Coco Chai Rooibos

Thanks to Super Starling! for this sample.

I had just spent the last hour or so mowing the lawn and weed whacking in the 85 degree summer weather. Beautiful day, really. A nice breeze to keep it from getting TOO hot. However, it’s still working in 85 degrees. So, when I came inside to cook and eat dinner, I wanted something ice cold to drink.

I’m not sure if I’m SUPPOSE to ice this tea. I’ve never iced a chai before, I don’t believe. The website said I could. So I did. And the reason I picked out a chai in the first place is I thought it would pair well with my dinner. We get our meat from a local farm. It is grass raised, organic, and delicious. We are kind of at the mercy of whatever they happen to have processed recently but I kind of like the surprise. Right now, we happened to have a nice bone in pork shoulder roast that needed to be cooked. So, I rubbed it down with some fresh rosemary, thyme, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper then I threw it in the oven while I went to work outside.

Aside from the roasted pork, I also made pine nut couscous and some sliced apples. It all felt very fall-ish to me so I thought that a chai would pair nicely. I think I was right. Mostly.

I really enjoyed the scent of this both dry and brewed. It has a typical chai scent with a hint of coconut. I made this with about half the water it called for because I knew I was putting it over ice. I did combine two steeps however, one of 4 minutes and one of 7 minutes. After icing it, the chai flavor became a bit subdued. It wasn’t too spicy. In fact, I’m having a harder time picking out the distinguishing flavor in it. It is pretty smooth though. And the coconut gives it a nice scent profile. The coconut is more of a background note in the flavor but it is there.

While there isn’t much boldness to this, it is a nice consistent flavor and does satisfy. I’m sure brewing it warm will leave quite a different impression. I intend to try it that way next time I make it. Overall, this is a fairly decent interpretation that I wouldn’t mind drinking again.

My friends talked a lot of smack about this one, but I am standing by it. I like that it’s decaf, so I can chug it without risking the jitters.
As a side note, is it true that rooibos is good for asthma?
I read this while researching rooibos, but does anyone have any, like, actual knowledge of this? (Or anecdotes supporting it?)
All I could find was this study, which seemed inconclusive:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11758901
I haven’t noticed much of a difference in my own asthma, but I’m usually drinking tea while sitting at my desk, not really straining my lungs.

Note to self: you don’t hate this one. It’s just a bit weak for you, so you need to use more tea.

From OST’s stash sale.

I made this as a latte since it smelled like it would be rather sweet, and that’s how I prefer my rooibos chai anyway. It was deliciously smooth and creamy, but a bit sweeter than I prefer and surprisingly lacking in spice for a chai. It might be nice for blending, bu t I find it somewhat lacking on its own.

This tea is a nice pick me up on a loooong night shift tonight. Brewed up it has a lovely spicy aroma from the chai base – cinnamon, cloves, ginger and peppercorns are all listed in the ingredients. Flavour wise, it’s a nice balance of creamy coconut and cardamom mixed with the chai spices. Definitely a pleasant mixing of flavours. I got this as a sample pack from my last David’s order.

This tea was ok-I might make reach for another cup sometime in the future.

I picked this up recently, in an attempt to find a low or no caffeine chai. I picked up the Kashmiri Chai a few weeks ago, and the blend of chai spices and green tea was nice. I decided to give this one a go, despite my dislike of rooibos, especially red rooibos. But I like chai, and I like coconut, and I was hoping that these two flavours might dominate and reduce the bits of rooibos that I dislike, and I am happy to say that I think I was right. I had some of this yesterday with a headache, and I was pleasantly surprised. I only picked up a small amount of this to try, but I will try a bit more when this sample runs out. I think this could be a regular thing for me..

has a sweet smell but a robust spicy rooibos chai taste. warming. should’ve gotten more of this instead of the cinnamon rooibos chai. was afraid of coconut but didn’t taste much.

Ive been finding that rooibos teas are becoming my favourite. This was a nice change to the ones I usually drink. Im not the biggest fan of chai, but I did enjoy this tea. It was not lacking in the spice department, could have use a little more cocoa. If you like chai I would recommend this one.

Favourite!
So good, spicy without milk. In a latte, delicious and the flavour is strong!
Two steeps was great. Should I try a third?