Decaf Spice

I’m having a cup of this before bed tonight. I’ve had a little sample pack for awhile and know that I tried it before but don’t remember anything specific about it, so not too memorable (or maybe I just have way too many teas!) The dry leaves smell strongly of spicy cinnamon and cloves. The tea is a little thin, but it’s not weak at all in flavor. I notice a little of the cardamom and ginger, but it’s mostly cinnamon and clove. It actually reminds me of those clove candy sticks that you can find in old timey country stores, yum. I actually like this a lot for a decaf tea and I’m sitting here wondering why I don’t enjoy a cup of this at night more often!

-Dry tea has medium greenish black tea leaves with pieces of orange peel, cinnamon and ginger.
-Dry leaves smell like spicy cinnamon and cloves. Tea liquor aroma is of cinnamon and ginger.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium brown color.
-Cardamom chai flavor with a lingering cinnamon clove finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A warming cup reminiscent of clove candy.

Having been forced to significantly reduce my caffeine intake, I am just dipping my toes into the world of decaf teas. This is my first loose-leaf decaf, and I find it promising. It tastes much more like tea than the bagged decaf teas I’ve tried.

I don’t detect the spice at all. There’s a mild citrus tang, but that might just be the tea – I’m assuming it’s made with ceylon, since that seems to be what all Adagio’s black decaf blends use. This takes a long steep time to develop character, and then the flavor continues to develop after the steeped tea has sat cooling for a few minutes (after removing the infuser). I’ve never had this happen with a caffeinated black tea.

This is a tea with low to medium body and very little bitterness. It has the tangy notes you would expect from a ceylon, but is otherwise fairly nondescript to my mind. I’m not a big ceylon drinker, though.

I don’t detect any unpleasant off notes, nor does it seem to be missing any essential “tea-ness” despite requiring a ridiculously long steep time. What it’s missing is something unique to recommend it – although, frankly, I’m just happy that it tastes like tea. I would recommend this to people who miss the flavor of black tea after quitting caffeine, but will continue to search for a tastier alternative with more character.

I would rate this higher, however, if I could actually taste spices, since this is supposed to be a spice tea.

I felt extremely euphoric (but not hyper) after drinking this (and I don’t after drinking decaf coffee) so either it contains a bit more caffeine than a decaf normally should, or I’m reacting to the theanine (or some other ingredient). Or I have just missed tea that much, I suppose.

I’m glad I only got a sample of this one. I barely finished the cup. It has too much clove and the other flavors are sort of muddled together under the clove. I felt like someone had dumped clove cigarettes into my infuser. Very one note and kind of sickening. It could potentially be used as a single-teaspoon add-in to a fruit tea, but not by me.