Daksha's Gourmet Spices

I drank this as a latte after dinner. It is a bit too spicy for me, however I like how fresh all the spices were. You could really taste the pepper, nutmeg, ginger, and cardamom (and I’m a cardamom nut, so this was very welcome). I found it very spicy because it brews strong, but this is a refreshing change from run-of-the-mill chais.

So I took today off work because I was supposed to be going to a wedding which I had to travel for. Over the past weekend, I wasn’t feeling too awesome, but nothing ever came of it. I just moped around and watched movies. Then I worked yesterday and felt horrible, not horrible enough to call in sick, but horrible enough to be in a bad mood. Then I woke up this morning and couldn’t breath and have a headache. It finally hit. So needless to say I am not going to the wedding :( Happy New Years, yuck.

I have been drinking lots of tea today. Maybe not the right kinds of tea, but drinking lots. Now I am starting to feel worse. So I decided to try a cup of this to see what happens, the next step I think is just some plain water and going to bed.

The first and last time I had this was at the trade fair when I had a sample dispensed from a pump type thermos. The salesman told me it was just the plain spice mix with hot water.

This didn’t seem to mix very well for me. There is a lot of particulate in the cup. But that appears to be a lot of the spices that are not supposed to dissolve anyway. I didn’t have any of this mess when I tried it from the salesman but it came from a pump thermos, and that may be why. There is a lot of ginger in this, which is helping to open my sinuses and hopefully settle my stomach. I am also getting a lot of pepper and cardamom. The first time I had this it was quite sweet, so even though the salesman didn’t admit it, I think he had a bunch of sweetener in his sample.

Anyway, this one is feeling good. I might stick with it for a bit and see how it feels.

I used 1/8 tsp in 8 oz hot water. I think next time I would use less spice to dull it down just a bit.

This is not technically tea. It is a mix of ground chai spices that you add to any kind of tea or beverage or you can have with just hot water. I picked this one up at a local craft fair this weekend. I had it made with hot water and sugar added. It was quite delicious. It is strongly spiced, very strong ginger taste. The sample was titled sweet ginger chai, even though it was just this mix. The salesperson said to me, “now the ginger is going to tickle your throat”. And he was right. There is a bit of a kick to the ginger but I liked it. It was strong ginger but not burning ginger. He recommended to add it to any type of tea: black, green, red or white.

I am looking forward to mixing this with a few kinds of teas and experimenting with my own chai. But honestly it was great with just hot water. Kind of like a chai cider without the cider part. Hmmmm. Now I want to mix this with hot cider, or hot mulled wine! I am going to be busy experimenting tonight.