I decided to try the last teaspoon of this straight off the back of my latte, so the comparison will be clear in my mind. I gave it 3 minutes in boiling water, no additions. One of the things that surprised me was how similar the flavour is to the flavour of the latte – clearly there wasn’t much lost, even though I basically drowned it in milk.
The chocolate is a little clearer, and a little stronger, and still not as artificial as I was expecting. The cinnamon is still very prominent, the ginger perhaps a little lost. It’s kinda there, in the background, but you really have to focus to find it. The ceylon base works quite well. It’s smooth, with no hint of bitterness, and it allows the flavours to shine. In a flavoured black, that’s really all I want from the base tea. Obviously it’s nice if it’s nice, but I don’t want it to be a distraction. The flavour is the whole point, otherwise I’d be drinking a straight black.
I’m going to wrap this up before I start rambling, but I like this one a lot more than I was expecting to. Adagio’s chai blends are usually pretty good, and I would consider buying another sample of this in the future.
