Chad's Chai and Tea Company

Raspberry jam on a toast. Yummy raspberry forward.

Solid green tea. Love the subtle cooling of the mint

I have a real conundrum on my hands. It is not an exaggeration when I say I have thousands of sheets of origami paper, and that is not even counting the start strips! Currently I have the bulk of the paper in three sea themed photo totes (the nice ones you find at Michaels) but of course there is a lot of paper in other various places (for example a plastic storage unit has two of the three drawers stuffed with paper). Here is the problem, I want them organized so I know exactly what I have…and I cannot think of a way to do that!
Who knew that having so much paper would cause such dilemmas, clearly the answer is to fold a lot more!

Today’s tea is a chai that is not for the weak of heart (or taste buds) and certainly not for those who are not a fan of the hot stuff. Chai Ya Yai! by Chad’s Chai is an extra spicy blend of Full Leaf Indian Black Tea, Organic Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Clove, Chili Pepper, Star Anise, Organic Ginger, and Organic Cardamon. Similar ingredient list to Chad’s Black Chai, but with extra chili. I learned my lesson and didn’t stick my nose in the pouch, but even wafting the aroma towards my nose ended up with my sneezing and coughing. Not gonna lie, I am a little afraid! Between sneezing and coughing and I could detect the aroma of peppers, ginger, and intense spice with a very slight hint of malt base tea.

Once I give the new hotness a steeping in the hot water (it is all about heat with this tea) I notice that I can sniff the tea without dying of pepper up the nose. The aroma is sweet and malty with rich (yet much calmer) spices. It smells really intense and quite good, the intensity of the chili no longer scares me quite as much. The liquid is richly malty and gingery, there is still a good bit of chili and pepper, but the ginger takes the center stage. I find that the pepper and chili really compliments the aroma of the malty base tea.

Ok, steeling the nerves in my mouth for the inevitable shock. I will admit, I love the taste of spicy food but tend not to eat it too much because my guts are delicate. Since this is a chai I do have the traditional cream and sugar, so that might take away the edge of the chili. Actually, I am not sure it does take the edge off, because that is an intense heat. I should point out that it is not a painful running for a glass of milk heat, it warms up the entire mouth and finished with a little burn at the end of the swallow. There is more to this chai than chili, the other spices are well balanced and the tea is rich and malty. I like this chai a lot, even though it is not strong in the cardamon and anise department (which is my favorite kind of traditional chai) this one fits nicely into the ‘unusual chai’ category which I adore.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/04/chads-chai-chai-ya-yai-tea-review.html

I was given a lovely new journal today for logging tea notes because, yes, I filled up another one! It is a beautiful shade of cobalt (one of my favorite colors) with an embossed peacock on the cover. The cover is made with rubbery pseudo suede which has the best texture, I keep rubbing the cover because it is so soft! I will certainly enjoy writing about tea in this lovely journal.

Today I am going to be your Chai Wallah, ok not really, I am not that cool. Chad’s Original Black Chai by the titular Chad’s Chai is a blend of Full Leaf Indian Tea, Organic Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Clove, Organic Chili Peper, Ginger, Star Anise, and Organic Cardamon. The first this I notice about the aroma is how intense it is, I really dumbly put my nose right into the package instead of wafting and ended up with a hilarious sneezing fit. The chili pepper and black pepper really pack a punch, so don’t do like me and stick your nose in it! After my schnoz calms down and I can analyse the aroma from a distance I notice that the tea smells rich and a bit earthy with potent spices. Primarily ginger and peppers with a secondary kick of cinnamon. The cardamon and star anise is very faint and there is a mild finish of malt.

Once I give the leaves a good soaking the leaves have an earthy, malty, and spicy aroma. The spices are a bit diminished, but there is a still an intense kick of pepper. This tea smells hot and warms me down to my toes. The liquid has a rich and sweet aroma, less earthy and more of a melange of spices since no one spice stands out.

Since this is a chai is is brewed with the traditional sugar and cream (ok, Half & Half is my cow product of choice, so not exactly cream) The first thing I notice is the initial warm kick of spices, it is not unpleasantly hot, just enough spiciness to warm my mouth up. This quickly fades to a blend of gentler ginger and cinnamon with a mix of earthy and malty. The tea finished with a kick of peppers again so it leaves a pleasant burn in the mouth. This is a good chai, but it is not really the type that rocks my world. I prefer my cardamon and anise to be the prominent spice and the more ‘hot’ spices to be secondary. I also really thought the base tea was quite good.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/02/chads-chai-chads-original-black-chai.html

I was reeeally excited about this one. Besides black tea, peppermint is one of my great loves. Real, honest-to-god peppermint. Chad at Chad’s Chai was gracious enough to send me five very generous samples with my cup infuser, he even allowed me to pick out which ones I wanted! I was like a kid in a candy shop. No, seriously, it was shameful how excited I was.

