Coconut Chai

From the Here’s Hoping TTB. I should almost write two different reviews for this tea. My first cup was OK; not terribly strong, but with pleasant spice flavors. Nice but not special.
For the re-steep, I tried to approximate the directions on the package, and mixed the steeped tea with hot milk. It was really good! I don’t think I’ve ever actually tried chai with milk before. It reminded me of a weak latte but with spice rather than coffee flavor. BTW: I couldn’t taste the coconut at all.

I don’t remember the last time I had so many teas in my cupboard. 72! That is crazy talk. I’m opting for this tonight because the weather is brutal and sucky in my neck of the woods. It’s cold, damp, and half rainy/half snowy.

Despite loving coconut and spices, I went into this chai not expecting much. My gut told me that the coconut was going to be soapy and the spices mild due to the licorice root. I know, I’m so optimistic, right? But sadly, I was right. The coconut is soapy, the licorice is drowning out the majority of the spices. To be fair, I’ve had much soapier coconut and more cloying licorice root. The ginger is more prominent than the cinnamon, and I can’t taste any cardamom, sadly. With half and half, the astringency of the base is toned down a little bit.

So glad they have 10g options. Is it sad that I’m not even sure if I can bring myself to finish it?

Oh wait, weird, a few minutes after I finished my cup, I’m picking up on the cardamom. It reminds me of the kheer I had earlier this week, especially blended with the coconut and cream.

If the coconut were fresher and the spices a little more balanced, this could have been pretty good.

Here’s Hoping TTB

This one was heavy on the chai spices (specifically cardamom) and light on the coconut. I liked it, but it didn’t blow my mind.

This is almost right on par with Zhenas Gypsy tea Coconut Chai. The steep time on this was surprisingly shorter then I thought. At least for the coconut flavor. It pairs well with my egg and toast. They could definitely up the amount of coconut they use in the tea. If you want a better coconut flavor it seems that the best steep time is around the 2 minute mark.

Here’s Hoping Traveling Tea Box

This is a creamy, toasty coconut-y chai. I enjoyed both steeps that I had of this. The first I added some honey and almond milk to it which was really yummy. I felt that the chai & coconut flavours were spot on and mated with the black tea very well. It was a cup of comfort really. The second steep was slightly less coconut and cream flavoured but still a nice chai blend with a hint of coconut. I’d have it again if offered. :)

100 Hooray!

I’m going to call this a sipdown – never liked this tea much. I don’t really care for chai all that much. Basically, I recognized that I wasn’t going to drink this again and got rid of it.

This one is from the teas Zen sent along for the teabox! The leaves are medium sized with a nice proportion of spices, including a lot of coconut. The flavor is mostly creamy coconut overall, so the name coconut chai is certainly accurate. The toasted creamy coconut flavor is really nice with the spices. The black tea itself is a great strength for a chai, but doesn’t overpower the flavor with its robustness. Though especially on the second steep, the black tea is a little light. I wouldn’t mind a stronger base. I love chai on a dark gloomy winter day. There has been many of those lately. I sipped this down much too quickly!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 5 minutes after boiling // 4 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

Todays sipdown: Davidtea’s Honey Bee