Chai

I’ve been on a search for the perfect chai since I don’t care much for most flavored teas and chai with 1 part heated milk to 2 parts tea and plenty of sugar is pretty much dessert tea for me. This sample is about as good as any chai blend I’ve had. And it’s much better than any I’ve had recently. All the spices I expect come through. None of them overpower the flavor, though I worried the ginger might because it certainly overpowers the scent of the dry leaves. And I can still taste the black tea leaves, which are tightly coiled and look exactly like black tea used for chai should look. And there are no artificial or natural flavorings to give me headaches , so yay.

Very good balance of spices and tea overall. I think I’d like it better with a bit of black pepper, but I can easily add that myself.

Water: 8oz

Leaves: Mixture of tea & spices

Steep: 3m

Aroma: Spice

Color: orange/brown

Taste: My first Chai tea the aroma is a blend spices which smells great! I also know this tea is quite popular when milk is added to make a latte, later I want to give that a try as well. On to brewing the first steep I decided to go with 3m so it wouldn’t get too strong. At first sip I found it to be a bit bland & bitter but as I continued drinking the bitterness died down slightly making drinking more pleasant experience. I can’t quite pinpont the flavors but it makes for a okay cup of tea with a slight bitter aftertaste. I wonder if i added some coconut sugar would it help to enhance the flavor.

Tea week, my plan is to drink 1 new tea every day from my current collection & write a review.

Thank You Tealated for the sample

Thanks again for the samples, Tealated! I always have to try the chai. This one is a nice balance of spices: ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves with a CTC type black tea. I didn’t want the first steep to go too long since I didn’t know if the CTC was an astringent one, but it’s actually very smooth and pairs with the spices very well. Plenty spicy here! A very solid, tasty chai. It’s right up there with some of the good chai I’ve tasted before. The second steep right at boiling has a lovely cinnamon kick to it. Both steeps were just as delicious! I’ll never stop loving chai, the first tea I tried and what had me addicted to tea from the first sip.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsp // 4 min after boiling // 3 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4-5 min
Tealated.com

Got this generous, yummy smelling sample from Tealated today.

Since Christmas is over and I’m about to put away the holiday stuff, decided to use a cheap but cute teaset from my mom a few years back that’s Christmas themed:
http://instagram.com/p/xYR3ylpxik/

This chai smells amazing – strong, spicy, flavory.

I steeped for 10 minutes with almost two 2 tsp. in the small teapot.

Drank one cup with sugar, one cup without. I have a sugar-chai connection, think it enhances. The cup without was the second cup and was just as good.

The first sip I tasted a little of the clove…it’s a pet peeve of mine if clove is too dominant in chai blends. This wasn’t, but the clove was there, and my tongue almost started feeling a little numb after a while of ungracefully gulping.

I didn’t taste ginger, although that’s in there and I was curious about it. It must be very subtle.

An excellent chai, very relaxing and cozy.