Apolis Tea

Hmm, not a fan of this.

It’s meant to be a sort of ginger chai with orange and vanilla. I definitely get a strong, earthy ginger flavor, which is fine. Oddly it smells strongly of licorice root to me, and I feel like I taste a licorice root kind of flavor as well, just without the sweet aftertaste. Not sure if that’s the ginger combined with vanilla? There’s also generic “natural flavor” in the ingredients, so maybe there’s some anise or something there? I don’t taste orange in the slightest.

So kind of ends up tasting like a ginger and licorice root chai to me? Which is not something I expected or would ever seek out ha ha… XD

I don’t think I’ve ever had a vanilla chai that I was happy with, so not sure why I continue to try them LOL.

This is really nice though, I can actually taste a clear vanilla flavor at the beginning of the sip, and it’s light and marshmallowy. The end is dominated by the spices, which are fairly well-balanced, with cardamom standing out as the strongest. I don’t get a ton of cinnamon but can definitely pick out the clove and ginger. The base is somewhat brisk but not overly so.

Not sure I would order this specifically since I have other chai blends that I like, but I did appreciate that I could actually taste the vanilla, and the spices tasted fresh.

So ginger. Much wow.

This strikes me as a Rishi-style blend for some reason. The ginger is extremely potent, enough that it feels spicy and tingly on my tongue. It’s difficult to taste the citrus notes alongside such a powerful ginger flavor. I did add some clover honey, which helps tame it just a tad.

This isn’t something I would personally drink, as the ginger is too spicy for me. But it was certainly interesting to try, and I’m sure it would work wonders for my digestion! XD

I don’t recall exactly how I found this tea company, but I stumbled upon their website somehow. They have some interesting blends, and offer samples for $2 a pop, so how could I resist? XD I will say, the samples are fairly generous too, with enough tea for two large mugs.

This is the first tea I saw from them, so I figured I would steep it up first as well. It’s quite lovely. I sometimes have issues with blackberry and mixed berry flavoring tasting chalky to me, but thankfully this one isn’t like that. It has a lovely sweet-tart fresh blackberry flavor to it, which goes so well with the citrusy bergamot. The flavoring level overall is somewhat restrained, but I can still taste both flavors clearly. The base has a touch of musty earthiness, but is also somewhat tannic, so I assume it’s a blend of multiple black teas.

So off to a good start with Apolis! So nice to find a blackberry flavor that I enjoy, and looking forward to trying more teas.