Chocolate Chai

Thanks Brenden for this tea sample!

A shockingly wonderful surprise arrived in the mail…Chai!
What made this arrival more glorious was that I didn’t pick up my mail until it was 30 degrees out. Old Man Winter was blowing his icy breath across my face. Burr!

I stepped gingerly through a pile of dry leaves and into the house arms loaded with two bags of groceries and the mail. I wondered outloud, “What’s this mail from Whispering Pines?”
No matter how lame it sounds, we all have a ‘happy dance’ even if it’s not a literal dance. I have an internal ‘happy dance’, or ‘victory whoop’ that happened last night when I opened the mail and saw two samples of Chai!

I’ve reviewed Fujian Black Tea, which is the high quality very chocolaty tea base for this Chai. I loved it and ordered some for myself! For Brenden to use this as the base for this Chai was brilliant. (Most people use bland black tea’s for Chai, which I just don’t understand!)

The Fujian Black Tea is so flavorful that it blends with the spices weaving together the malt and spice gently without any harsh edges. It reminds me of eating a spice cookie and sipping a cup of creamy cocoa.

My preferred way of drinking this Chai is with cream and clover honey, not sugar. The honey gives a bakery taste to the tea like graham cracker, and the milk or cream enhances the cocoa-malt flavor and creaminess.

If you want a traditional Chai with more spice Whispering Pines Golden Chai is for you and it’s lovely.
Chocolate Chai is smoother and mellow without much bite from spices. The chocolate is more cocoa than candy bar. Don’t expect a gooey Hershey’s Kiss.

As soon as I began drinking my Chai, the tea warmed me up from head to toe, rapidly chasing Old Man Winter’s frosty chill away. A comforting, satisfying and festive mug of tea!

High marks for this one! Quality blending, Brenden!

This is one of my favorites out of our 9 recently launched chai blends! It’s very creamy and has lovely chocolate notes!

Our Chocolate Chai is made with expertly-ground 100% organic spices and our Fujian Black Tea, which has heavy notes of dark chocolate and a clean malty finish! This chai is smooth and energizing, and goes especially well with milk and sugar!

Note: Do not expect to be kicked in the mouth with chocolate flavor! There is no chocolate in this blend. The chocolate flavors in this chai are strong natural notes found in the tea itself. Adding sugar and milk often accentuates these notes. Enjoy!

The Perfect Cup:
Steep 1 tablespoon in 8 ounces of boiling water for 5 minutes.
2nd infusion for 7 minutes.
3rd infusion for 10 minutes.

Ingredients: Black Tea, Organic Ginger, Organic Cardamom, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Cloves

Caffeine Content: Medium-High

http://whisperingpinestea.com/chocolatechai.html

Received a hefty sample of this from Dexter… normally I am not a chai person, I rarely crave it. But I was interested in trying this, because I know I love the base tea.

I ended up really impressed, I think this is actually the first chai I would buy! (Except a few fandom blends from Adagio which I surprisingly ended up enjoying)

The natural chocolate notes in the tea really work well with the natural spices used. It just struck me as really fresh and tasty, and pure tasting, if that makes any sense. Nothing fake about this one!

Thank you for sharing, Dexter.

One I never would have ordered, but ended up truly enjoying!

I received this sample from Cameron B. Thank you for sharing!

I have been in a huge chai mood lately. I have been making a huge mug of it whenever I am home at night. I blame it on the fall. I have been drinking a standard black masala chai. This is nice upgrade. The blend of spice to tea was pretty good, the spices seem to hold up to the addition of milk and the base shines through enough that I know that I am actually drinking tea. The base makes this a think mouthful with the milk that I added. I am really enjoying this mug. I have a few chai’s I have to finish up, but an ounce of this may show up on my next order depending on how long the chai cravings last.

Thanks to Cameron B for the sample!

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 205 degrees, 5 minutes, brew in mug strainer

Aroma: spicy chocolate

Flavor: I added some almond milk to this, along with a little maple syrup. I like the blend of spices here, and I can taste a light chocolate flavor. It’s quite good! Next time I make this, I will just heat the almond milk and steep the tea right in there.

Good stuff. Thanks, Cam Bot!

This was the chai I chose when making my Whispering Pines order. Looking back, I’m not sure why I chose this one, I must have been in a chocolatey mood! And I do enjoy the tea used as its base – their Fujian Black. Anyway! Dry, it has the small, dark Fujian leaves mixed with chunks of spices. I see whole cloves and cinnamon bark among other things. I have to say, the smell shocked me. It is so gingery! And for some reason I get menthol (I don’t think I selected to have the mint added, but I may be wrong!). It’s like inhaling Vicks Vaporub, and it definitely clears your sinuses! I am not the hugest ginger fan, so this got me worried…

The brewed aroma is less intense, but still smells strongly of ginger. I can pick up on the other spices now, particularly the clove and cinnamon. The taste is also extreme ginger. I had to add sugar and vanilla soy milk to be able to drink it, really. But once it has additions, it’s pleasant enough. I can taste the chocolate (definitely a milk chocolate with the milk added) and the ginger is quite strong but the sharpness is reduced. I would definitely drink this one latte-style from now on, so I can add more milk without watering it down.

Overall, I’m not going to rate this one because whether or not someone likes ginger is definitely a personal preference. It’s weird, I didn’t see anyone mention super strong ginger in their notes. I guess I could try stirring up the tea some more, but considering the super strong ginger and menthol aroma, I doubt that would change it. I’m definitely not in love with this one. :(

I made this up chai latte style (1/2 cup milk 1/2 water boiled with the chai for a bit).

This was the exact warm creamy spicy decadence I needed for after dinner (Parmesan lemon tilapia, and herb and butter rice with peas and carrots, and salad).

I don’t get much cocoa from the base, but what I do get is perfectly balanced spices that are perfectly supported by the tea base and that stands up beautifully with the milk. This is one of the best chais I’ve ever had.