Chai Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Chai Description:
Thanks to LiberTEAS for the idea for this blend (and no, I’m certainly not calling her a witch of any sort; that’s just what this blend brings to mind for me). LiberTEAS wanted a smoky chai blend with some additional spices, so we blended some of our premium black tea base with some extra assam and some lapsang souchoung (smoked black tea), ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, star anise, nutmeg and cumin along with some organic flavors. The result is a smoky, spicy treat that will warm you to your bones. Get yours today while they last.
Learn more about this chai here.
Taster’s Review:
Now, that’s what I’m talking about!
If you read the above description, you’ll see that I suggested this blend to Frank (the Chief Zoomdweebie over at 52Teas), and he made it for me and called it Witches’ Brew Chai Blend. He wanted to express to me that he in no way thinks I’m a witch, but I told him that it’s perfectly fine to think of me as such … I’ve been called worse! Ha!
Back when I was still blending teas, I created what I considered the perfect chai. I know I’ve told that story more than once. I spent over a year creating the perfect recipe. One of the ingredients that was a MUST for my chai back then was cumin seeds. I would even toast the cumin seeds myself, because it brought out such a lovely, warm, slightly smoky flavor. And of course, I never forgot the nutmeg, which I would freshly grind into the blend.
But one spice that I didn’t include in my chai was star anise. This is a spice that I didn’t become well acquainted with until after my blending days were over, and I have since fallen in love with the spice and it’s licorice-y tones. So, when I asked Frank to create this blend, I wanted star anise in there too. I thought that the star anise, together with the other spices and the smoky notes of Lapsang Souchong … would be … absolutely divine.
And I was not wrong.
This is as perfect a chai as I’ve ever tasted since I stopped blending my own. I love the star anise, I love that it is warm and spicy and there is a complexity within the spice notes. I love that I taste the rich, malty tones of the black tea base, and the way the smoky notes of the Lapsang Souchong meld with the licorice-y notes and the spice.
I love it served non-latte with a teaspoon of turbinado sugar to enhance the spices. It also makes a spectacular latte, just add a splash of milk or cream. Do take care not to add too much milk to the cup because the dimensions of flavor from the spices is really amazing … and too much of the creamy stuff will obscure that. Just a little bit of milk or cream to bring out the malty notes of the Assam will make a devilishly delicious chai latte!
And this chai is perfectly named too. One taste of this and it evokes thoughts of a great big cauldron over a pit fire, and a cloaked figure stirring the brew. This is SO SO SO good.
This is, hands down, my favorite chai from 52Teas yet … and certainly one of my top favorite chai blends of all time! It’s awesome!
Red Hot Chai Rooibos Blend from The Tea Spot
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: The Tea Spot
Tisane Description:
This strong spiced chai kicks the cold away with the season’s boldest flavors: red rooibos, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, chai spices and a kiss of vanilla come together in this complex yet balanced herbal chai tea. Naturally caffeine-free and high in antioxidants and minerals, Red Hot Chai’s rooibos base provides health benefits and a mild honey sweetness to compliment the bold flavors of a traditional masala chai. Absolutely decadent when made with steamed milk as a chai tea latte (click here and then click on the “recipe” tab toward the bottom right of the page for the chai latte recipe!), Red Hot Chai is sure to please palates any time of day this season.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
You might have noticed that I’ve been drinking a lot more chai teas lately. The reason is simple: chai blends are my favorite teas this time of year. The heat from the spices warm me from the inside out, and when it’s chilly outside, I need something warm and tasty to sip! And this Red Hot Chai Rooibos Blend from the Tea Spot fills the bill.
This is a very cinnamon-y blend, reminding me a lot of the red hot candies. But I’m not minding that because I love those little red hots! I also notice notes of ginger and cardamom as I sip, and there is a creamy undertone from the vanilla. I think that the vanilla note is my favorite thing about this blend … I like the way it melds with the spicy to give the cup a sweet, creamy yet spicy taste.