This was the first one I opened… and man it was heavenly. I’ve had lots of peppermint teas before, but nothing ever this strong. I sniffed and sniffed, and sneezed, and sniffed some more. I’m not sure if I should be admitting this addiction to the internet.

I used boiling water. I like my peppermint strong, and boiling certainly didn’t do any harm, save made me wait a bit longer to drink it, or, should I say, allowed me to burn myself sooner. The brew smelled as one would imagine, minty angels wafting into my nostrils on gently unfurling, leafy wings.

The description is very correct in that this tea has a very full body, and is really designed for the mint lover. I can see myself drinking this year-round as it is THE best mint tea I have ever tasted, but I can see some only purchasing this for colder months or as flu relief. This will certainly be a future purchase.

I had some of this over the weekend with soymilk. There was a bit of pepper or something that really kicked the back of my throat. I actually didn’t enjoy this one too much until I added a few packets of sugar, which isn’t a great sign for me.

And thus I’ve nearly worked my way through the teas available at my neighborhood coffee shop. I think I’m going to mostly stick with the darjeeling.

Just had a cup of this with soymilk at a local coffee shop/cafe. It was a lovely iced treat for the beginnings of spring!

I had a cup of this local tea company’s peppermint tea at Simplyummy, a local cafe. Yum!

Woke up at 4:00 AM. Tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t. Now it is almost daylight and I have to stay awake. This fit the bill. As long as I hold the steep time down this is wonderfully fruity and delish. Now that I have learned how to prepare it I am upping the rating. Sip down.

I am running (not literally) all day today, so this may be my only cup. At least it was a good one.

I first used boiling water and a 3 minute steep. It melted my face and the astringency hurt my gut. Definitely too hot and too long.

Second try – Using just below boiling water and a minute and a half steep results in a really tasty cup of Chinese black mixed with what I believe is Darjeeling. It is like this wants to be fruity but won’t fully commit. There is a hint of smokiness in the background. Smooth and delicious.

Like this one a lot. Thanks TeaEqualsBliss.

Hope your Christmas was filled with family and sharing. Mom fixed a fabulous meal. I am stuffed.

We are supposed to have a blizzard over night and into tomorrow. I really need to go to work. I don’t know how many more days they will let me work. I hate snow and ice.

Seems like every time I try a tea I feel like I need to try it again. The rest of you can do great notes the first time. I will learn. Anywho, I will be trying this one again soon, but so far it is fabulous. I wanted a good black breakfast tea and I got it. This was a sample I got along with the basic black chai sample, and I think I actually like this more!

I cream and sugar my breakfast teas, so I like them bold. This is a deep rich flavor, just the right maltiness and power but without being a caffeine blast to the gut, and smooth enough to go with breakfast instead of overpowering it. Of course I sort of forgot about breakfast today and sat sipping instead.

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this!

I had a cup of this last night. It is delicious. I like that the base is a combination of rooibos and honeybush, and I also like that it’s organic. It has a warm, nutty flavor that’s been laden with zesty, peppery spice. YUM! Very warm and comforting, soothing but at the same time SPICY!

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea.

A very nice mint green tea. The mint is strong but doesn’t overpower the blend. I like that there is both spearmint and peppermint, the combination creates a nice depth of flavor. The green tea has a creamy aspect to it that when combined with the mint flavors – well, it’s really quite divine! I like it!

I am getting the pumpkin essence that was described by TeaEqualsBliss (thank you, by the way, for sending me some of this!) … not only in the unbrewed tea, but also in the brewed liquor and just a hint of it in the taste. Not a bad thing – just a bit of a surprise. It’s not a strong essence, just a whisper of pumpkin.

I love the balance of spices in this blend. Right up front, I’m tasting the Star Anise which is a favorite spice of mine, and I’m glad to see it in this blend. I am not getting a lot of chili pepper taste, there is a vague, low note of chili and black peppers in the background but this is not a strong SPICY tea, rather, it is a pleasant level of spice.

Very nice!

Backlog From the weekend drank several cups see other notes