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THERE’S BAKING SODA IN THIS!!! “No additives” my butt. Baking soda and vitamin C do not belong in tea. And worse, it tastes like it was left in the fridge for about a week. Even good, organic loose leaf tea tastes funky when left too long after steeping. What a horrible waste of organic green tea. Might have well used fannings for it. …But on the up side, since they do use organic tea at least I know that the baking soda and vitamin C are the only weird, icky things in here…

On a side note, this is the 1st time I’ve gotten a FedEx from Adagio before. It’s always been USPS or UPS. And holy flip! The package came at 7:45 AM!

Ok, I wanna see just how caramely I can get this. Obviously gonna add caramel macchiato creamer to this. But instead of increasing steeping time to compensate for it, I think I’m gonna double the leaf. 2tsp tea/1TB creamer/6oz just below boiling water.

Whoa. Yep. CARE-A-MELL! It is almost exactly like I would imagine melting down a caramel hard candy and adding a tiny splash of creamer would taste like. By the time I got to the bottom of cup it was almost too sweet to handle. But that’s exactly how I wanted to get it tonite. Yum!

Ok, there’ve been like 6 different chai tasting notes on my dashboard today so I just had to have this tody… haha… yeah right… like I needed a reason:) 1tsp on top of a mix of Mayan Chocolate Chai, Caramel LatTEA and Mocha LatTEA at various stages of steeping plus 1tsp of caramel macchiato creamer.

In spite of only adding 1tsp of creamer, this seems pretty thick… almost… chewy… I’ve never used that to describe tea before and I’ve never even understood that verbiage til now… but I do think it’s on the verge of being chewy. No flavor is really strong which shocks me… hm. Strange. This is certainly an odd cuppa tonite. Oh well, that’s ok- it keeps me on my toes. Haha I’m full of jokes tonite=D

I just had a splash of Smart Balance milk left, so I dumped it in. Not really a “splash” kinda girl when it comes to milk in my chai, but what else am I gonna do w/ this little bit of milk?

Blech… extremely watery spicy chocolate milk…

Not feeling well emotionally or physically today so I decided to pack my OJ w/ extra matcha. 1TB/8oz OJ. Not sure what brand mom bought this time, but it looks different… thicker… more opaque. It tastes different too. I don’t think it’s just cuz of the matcha. It tastes… creamier? Yes… more like a matcha dreamsicle… strange…

Infusion 2 from last nite. 1TB of leaves steeped in only 6oz of water. Then I added a tsp each of caramel coffee creamer and double mocha instant cappuccino mix. It tastes JUST like a tea latte from Starbucks. Unfortunately the mocha is just an after thought, but I added it mostly for the powdered milk and instant coffee anyway.

Decided to make this for me and mom for dessert. 1TB/16oz just below boiling water (I treat the coffee oolongs like black teas). I always round up to a TB when making 16oz of tea. It’s just easier than measuring 2 2/3tsp.

The liquor is a dark caramely color… not as dark as coffee. The aroma is equal parts coffee, tea, and caramel. Sweet, but not sickeningly sweet like most lattes.

Score! There’s a light (coffee like) roastyness to the oolong (these are the only roasty oolongs I like) and a smooth caramely finish. But… The name of this is Caramel LaTEA and… there’s no creamy/milky quality to this. Don’t get me wrong, this tastes almost exactly like a caramel flavored gourmet coffee, but not a caramel latte or even LaTEA- at least w/o adding milk to it. And I think a tea should live up to it’s name w/o additions. So, while a 100 is impossible, this is an amazing tea- and the perfect coffee substitute.

I had a little bit of Crystal Light Lemonade left so I tried to salvage it buy adding 2TB lime juice and a tsp of matcha- James Bond Style. It worked pretty good but the obnoxious sweetness of the lemonade can still be tasted in the back of the sip sometimes. I like my home made lemon or limeade.

Added 1/2tsp to a 4oz container of lime Fiber One yogurt. The strawberry is there, but very subtle. And the best part- it’s already green so it doesn’t look absolutely putrid when you add the matcha lol.:)

Personal message to Frank: I propose you create a tea blend called Dirty Tortuga Chai. Read below for a description and why I think you should create this wonderful blend.

I love what I call Dirty Tortuga Chais (yes an espresso drink, but read this tasting note on how you can enjoy this beverage in an all tea version). Tortuga is Spanish for turtle- what the combination of chocolate and caramel is often called. A DTC for me, until about 2 years ago, had always been a caramel mocha latte w/ chai bags. Then I found Dr. Tea’s Coffee Oolong. SCORE! I love this oolong because the flavor comes from the process, not the addition of flavors. Upon this discovery, my DTC became an all tea beverage- equal parts of Coffee Oolong, a caramel flavored black tea, a chocolate flavored black tea, and a chai. Then I found a Creme Caramel Oolong. And THEN I found and fell in love w/ Mayan Chocolate Chai. The new formula (Equal parts MCC, Coffee Oolong, and Creme Caramel Oolong) was improved w/ the addition of almonds and cayenne, making my DTC much more authentic. Dr. Tea must have heard my prayers for an even better blend because he created Caramel LaTEA by adding caramel to his Coffee Oolong. That is the blend I am drinking today. 1/2TB each MCC and Caramel LaTEA, one cup each water and Fat Free Smart Balance milk. Now on to my cuppa…

This blend is divine… chocolately, yet sweet from the caramel… spicey, yet more subdued due to the the reduced amount of cayenne as well as the extra flavors. A richness is given by the Coffee Oolong, yet it does not contain the acidic burn that espresso often has.

But… yes… but… Yes I know. I had you all drooling over this cuppa, wishing you had some. But. BUT! It could be better!

Frank,
This blend, while wonderful, needs tweaking. Tweaking only you can do. You see, only so much blending can be done w/ two teas. It needs more- more coffee, more cayenne, more chai spices, more chocolate, more caramel. I propose 1 tea. One tea that is better than the some of this tea’s parts. I propose a tea much like your already wonderful Mayan Chocolate Chai, but with a few changes. I suggest roasting a black or oolong tea like Dr. Tea has to create the coffee flavor w/o the need to add coffee itself and using that as the base for the chai. The only other addition I suggest is the addition of caramel. These 2 changes would make the PERFECT chai. This tea would make coffee drinkers all over the world go “Star….who?!” Dr. Tea is grabbing the attention of coffee drinkers and you need to show them what REALLY can be done w/ tea!

Any other chai, mocha, and/or caramel latte drinkers out there with me? I used to say “I love drinking tea all day, but I also love my coffee”, but if I could grab this perfect tea for my daily chai habit (I go thru a 2oz pouch in less than a week), I promise I will never drink coffee again.