I don’t taste a heavy “rooibos” flavor here, and that’s just fine with me. I do taste a little bit of nutty background notes, but none of that weird sweetness or the sour wood note that I sometimes taste with rooibos. This is a really tasty tisane, the kind of tisane I like to curl up to on a chilly autumn evening. And The Tea Spot is one of my favorite companies to deal with as a consumer, because their customer service is TOP notch!
As a special incentive to our readers, you can get 15% savings off any order placed with The Tea Spot between now and December 15th! Just use the coupon code hotTEAs in the coupon field at check out and enjoy your savings! That’s a great way to save a little bit of green this holiday season!
And … check this out! Right now, The Tea Spot is currently offering a FREE sample giveaway! Awesome right? They are also running a Facebook promotion where you can win Free Tea for a Year! Now, that’s the way to kick off the new year … with FREE TEA!
Chocolate Chai Rooibos Blend from Red Leaf Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
This red tea combines the tangy flavor of ginger with the citrus notes of cardamom, to produce a chocolate chai with a taste like no other. With an inherent sweetness that is perfectly blended with spicy warmth, chocolate chai offers the dark sumptuousness of chocolate chips with the smoothness of rooibos tea. With two well-known antioxidants, this is a dessert tea that is a treat in the evening or in the morning!
Learn more about this rooibos chai here.
Taster’s Review:
Hmm … this Chocolate Chai Rooibos Blend from Red Leaf Tea is tasty. It isn’t an overly spicy tisane, but the spices are warming and certainly agreeable on this chilly autumn day.
Let’s start with the chocolate, shall we? Because, if you’ve read many of my articles, you are probably well aware of my fondness for chocolate. Here, the chocolate is not as rich as I would like it to be. Then again, seldom do I find a chocolate tea that satisfies me with it’s level of chocolaticity. (Yes, it’s a word, I just made it up.) That said, there is certainly some chocolate notes here but it isn’t as rich and decadent as I would want a tea that calls itself a “Chocolate Chai.” But I am enjoying what chocolate there is here.
The spices are pleasing. I think that the spice level here is one that most people could enjoy – even those that tend to shy away from spicier teas. This isn’t what I’d call hot or spicy. There is some peppery warmth from the ginger, and the cardamom adds an exotic element to the cup.
The rooibos base is nutty and adds a nice dimension of flavor to these other ingredients. I’m not always happy when I can actually taste the rooibos flavor in a blend, but, here it’s working for me. The nutty tones work well with the earthiness of the spices and the sweet, creamy notes of the chocolate.
A tasty blend. Not my favorite “chocolate chai” that I’ve tasted, but, it’s pretty good, and a nice cuppa to cozy up to on a chilly evening when you don’t want to be drinking a more caffeinated beverage.
Detox Tea from Naked Teas Galore
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Functional Tisane
Where to Buy: Naked Teas Galore
Tisane Description:
This is crafted ever so carefully to ensure that no one ingredient overpowers another. Wow! What a blend. Balanced spice, herbaceous nettle and a subtle apple-like flavour brought by the chamomile. Soothing mint and sweet liquorice to finish.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
I wasn’t all that excited to try this Detox Tea from Naked Teas Galore. For one thing, it’s an herbal tisane, and for another it’s a functional herbal tisane. Two strikes against it right from the start, and then it’s a chamomile blend too. Yikes!
But I tried to remain positive and give it a try. After all, Amoda Tea has been pretty good at selecting teas and even tisanes that make me happy that I’m a subscriber. I mean, hey, if I wasn’t happy as a subscriber, I would have cancelled the subscription a long time ago. (Speaking of subscribing, I highly recommend signing up for December’s box … it sounds like it’s going to be a winner!)
But, let’s get back to this Detox Tea, shall we?
This is actually a lot tastier than I thought it would be. Normally, when I think “Detox Tea” or even “Functional Tisane,” I think that I’m in for a medicinal, herbaceous tasting drink. Fortunately, this tastes neither medicinal or herbaceous to me. The spices here are in the foreground, tasting more like cinnamon, cardamom, cinnamon and licorice than it does nettle or chamomile.
