“(52teas (Anne) 2022: 284) This was just fantastic recently – perfect amount of smokiness, maple sweetness, and just light spicing. No need for milk or sweetener, it was great just plain. I’d maybe...” Read full tasting note
“Happy Bonfire Night! Today the prompt is to drink a tea with smoky or roasty flavor notes! I personally can’t handle wood-smoked teas, as the strong smoke aroma gives me migraines. I tend to not...” Read full tasting note
“From the November subscription box. I’m not a huge chai person, and I haven’t been loving smoky teas lately, so I’m not terribly excited for this one… It’s not bad. The base is very earthy with...” Read full tasting note
Tea of the Week for November 30, 2020!
You may have noticed that we didn’t do a “featured reblend” or a “retro Monday” tea this month. I had a tea in mind for a featured reblend, but upon entering the tea studio & beginning to work on that blend, I realized I didn’t have the ingredients necessary to craft that blend & because shipments have been delayed because of Covid, I knew I wouldn’t have time to order it & receive it in time to craft the blend for this month. In other words, I had to think fast & instead of a featured reblend – this is what I came up with!
I’ve been wanting to do a Maple Chai for quite a while & I thought that a smoky note to the maple-y chai would be just the right accent to the overall cup. Everything about this tea SCREAMS autumn!
I absolutely LOVE the way this chai came out! Nicely spiced, delectably maple-y with just the right kiss of smoke. The chai has a really pleasing, rounded flavor: robustly flavored with just the right amount of sweet maple to spicy notes & that hint of smoke! Really, really nice!
This blend starts off with a blend of a CTC Assam & honeybush. Then I added a blend of Masala spices (cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, nutmeg & black pepper) & maple essence. Next came a teensy bit of Lapsang Souchong. Not a lot – just enough to give the overall flavor a touch of spoke without going overboard with that smoke. Finally, a unique ingredient: maple cotton candy! I didn’t add a lot of cotton candy – in fact, you may not notice it at all! It’s kind of sticky to work with & because I am one who prefers my teas not be presweetened because I like to be the one who decides whether the tea will be sweetened or not – I didn’t add a whole lot of cotton candy to the blend.
So – you might find little sugary clumps, this is the cotton candy that stuck to the tea leaves & spices – the cotton candy dissolved & what remains are these tiny sugary clumps. Because of these tiny maple-y sugar clumps, you’ll want to test the sweetness of your cuppa before you add more sugar or other sweetener to it – so your chai doesn’t end up too sweet.
This chai is AMAZING! It’s spicy, it’s sweet, it’s rich & it’s got some gusto to it! Just the thing for the chilly days ahead! Oh! It’s also organic, VEGAN, gluten-free & allergen-free!
organic ingredients: black teas, honeybush, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, maple cotton candy (maple syrup & cane sugar), calendula petals & natural flavors
At 52teas.com, you will find unique, hand-blended artisan loose leaf teas: a new limited edition creation every week of the year. We pride ourselves on offering truly unique, one-of-a-kind tea blends that you won’t find anywhere else.