Adagio’s Bengal Green Chai Review

Type: Chai (green base)
Origin: China
Price: Sample (regular price – $7 for 4oz.)
Vendor: Adagio
Brewing Method: Per Instructed - 1 teaspoon of leaves, 1 cup of filtered water, heated to 170°F-180°F, steeped for 1-3 minutes
Overall Score: 2.8 out of 5

Bengal Green Chai is Chinese green tea with a blend of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and cardamom… and the cloves are already burning the back of my nose and throat. After several attempts, the only thing I manage to smell from the dry leaves is the cloves. The blend is very colorful with the green tea leaves, yellow cardamom, and brown and black cinnamon and cloves.

The liquor is a yellowish green color. The first thing I smell from the freshly brewed tea is cloves (why am I not surprised?)… and that is pretty much it… and overall spicy aroma.





I taste the cloves first and it settles on the back of my tongue and throat. I can’t taste the green tea at all. It pretty much tastes like spicy water. This tea is described as sweet, but I don’t taste that at all. The tea is not bitter, but it is astringent – the heat from the cloves dries out my mouth.

Milk may mellow out the harsh spices, but that may also mask any chance of tasting the green tea (and good luck with THAT by the way). Adagio makes some good green tea. I happen to be a fan of their Sencha and Gykuro… but I am starting to think that chai just isn’t their thing.