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As a disclaimer…I don’t like iced tea of any sort. I like many different kinds of herbal tea and Indian spiced chai, but know that if I can taste what I can only describe as a “tea flavor” in a tea (yes I realize that sounds rediculous) then I will probably not rate it very highly. If you are an iced tea lover then please keep in mind that my reviews are probably not going to be very helpful to you.

This was just a random tea bag that was given to me and so I thought I would brew it and give it a try as part of my experimentation journey. It had a little bit of the “tea flavor” that I don’t like, but not as much of some of the others I have tried recently, so I went ahead and finished the cup at least without gagging. A little hint of orange peel type flavor (orange pekoe?), but the “tea flavor” prevailed over it so it was doomed to fail overall. Won’t be buying any more of this one.

This was a decent Chai, though it is not as good as the loose leaf Chai that I have. I do like that this one is caffeine free, so I can drink it in the evenings when I am not wanting to stay up late.

Not aweful, but not really very good either. Pretty bland and tasteless, but the subtle flavor that does come through I did not find all that pleasant.

Horrible. I couldn’t even finish it. Took one sip and threw it out. Not sure if it was just the particular kind of tea it was or what, but I thought it was NASTY.

This review is really a continuation from my last review on this same tea…so if you want the full story then read my previous review.

After brewing this tea with plain water, I found the the spices, though good, to be quite overwhelming. It reminded me a little bit of drinking hot apple cider, which gave me an idea: I wonder what this tea would taste like if it were brewed in hot apple juice instead of water!

This review is the result of that experiment. For this tasting, I cut the tea to liquid ratio in half (1tsp of tea for 2 cups of liquid) from what I did last time, and instead of water I boiled apple juice to brew it in. I must say the result was QUITE tasty! It was very much like hot apple cider, and thanks to the reduced potency and slightly reduced steep time (4 min instead of 5), the spices were not nearly as overpowering as in my previous cup.

I call this a win and will definitely add it to my regular tea drinking list.

I’m still really new to tea drinking. A fellow tea friend gave me some of this tea when I told him I was getting into the hobby. I tried it the other day by mixing 1tsp with 8oz water. Boiled the water then steeped for 5 minutes. It was quite strong and spicy, but I liked it. It reminded me a little bit of hot apple cider…which gives me an idea…(check out my next log review on this tea).

My only complaint about this Chai has to do with the name itself. Did a little research and found out that there is actually no such thing as “Chai Tea”. The word “Chai” is basically the Hindi word for “tea” and is not a specific flavor or type of tea. Calling it “Chai Tea” is not really saying anything except “tea tea”.

That being said, my research further revealed that Chai is quite popular in India and comes in very many types, flavors, and methods of preparation (ie…Chai Latte, etc). Similar, I would imagine, to the American coffee craze. So even though the word “Chai” itself doesn’t really denote any specific combination of spices, the name does seem to carry with it a certain gravity of ethnic flavor that does set it apart from other iterations of “tea”.

New tea drinker. This was the first cup in my journey. Was not mind blowing, but relaxing and pleasant.