Chaiwala

Stovetop Latte Sipdown (318)

The best before date on this was early November or December of this year and while it is still very tasty, there is a touch of flavor deterioration. That’s fine though since it just means there is slightly less spice than there originally was, and there originally was a lot so its still very flavorful.

I am sad to be finishing this one because as far as chai goes, this is by far my favourite. It’s just the perfect balance of spice and sweet. And just so comforting on a cold and snowy day like today. It’s got the burn from the ginger and pepper that hits the back of your throat but the honey and anise keeps it sweet as well. It’s just awesome and I am sad that its gone and also sad that it seems Chaiwala has no boxing day sale. In fact, it seems most places aren’t having boxing day sales and if they are, they aren’t great sales.

Made this on the stovetop as a latte like I normally do. When I poured the tea into the mug from the pot, I spilled a bunch down the side of the pot which happened to be over the crack between the stove and the counter. So the kitchen got a bit of a cleaning around the Stove…my bad. It’s good though. Spicy and sweet and just the perfect chai. Worth the mess.

I cold brewed this overnight and its really good. A lot of milky sweetness from the honey with great chai spices. I’m getting a lot of ginger and clove today which is playing off the honey and sweetness from the milk really nicely.

So this is the first tea ever that I’ve posted twice in my #365daysoftea on Instagram. I actually keeps notes and stuff to make sure I don’t repeat but yesterday I sorta just said fuck it. I decided I wanted to make a while chocolate latte, inspired by the matcha one I had last week. However, I’m at my sisters with only a fraction of my tea stash which means none of my matcha. I decided a chai version of the latte could be good but I only have this chai or a boxed grocery store chai, I think PC brand, that my sister got as part of a gift basket. I debated using the boxed chai just to get that diversity for my photos but then I was like screw it, I’m experimenting and intend on using the good, high quality chai I have lots of and would prefer to drink. So the repeat happened since I also didn’t end up making any other teas.

Honestly, it was the right choice to use this because I’ve never made the white chocolate latte and while I used too much white chocolate, this was really good. This blend of chai spices really suits my tastes and the white chocolate added an awesome creaminess. Plus, since I know what to expect from this blend, when something was off, it was super clear that it was the amount of white chocolate used. And by “off” in this case, I don’t mean bad because this was delicious. Instead, by “off” I just mean that there was an imbalance of flavours that I know I can improve on.

Today my brother-in-law and I are venturing out into the world which we aren’t really supposed to be doing but we are going to London to close down my apartments and get things like my clothes, my textbooks, and my tea/teaware. When we return with all that, I’ll be back into quarantine with my sister while my brother and brother-in-law have to venture into the world for work. Hope everything is doing okay in these crazy times. I know I’ll be happier when I have all my stuff with me…mostly all my teas.

You guys know I don’t love chai but you may have also noticed I’ve been trying them more and more. This particular chai is a wet chai that I grabbed at the one of a kind show in Toronto a couple months back because I tried the sample and it was very creamy and delightful.

This company recommends doing the chai on the stove and I’m lazy so that hasn’t happened until now. However, today while still watching Ratatouille I decided to make it since I could cook and watch all at once (a luxury I don’t have at my own apartment but do have at my sister’s place).

Making it at home, it’s still just as good as the sample at the one of a kind show. It’s creamy and sweet with a nice ginger flavour to balance the honey. Add to that a nicely balanced mix of chai spices and you have a really lovely chai among chais. I think it’s my favourite and it’s one I have in a large quantity which would usually be stressful but I’m happy to work my way through it.

I had this at the tea festival last year and loved it. So much! But when I got it home. I could never copy how they had done it at the festival (they did it as a latte, but somehow I couldn’t do it at home).
Anyways, the other thing I had with this one was that every time I made this one I would end up with an upset stomach. I don’t have a clue as to why. The only thing I can think of is the honey as I never eat honey. Like ever. I don’t like the taste of it. SO now I’m wondering if maybe I have an allergy or maybe just an intolerance to honey… Who knows…?

mmmm thank you for the re-visit with this one VariaTEA. Actually had a chance to make this properly on the stovetop today and it was delicious. It seems a little less amazing than the first time i had it, but i suspect that’s just me lol.

Farewell delicious tea! Finished this one off today. Sad to see it go, but happy to finish this off before the year is up.

