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Birthday Tea Review

Image from Adagio.com

A treat for any day of the year! A tasty blend of vanilla, cream, and a touch of caramel. The inclusion of rainbow sugar sprinkles adds a festive note and makes this tea perfect for celebrating your special day.
Description from Adagio.com.

When I got this tea in the mail, I was surprised. This blend of tea leaves makes you believe that you’re smelling a delicious cake, full of sugar and calories that you don’t want. Adagio even put a decent amount of rainbow sprinkles into the blend. I wonder if these sprinkles will have any significant impact on the overall taste of this tea.

The components of what makes this birthday cake blend are flavored vanilla, caramel, and cream teas. However, they are indeed black teas. I think Adagio mostly pairs these flavors with regular Celon tea, which is a black tea that I’m accustomed to now after drinking their teas for months now.

There weren’t any indications of water temperature and brewing time on the canister, but I went for the average temperature and brewing time of black teas. Depending on this taste test, I’ll be the judge on how long the brewing time should be. I’ve been waiting for this moment for ages too because this tea has a very good reputation over at Adagio.com.

After the first brew, I could get a decent whiff of cake-ness from the scent. It’s not as strong as the aroma from opening the can, but it is there. When you get up close to the scent, it smells just like any decent black tea. Believe it or not, but I’ve never smelled a tea with such sweetness without any sugar additives before, it’s amazing.

When the tea first hits your palate, you will feel a bit let down because it’s not the amazing birthday cake you expected. It tastes just like any other black tea. However, the mid palate is really interesting. There’s a slight hint of the cream component and sweetness from the sprinkles around here. I think the hint of sweetness also comes from the caramel component in the blend. When all is said and done towards the end, the after taste reminds me a bit of the Keemun Rhapsody tea.

After all of this pent up excitement, I really do think that this is a very refined black tea blend that will definitely replace the strong Bearonica’s Berry Zinger that I usually take in the morning. I’d still prefer Keemun Rhapsody as the best tea to drink in the morning, but this ranks in really close. If you’re planning on ordering this tea because you want to “eat” cake everyday, prepare to be let down.

You can come close to that feeling if you add some milk and sugar to it. However, my opinion on adding cream/milk and sugar to any tea/coffee remains the same. You need sugar and cream/milk for cake! So you’re pretty much adding the ingredients of cake to whatever you’re drinking. Tea and coffee with additives is pretty much liquid cake.

Pardon me for such a bold statement, but those are my expressed feelings. I think that I might do a post on my feelings on additives another day.

Rating:
4 out of 5

Zsenso Blueberry Pomegranate White Tea Review

I've never tasted a white tea brewed from a tea bag before. This was a pleasant surprise when one of my co-workers brought this tea out to me for me to try out. And as you know, white teas rank high up there on my list of favorite teas ever. Will this tea bag version of white tea remixed with fruit remain consistent with the white teas I had?

I brewed this white tea for 7 minutes in 180ºF water.

The smell is almost candy-like. It's very sweet and full of fruit. It reminds me of some fruity drink with pomegranate Jolly Ranchers mixed in. I'd say that the pomegranate is the strongest scent in this blend, while the blueberry is there and the earthiness of white tea hardly there. The pomegranate overpowers everything. This scent is a lot stronger and tart than white peach and apricot.

This tea comes in nicely. When it first hit my palate, I got a weak white tea taste. The mid palate is interesting because it's a swirl of blueberries and pomegranate that comes at you randomly. I get some earthy-ness from the white tea, but it's almost as if it's conflicting with the other fruits. The backend is interesting because it leaves a slight refreshing fruity feel in your mouth, it's almost minty. I'd say that the fruit component does overpower everything else. Compared to how slightly subtle the peach in white peach is, this is slightly stronger.

It's a good tea, but there's some drawbacks. Maybe because this is a teabag with shredded tea leaves, some of the true taste must've been lost. I'd LOVE to try this tea in a loose tea version because I'm sure that the full flavor would be something great. This tea is not too bad, but I'd probably return to my truer loose white teas. If you want a teabag version of a tea, purchase gourmet teabags or disposable tea infusers.

Rating:
3.3 out of 5

Dragon Pearl Review

Image from Adagio.com.

Oolong tea from the Fujian province of China infused with the delicate scent of the night-blooming jasmine flowers. If you enjoy jasmine tea, we urge you to try the sublime taste of its well-made varieties. Our 'Jasmine Suite no. 12' is an exotic Dragon Phoenix Pearl tea, comprised of intricate jasmine-infused pearls. Each pearl combines two delicate leaves and an unopened bud. When added to water, the pearls majestically unfurl, releasing their delicate scent and flavor. A spellbinding treat for all senses. While not cheap, this tea is well worth the experience.
Description from Adagio.com.

