Anyone who has travelled through India will have tasted Chai. Traditional Chai is made with strong black tea with the addition of spices and milk. It is drunk throughout the day as a restorative. This Chai ‘blend’ from Cartel Roasters is ready to go chai – just brew and add milk (and, perhaps, a sweetener).
The ingredients are the usual suspects: Premium Ceylon black tea, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, pepper, bay leaf and cloves . It smells of raisins and wood…and entices.
Steeped for 3-4 minutes (95 degrees), the tea has a full, robust flavour with some astringency. You can drink it straight up with no additions. You can brew it stovetop in a 1:1 ratio of milk and water. Or you can brew it at a concentrated strength in water and then add a splash of steamed milk. It is recommended to add a sweetener to accentuate the spices. And on that note, I can’t help but feel the spices have been lost along the way. Or perhaps I have had too many cups of sweet chia in Nepal and my palate is biased.
Post-script: After a long 3rd steep, this chai improved. As the tea loses its boldness, the spices come through and the balance improves.
205 °F / 96 °C
3 min, 0 sec
2 g
4 OZ / 120 ML