Had a cup of this one since it’s in keeping with my theme of sipdowns. This is one of my oldest teas and i’d like to finish this and the rooibos version up before the end of the month. This cup was a little on the spicy side but still had the deliciousness that i love from this chai. Suspect i won’t pick up more at the tea festival this year though as i never seem to find the time to make a proper cup of chai on the stovetop and for this particular blend it’s the best way to have it!

Final Count: 42 (until i add the ttc teas that showed up)

made some of this stovetop this past weekend even though it was super hot out. I was in the mood for something warm and comforting and it fit the bill. I really enjoy the overall flavour of this chai especially since it’s not overly clove heavy. Figure i should drink this one up before we get around to the tea festival again…feels like February is just around the corner at the rate life is running these days heh

took this one with me to work today – brewed in water with just a little milk added after the fact. Not as delicious as stove top version, but still a great cup for a rainy toronto day

Finished this one off today for an afternoon latte. So tasty. I’ll have to consider picking up a little more at the tea festival if we go this year.

brewed this today in water as i need to try and finish the last of this up. I vastly prefer it brewed the way it should be (in milk) but this was a nice tea for the cooler afternoon.

Final count: 39 (will weigh things later)

Couldn’t help myself…made another cup of this tonight. Love the caffeine free option even though it’s a little less OOOMPH-Y than the black tea base. I can’t order more of this until i get through some more of my samples….so i’d better hoard it a little :)

Final Count: 107

I had the black tea version of this one at the tea festival and loved it. So i figured i might as well also try the rooibos blend for late night chai. Made a batch of it this evening to try it out and it was delicious. Lacking a little bit in the depth behind the spices compared to the black one, but still exactly what i wanted. :)

Final Count: 115

So much noms!! oh man, I love me a cuppa this with some almond milk.
I knew that the blend is a strong one so I decided to try it with a milk that tends to overwhelm most…. not this one though hehe.
Oh man was it ever delish! Not as sweet as I expected though, given that the first ingredient listed was honey. I had to add half a teaspoon of sugar for the flavours to pop, which kinda made me sad. I’d much rather have enjoyed it without!
The richness and complexity of flavour did impress me overall, so points there. I think I’ll try it with other types of milk before making any rating decisions

I first made this chai back in February, but hadn’t touched it since. It was going to go bad in about a month (according to the best-before date on the label), so I decided to turn the rest into a base for chai-flavoured popsicles.

It turned out pretty well! A mix of chai, honey, coconut cream and soy milk. Mmm!

Full recipe at http://booksandtea.ca/2016/07/tea-popsicles-made-chaiwala-chai/

One of the neat things about this blend is that it has fresh ginger and honey mixed in with the black tea, resulting in a kind of thick, crumbly mix. I think the honey is here both to add sweetness and to prevent the tea and spices from spoiling when in contact with the moistness of the fresh ginger.

And oh my god, there are a LOT of spices in this mix. In addition to the black tea and honey, there’s ginger, orange peel, cardamom, fennel, nutmeg, bay leaf, and a whole lot more. You can see how much spice is in this mix when you actually measure it out for brewing. It looks a bit like vegetable slaw, I think.

Chaiwalah’s chai smelled bracingly strong, spicy and pungent: so strong, in fact, that I had trouble picking out individual flavours. However, I’m pretty sure that I was able to sense cloves, fennel, bay leaf, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I will say it again: yowza, this tea smelled strong.

The instructions on the Chaiwala package said to mix 8 ounces of milk (preferably soy milk) with 8 grams of chai and then heat the milk on the stove on medium until it just reaches a boil. For all that effort, I decided to measure out about 16 grams of leaf for 16 ounces of milk and then make myself an extra big cup. I don’t buy soy milk, so I used plain old 1% cow’s milk instead.

This tea was super strong. However, I couldn’t taste much in the way of black tea at all: the strongest flavours were of ginger, fennel, cloves, and bay leaf. (For some reason, the bay leaf was particularly prominent in my cup.) Part of me wonders if this is because I used cow milk instead of soy, or because I let the tea sit in the milk for several minutes before putting it on the boil. There’s plenty of room to experiment, however: I’ve used only about 1/4 of the package from Chaiwala, and because of the way it’s mixed (tea, honey, and fresh spices), I need to use it up quickly before it goes bad.

Full review at http://booksandtea.ca/2016/02/valentines-day-with-chaiwala-chai/