Dylan Oxford select Send Message

A pirate, a zombie, and a starship captain walk into a bar…

I ordered this tea set off of ThinkGeek.com for two reasons: First off the tins looked awesome. Second, we haven’t actually put in an order with Adagio yet, and this seemed like a good way to get to sample some of their teas. Maybe they wouldn’t have been the first teas we tried, but still. It’s a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of deal.

Let me say one thing, to any other potential geeks out there that must order these for the awesome tins… these tins are tiny. I mean small. They say they are an ounce each. This is possibly true, but man it doesn’t look like it. They’re about 1.5″ × 1.5″ × 2.5″. To put it a different way, you can almost hide two behind a credit card. They’re cute, but the size really makes them of limited use if you brew tea in any sort of significant quantity. Missy and I brew tea in a 40 oz pitcher, so one of these almost makes three pots. Besides, where can you buy tea an ounce at a time (and would it be worth it)?

And so far, the tea is good!

As a basic chai, this is a fairly strong contender. The clove and the cinnamon really balance out quite well, with neither taking too dominant of a role over the other (which I personally consider to be a feat!). Beyond that, the lightly malty flavor of the tea itself shines through, smoothed out with just a hint of cardamom peeking out at the end. I get a little bit of a spicy aftertaste, just barely barely ginger.

While I really do think the balance between the clove and cinnamon is perfectly done in this blend, the cardamom and ginger really feel under-utilized. It is possible that I’m asking too much here. If those aren’t your favorite flavors, this could be a perfect chai. But for me, I want something just a little bit more fitting for a permanent selection.

So, not quite my cup of tea. But it could be your cup of tea! Definitely my tin of tea though.