Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Adagio’s Spiced Apple Chai Review

Type: Chai (black base)
Origin: Ceylon
Price: Sample (regular price – $7 for 4oz.)
Vendor: Adagio
Brewing Method: Per Instructed - 1 teaspoon of leaves, 1 cup of filtered water, heated to 200°F-210°F, steeped for 4-5 minutes
Overall Score: 3.4 out of 5

Spiced Apple Chai is black tea with apple chunks and Adagio’s own Masala spices blend. Pungent spicy and fruity aromas hit me when I open the can. The sweet apple followed by the cinnamon and clove aromas can be identified. Big chunks of apple can be seen along with the tiny black tea leaves, cloves, and cardamom.

The liquor is a light orange color. The main thing I smell is the cloves from the freshly made tea followed by the fruity aroma of the apple. Cinnamon is close behind, but I have to fight through the cloves to find them.





I taste the spicy cloves first, but the sweet apple is right there with it. The apple flavor lingers on the tip of my tongue while the cloves settle in the back of my throat. The brew is not bitter, but the cloves attack the back of my mouth and leave it dry.

Milk and/or sugar may be able to mellow out the flavors and bring out the sweet apple flavor. I think this would be a great tea on its own if about half of the cloves were taken out of the recipe for the blend.

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