Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
For more information, visit: Third Street Chai
Product Description:
A generously spiced blend of fine black tea, fiery ginger, and freshly-milled aromatic spices.
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Evaporated Cane Juice, Fair Trade Certified Organic Black Tea, Organic Cardamom, Organic Clove, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Ginger, Organic Black Pepper, Organic Fennel, Organic Nutmeg, Citric Acid.
Taster’s Review:
I don’t usually go for chai concentrates. I don’t stop at a lot of coffee shops (although here in the Pacific Northwest, there seems to be at least one on every street corner) and order chai lattes that are made from those concentrates. The reason is that I find that they don’t really taste very much like tea. They are more like some sort of sweet (sometimes sickeningly sweet), spicy, milky beverage that is alright, but not something I’d want to drink on a regular basis. On average, I’d say I have one of those coffee shop chai lattes about three times a year.
But… if I found a local coffee shop that used THIS chai concentrate, I might visit more often! This is really good. I prepared it according to package directions, using a ratio of 1 part concentrate to 1 part milk, put it into a mug and then zap it in the microwave for a minute or two.
The results are delightful. Although it is sweetened – it is sweetened just right for me. It is not so sweet that the sweetener overpowers the flavor of the black tea and the spices. And neither does the milk.
I can taste the strong black tea and the spices – and if the name of this particular variety is any indication to you, I especially taste the ginger. It is peppery but not over-the-top spicy. It warms me up without making me feel like I need something to offset the hot spice. Just enough zing without making my mouth feel like I should call the fire department!
This is really delicious!
