Product Review: Teavana® Oprah Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks

OprahLatteProduct Information:

Spicy chai blend of cinnamon, black tea and rooibos, lightly sweetened and finished with steamed milk.

Where to Buy:  Your Local Starbucks

Learn more about this product here.

Taster’s Review:

This product combines two things that I do not like with a couple of things that I do like.  I don’t like Teavana and I don’t like Starbucks.  But I do like chai lattes and I like Oprah Winfrey.  So, I decided that since I happened to be at my local Safeway and there happens to be a Starbucks inside that I’d try Oprah’s “new” (it’s not really new anymore, but it’s new to me) Chai from Teavana that has been crafted into a latte by Starbucks.

Two things that I noticed right off the bat that I appreciated – first thing: it wasn’t prepared too hot.  The very rare times that I stop at a coffee shop to get a chai latte (very rare), it seems like the drink is too hot to consume and it takes forever for the temperature to drop.  This was prepared at a slightly lower temperature, I think, and it was a drinkable temperature.  Nice.

The second thing that I noticed:  it’s not too sweet.  Yeah, it’s been sweetened.  But it’s not cloyingly sweet.  It’s not so sweet that I felt myself recoil from the overwhelming sweetness.  And there’s a nice balance between sweet and spice.

I can taste the tea here and that’s another thing I appreciate.  More often than not, when I do have that rare latte from a coffee shop, many times it’s made from a concentrate and it’s overly processed and I just can’t taste any tea.  I taste some spice but mostly what I end up tasting is warm milk and sweetener.

That’s not happening with this.  I can taste the black tea and I taste a light nutty flavor from the rooibos.  The spices are nicely balanced.  Overall, it’s a pleasant chai latte.  Not my favorite – my favorite is the kind that I make at home where I control the sweetness and the amount of dairy that goes into it.  But for a latte that I picked up at a coffee shop (even if it is Starbucks), it’s pretty good.  And it’s definitely better than Starbucks “classic” chai latte.

I don’t know that I’ll be lining up at Starbucks to get this again soon, but, if I happen to find myself at Starbucks, this is probably what I’ll order.

2 thoughts on “Product Review: Teavana® Oprah Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks

  1. I have never had a chai latte nor am I a tea drinker, but was curious about this one as well. I will definitely give it a try.

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