Oh sure, I can taste notes of the chamomile, and even hints of the herbaceous character of nettle and peppermint and dandelion root. I taste notes of citrus from the lemongrass. And all the flavors meld together in a way that is very tasty and not at all medicinal.
I like that the apple-y notes of the chamomile marry with the citrus tones of the lemongrass and the bright goji berry to create more of a “fruity” quality than distinct individual notes of each of these. The same is true of the spices. It doesn’t taste too much like any one of the spices, instead, I taste a medley of warm, zesty spice.
One of the nicer Detox tisanes that I’ve tasted … this is a detox I can stand behind, because this tastes really nice!
Gnarly Masala Chai from Steep This!
Chai Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Steep This!
Chai Description:
A shockingly addictive blend of Rose Petals, Jasmine Flowers, Cinnamon and Lavender among others. This gnarly blend of all things romantic is a treat after dinner and can be enjoyed iced for an extra special party drink.
Learn more about this chai here.
Taster’s Review:
I learned about this company – Steep This! – on Steepster. I’m always interested to try offerings from new companies (as well as to support these new companies!) so, I placed a small order to try ’em out.
And while perusing through the tea selections at Steep This!, I was very intrigued by this Gnarly Masala Chai. It’s a chai with most of the usual suspects present: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and black pepper (but no ginger!), and then they added a sprinkling of lavender, rose and jasmine just to make things interesting … and it also made the blend really visually appealing.
It’s also quite an appealing blend to the nose. The fragrance of the dry leaf is spicy and floral, with a little more spice than flower. I like how these two profiles complement each other. The floral notes soften the spices just enough so that my olfactory nerves aren’t heavily assaulted with strong spice, and the spices counter the flower so that I’m not smelling an overly perfume-y aroma.
This is tasty! It’s a little spicier than I expected it to be. I guess I was expecting the floral notes to soften the spices a little bit, but I’m getting some fiery black pepper notes! The cinnamon is also warm! The cloves and cardamom sort of fill out the spice flavor. This blend doesn’t NEED the ginger, it’s getting plenty of pep from the black pepper!
I don’t taste a whole lot from the rose, jasmine or lavender unless I sip with a slurp. When the tea is aerated as it hits the palate, those floral notes come out, and they are flavors that develop as I continue to sip as well.
The sip starts out with a peppery note, and then quickly moves in to the other spices. The spices really round out the flavor for the palate. Then, right at mid-sip, the floral notes come into focus. I don’t really taste a specific flower … it’s more like a medley of the rose, jasmine and lavender. Sweet, exotic and soft. Just after mid-sip, the notes of the tea start to come forward – a rich, earthy flavor.
The aftertaste is a peppery taste with notes of flower. It’s a very interesting and delightfully different taste that I really enjoy.
I didn’t prepare this as a latte, mostly because I figured this chai had enough going on with the spices and the flowers … I didn’t want to add something that could possibly overwhelm the delicate floral notes because it was the flowers in this blend that enticed me to purchase this sample! I wanted to experience them in their splendor and not risk overpowering them with a splash of milk. But this tea is DELICIOUS served straight up. I really like the uniqueness of this chai.
This is the first tea that I’ve tried from this new company, and I’m enjoying it. I was VERY impressed with how quickly my order arrived, especially since this is a Canadian company and I’m here in the US. I guess my only complaint … and it’s not really a “complaint” but more of a comment … is that I just didn’t feel all that special as a customer. I placed a very small “samples” order, so I didn’t really expect a free sample with my order, but, something would have been appreciated.
I understand if some companies don’t include a free sample, because that’s product and especially with a new company, it can be expensive to include free samples with every order. However, a little acknowledgement would have been nice. A quick, hand-written “thank you” on the invoice would have been very appreciated and made me feel a little more appreciated as a customer. These little things – free samples, special attention to packaging, a piece of individually wrapped candy, or even just a hand-written note – make the customer feel like they are appreciated and it’s these little touches that send me back to try a company again and again. When I feel special as a customer, I will return to that vendor who made me feel that way.