Beautiful, beautiful Jasmine tea

I'd say with a proper glass cup that could withstand the heat of hot water, you should watch the spectacle of this tea brewing. When you first receive this tea, it'll be inside a tin appearing as little green-ish black pellets. Black pellets you say? Notice that they will unravel slowly as it infuses with the water. It's great to watch, esp. on a slow day.

The scent has to be one of the most beautiful and one of the best tea aromas I've ever experienced. There's a slight sweetness accommodated by the amazing smell of jasmine flowers. And I thought white peony and silver needle had a great earthy smell of flowers. This jasmine oolong tea comes in and blows the competition right out of the water. You will be amazed by the floral-ness of this scent. It's fantastic and anyone would appreciate it.

The flavor of this tea is great. It reminds me of the smoothness that I experienced with white tea, but the floral component is constantly there. It first comes in with a earthy natural flavor that I'm so used to in white teas. There's a slight bitterness at the front, but it's not putting me off at all. In the mid palate, you will find that jasmine flavor and a hint of natural sweetness. Compared with this sweetness I get in some black teas and teabags, this one is very subtle. The after taste is amazing. This tea goes down smooth and amazingly well.

This tea is very solid. There's hardly anything bad I can say about this tea. The scent is fantastic, the flavor is fantastic, and you can brew this tea multiple times. I hear that the third brew is supposedly the best, but I'm too lazy and full to try that. The only downside to this tea is that it's one of the most expensive teas on Adagio.com.

Rating:
5 out of 5

Masala Chai Review

Image from Adagio.com

To most Westerners, it is a little known fact that the word 'Chai' simply means 'tea' in Hindi. Therefore, all teas are technically chais. However, instead of the 'chai' that most Americans are used to (which usually contains really bad tea), we offer a Masala Chai tea - premium Ceylon black tea with a unique blend of spices; cinnamon, cardamon, and ginger.
Description from Adagio.com

The smell is so great and different. I never get the chance to drink much chai tea, but whenever I make a brew, the scent lingers in the air for a long time. When you get a warm whiff of this tea, you will smell the great aroma of the spices in this tea. If you spelled chai before, then expect to smell something like that, but it's just so fresh since the last chai 'tea' I had was in a powdered form.

On the front end of this tea, you will get a large dose of spice action going on. I questioned whether or not this heat that I'm feeling is from the hot water or the spices. It turns out that it was from both, haha. The mid palate is kind of lacking and hollow. I get a small hint of sweetness on the back-end and the aftertaste leaves that enticing spicy feeling in your mouth.

Overall, this tea would be great to brew for people who normally don't drink tea or this kind of tea. For example, you have a house party and you want to serve drinks. Your masala chai brew will be the hit of the party, hopefully. There's something about spicy-ness and parties that makes them sound so right together. Masala chai is that factor, also for casual get-togethers.

To tea fanatics like me, you would probably drink this black, but you might have a hard time getting used to it. The mid palate may be too lacking for you, so you might want to fill in the gap with a little hint of milk and maybe some sugar. Chai tea is the only other kind of tea that I would add milk to (I would add some milk to some black teas).

Good tea, but it needs more by itself. If you aren't serious, milk and sugar will do the job as great additions to this tea.

Rating:
3.75 out of 5

White Peach Review

Image from Adagio.com.

This Southern gem of a fruit is combined with delicate white tea from the Fujian region of China to create a this toothsome flavor of tea. Enjoy it hot or iced, don't blame us if you become hooked.
Description from Adagio.com.

Scent:
The scent is fantastic. This smell is truly that of peaches. It's delectable, excellent and sweet. There's nothing much that I can say, except that this is one for all the peach-o-holics out there.

Taste:
If you're experienced with the white tea world, expect to be a bit surprised. This tea was sweeter than expected. It is loaded with the sweetness of peaches, but it remains as subtle as any white tea can get.

It's delightful, I must say. On the front-end, your tongue is assaulted by the peach flavor of this tea. On the mid palate, you will definitely taste the sweetness of this tea. The aftertaste is great because it leaves a slightly tangy sweetness behind.

Overall:
I can't praise this tea enough. If you're relatively new to tasting white teas, buy this tea. The peach component of this tea will reach out to you farther than any other good white teas enough for you to grab it and appreciate it. White peach is a great tea to start off for your white tea adventure.

Rating:
4.75 out of 5