped. I found myself wishing that the cardamon was more present in the initial steep, and would have liked for it to have a heavier presence in the tea. The other spices were well represented in Adagio Teas’ version of Masala Chai, and I found it to make for a nice cup of tea.

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