Mint Chaï

Dammann Frères Advent Day 12 (12-February 2021)

This tea works really well. The mint and chai spices create a perfect balance. A says she loves it and we would order this for the cupboard.

2020 Advent Calendar – Day 12. For someone who’s not in love with chai, this was not bad. The mint was soft and gentle. But it wasn’t really a chai tea and that’s probably why I drank it happily. Here’s maybe a good way to describe it… You know how you have a movie “inspired by a true story” vs “based on a true story”? Well, this one is a cup of mint herbal tea inspired by a chai tea" :p For me, that’s a good thing. For my husband who loves chai tea, it might be a bit of a let down, I suspect.

At the end of the day, I would much rather drink Hoogly’s Chill Out Mint. It’s delicious (and slightly addictive).

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 12 (from November backlog)

Mint chai, huh? This one piqued my interest. It’s hard to tell what spices are in it, being in sachet form. I see the obvious mint leaf with red peppercorns and what could be dried ginger root. Scent is vaguely spiced mint.

Hmm… So it’s mostly mint here, and it seems like a combination of peppermint and spearmint to me. The spices mostly add a warm sweetness, and I think ginger is the only one I can pick out specifically. It’s very soft and pleasant, sort of like mint tisane +. (™)

Advent 12.

Wide awake at 1:30 am after going to bed at 10. It’s going to be a long work day.

The aroma is overwhelmingly herbaceous-cooling spearmint, spicy cinnamon and ginger, floral-perfumey rose reminiscent of little molded soaps with barely detectable sweet clove. I do not notice the pink peppercorn, maybe it’s hidden by the rose florality and cinnamon-ginger spiciness.

The taste is spearmint-herbaceous-earthy-brassy, cooling-mellow and warming-sharp at the same time. I do not like the aftertaste. Is it slightly bitter ginger-spearmint?

The steam coming from the cup really penetrates my senses. Spearmint and cinnamon combinations are very difficult to get right for me. The rose is really throwing me. Instead of feeling centered, my sense of smell is being pulled in an elemental, multi-directional tug-o-war. I just don’t understand the purpose of combining mint with spicier, warmer ingredients without providing a base to tie together what on my palate are entirely disparate flavor profiles. For an example of successfully marrying many elemental attributes in a similar mint-cinnamon-floral heavy (albeit caffeinated) blend, see Chroma Tea’s Aquamarine.