Tag: Black Tea

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Udyan Tea’s Ayurveda Black Tea

Ayurveda Black Tea by Udyan Tea
Black Tea / Flavoured
₹675 for 100g

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

First Impressions

Udyan Tea’s Ayurveda Black Tea came in a sealed, resealable, matte black pouch. The labelling on the packaging only tells me the name of the tea – no ingredients list or steeping instructions on the packaging. Fortunately, this information is available via the product page on their website, but it would be nice to have that information included somewhere on the packaging itself for those not interested in doing a few extra steps to find out those details.

The aroma of Ayurveda Black Tea is primarily the turmeric and ginger. I can definitely see a few other ingredients in the mix, but I can’t pick out the aroma of the black tea. Ayurveda Black Tea consists of black tea, turmeric, ginger, cloves, Indian Ginger and moringa

Preparation

Udyan Tea recommends steeping Ayurveda Black Tea in 90-95°C (194-203°F) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I opted to do a steep with 91°C (195°F) water for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Ayurveda Black Tea steeps to a slightly cloudy, orange-brown colour. I can definitely smell the ginger and turmeric in the steeped tea. I found the tea to have a nice level of spices in the flavour, with a strong turmeric flavour throughout the entire sip. I didn’t really taste the black tea base, which I think is a bit of a shame since I feel like it should be somewhat noticeable.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Ayurveda Black Tea once, adding an additional 30 seconds to my steeping time. I found that the flavour was quite similar to the initial steep, where the ginger was a bit more prominent than the turmeric. I wasn’t able to detect the black tea in the second steep.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Udyan Tea’s Ayurveda Black Tea was just okay. I thought this blend had a really nice flavour from the turmeric and ginger – the level of spice and warming qualities from the ingredients was pleasant. I do wish that the black tea was more prominent in flavour and aroma, because that’s one of the primary ingredients. I think it would be nice if the flavours were better balanced so I could still taste the black tea. Ayurveda Black Tea would be a pleasant candidate for black into a latte – just watch how you prepare this tea because turmeric can be quite staining to plastics.

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Ahista Tea’s Roadside Chai

Roadside Chai by Ahista Tea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$14.99 for 100g

Ahista Tea has provided me with Roadside Chai for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Ahista Tea’s Roadside Chai came in a resealable bag – but not sealed. The tea came in prepackaged sachets, but the tea has a very strong lemongrass and mint aroma, which is interesting because I do spy some black tea in the blend – but I can’t smell it.

Roadside Chai consists of black tea, ginger, lemongrass, and field mint. So I wasn’t off about the lemongrass and mint – although the visible lemongrass is a giveaway. I don’t really smell the black tea or the ginger, but I think that’s because both lemongrass and mint are both such strong aromatic ingredients. Because of the mint, I don’t really get a ‘chai’ spice feeling from the blend.

Preparation

Ahista Tea recommends steeping Roadside Chai in 90-100°C (194-212°F) water for 3 to 5 minutes. My initial steep was with 91°C (195°F) for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Roadside Chai steeps to a golden brown with orange undertones. The aroma is very strongly of lemongrass with mint in the background, which is not overly surprising given the ingredients in this blend and how the dry leaf smelled. I found the tea to be lightly sweet, with strong lemongrass and mint flavours. I don’t really taste the ginger – it’s lacking that warming quality that ginger usually has.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Roadside Chai once, adding an additional 30 seconds. I found the flavour to be quite similar to the initial steep – lemongrass and mint.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Ahista Tea’s Roadside Chai was just okay. The lemongrass and mint was strong compared to the black tea base – I find both lemongrass and mint to be very strong ingredients and they overpowered both the black tea base and the ginger. I do think the tea is missing some of those spicy notes that I enjoy in a chai, which isn’t helped with the strong lemongrass and the lack of warmth from the ginger. I think the flavour would have been better if the ginger was stronger.

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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.