Chai Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Chico Chai
Chai Description:
African Red Tea (Rooibos) and exotic organic spices are hand-blended to create this naturally caffeine-free herbal chai. Blended in small batches, by hand in Chico, California. Only Organic Ingredients and Fair Trade Organic teas are used to make Chico Chai.
Learn more about this chai here.
Taster’s Review:
This Loose Leaf Red Chai Rooibos Blend from Chico Chai is a really pleasing rooibos chai! What I’m really liking about this is that the base tastes very mild, allowing the spices to come through in a really warm and delicious way.
The first flavor I notice immediately is a licorice-y taste – Anise! Then notes of cinnamon and a slight peppery note come through. The other spices are more difficult to pick out … because they’ve melded together to offer a very unified sort of “spiced” taste. I like that … I like it when a chai just tastes “spicy” without it tasting like too much of one spice or another. There is a really enjoyable balance here.
Another thing that I’m LOVING about this rooibos chai is this creamy note that I taste just beneath the spices. The creaminess is something that I can’t ever recall tasting with other rooibos chai blends … and that’s what is setting this apart. That creamy note gives this an almost “latte” sort of taste without the milk, and it softens the edges of the spices too.
This tastes warm and cozy – like a big, comfortable blanket that keeps you warm when the weather’s cold outside. It’s the kind of flavor that you want to curl up to in front of a fire. It tastes sweet and spicy without any sweetener, but as with most other chai blends, I do prefer this with just a little bit of sweetener (I went with organic turbinado sugar!) – sweetener helps bring out the flavor of the spices just a bit, and I like how the sugar and spice create a cup that’s nice. (OK, a silly little rhyme, but I couldn’t resist it … sorry.)
A really awesome rooibos chai – and that’s coming from someone who is less than enthused about rooibos blends in general. This is something I’d happily drink daily!
