A little while back the SororiTea Sisters shared teas in a traveling tea box. One of the sisters was kind enough to share several tea bags of Tazo’s Vanilla Caramel Chai. I grabbed a couple bags to try since vanilla and caramel are both flavors I usually love and lately I have been trying more and more chais and enjoying them.
Tazo’s Vanilla Caramel Chai is a black tea with cinnamon, licorice root, ginger, black pepper, cloves, and natural flavors. The licorice root has me a bit nervous but hopefully the other flavors hide the typical cloying sweetness of the licorice root.
Normally I would make chais as a latte but with only two tea bags, I didn’t think I had enough leaf for that. Consequently, I am trying the tea plain first but may add a splash of milk to get that latte creaminess.
Sipping on it now I am happy to report that the licorice root is nicely masked. There is a lot of cinnamon in the scent of the steeped tea which transfers over to the taste. I also get a ribbon of clove running through the sip. It is sweet and though I can smell vanilla caramel, nothing distinctly reflects that in flavor other than sweet.
I added a little bit of milk and unfortunately it doesn’t do much for taste. This tea is still cinnamon heavy though there is perhaps a bit less clove now.
Some people don’t like too much spice from their chai blends and if you are one of those people, this could be a nice option for you. As for me, I think spice is the whole point of having a chai and this falls short. I would happily forgive the lack of spice if it was in favor of highlighting the vanilla caramel but this falls short there too. It’s not bad per se but there is nothing all that great either.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tazo Tea
Description
How do you make a great cup of chai tea taste even better? You add rich notes of vanilla, delectable caramel, and the classic spices of chai into the boldest black teas. It’s a sweet twist on a spicy favorite. It’s not just better. It’s better-er.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
photo credit: Tazo Tea
Traditional Masala Chai/Blue Lotus Chai
Let me tell you how you can have an amazing pick up for your day.
(1) Pick yourself up a tin of Traditional Masala Chai from Blue Lotus Chai.
(2) Once the tin arrives, instantly get the following: water, pot, milk and a timer.
(3) Open the tin and enjoy the aromas of the chai mix.
(4) Boil 4 oz fresh water.
(5) Add one rounded scoop of the powdered chai.
(6) Stir. . . .add in milk or creamer and continue to heat the mixture
(7) Once the brew is the desired temp, I highly recommended adding on a dollop of froth milk/cream to throw this experience over the top.
(8) Enjoy. . .and let all of the cares of the day wash away
I will admit, I am not a chai fan but this chai mix has changed my mind completely. After following the above steps, you are left with this delicious chai mix that really makes you sit back and take a moment for yourself. All of those beautiful spices mingle so well together and if you use milk like I did, that added creamy note really makes the brew even more enjoyable.
I will say that you definitely want to drink this tea right after you prepare the brew. I accidentally let the tea sit for a few minutes and it seemed like there was a bit of grit from the powder staring to accumulate at the bottom of the cup.
What is brilliant about this chai is there isn’t a teapot that you need to clean out, there is no tea leaves you need to fuss with, just a pot, some water, and the chai mix itself. Now saying that, I do still love my loose leaf tea and would never part with having it, but this chai mix from Blue Lotus Chai is definitely a great tea to have on hand for those mornings or afternoons when you need a little pick me up and may not have all of the needed tea ware to brew up a proper cuppa or just need a cuppa asap.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Blue Lotus Chai
Description
With its deep and truly authentic flavor and amazing ease of preparation, our flagship product has become part of the daily rhythm of many homes. Tasting is believing!
Ingredients: Naturally brewed and flash-dried black tea powder; 100% Certified Organic powdered spices: ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Roasted Almond Chai from Fava Tea Company. . . . . . . .
I was lucky to discover Roasted Almond Chai from Fava Tea Company thanks to a tea trade with fellow Sororitea Sisters, and now this is one if my favorite chai teas.
This is a decaf blend, so I find it most satisfying as a sweet treat to ease me through a rough afternoon or evening. This tea is perfectly both sweet and spicy. The dry leaf in the bag smells exceptionally creamy and a touch fruity, like marzipan candies. In the loose leaf, there are cloves, cinnamon, and huge cardamom pods, promising more spice in the brew.
Brewed, this blend is surprisingly pink, and I had a moment of worry: pink?! Is there hibiscus in here? I read the label again and saw beetroot as an ingredient but no hibiscus. Taking a sip, I was relieved. The pink color was clearly from the beetroot which added a wonderful natural sweetness that did not get in the way of the other flavors.
The one change I would make is to rename this blend Marzipan Chai, instead of Roasted Almond Chai. There is not much in the way of tasted flavors or pure nut-like flavors. The beetroot and almond make for a blend that is sweet like a cake with creamy frosting. This tea is driven by its candied almond taste, coupled with the warming spices of cinnamon and cardamom. Even without milk, this tea is so smooth and creamy, a perfect dessert. I will be stocking up on this chai the next chance I get!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Fava Tea
Description:
This is the sweet taste of almond magically blended with rooibos and chai spices. Smooth, delightful and a perfect compliment with dessert. Or in place of dessert! Either way, enjoy!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Green Tea Chai by Vahdam Teas
Steeped with a heaping tablespoon of leaves at 175 degrees in about 1 cup of water.
This tea was a new experience for me! I’ve tried lots of flavored green teas, but never one where the green tea was a substitute for black tea in a chai blend. As a result of this tea, I’ve realized how different these spices are outside of a conventional chai context and how much I take the black tea base for granted in chai blends!
As it steeps, I can detect a fragrance of spices; it smells like cinnamon and possibly cloves. The tea liquid isn’t very dark. In fact it’s only achieved a pale honeylike color after it’s finished steeping; it’s a little viscous, with nearly invisible flecks (of cinnamon, perhaps?) swimming in it.
The flavor is very different from any chai I’ve ever tried. The spices, instead of melding with a malty black tea flavor to form a rounded flavor profile, are instead mingling with the bright astringent green tea notes (grassy almost, but not much on the floral side that I can detect). This makes for a very focused flavor overall. It’s highly concentrated in the bright and forward flavor notes and not so much rounded out with the deeper tones that a black tea normally imparts to a chai (in my experience). It’s almost bitter, but then again, I may have oversteeped it a bit–I like my chais strong.
With milk, it’s suddenly not very strong at all. It still has spice flavors, but I’m really missing the black tea base here. And I know you aren’t really “supposed” to put milk in green tea, but that’s what I normally do with chai so I figured why not?
So to sum up, don’t expect this to taste like a more conventional chai! Instead, expect a bright, spicy, focused flavor that’s intended to be enjoyed alone or with a little sweetener; I recommend trying it without milk. In fact, I bet this would make a great iced tea!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Vahdam Teas
Description
A superior blend of fresh green tea from Darjeeling blended with choicest Indian spices like Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove & Black Peppercorns. Discover a smooth fulfilling aroma of fresh greens with delicious undertones of raw spices in every sip. The liquor is bright green with an energizing aroma. A unique chai tea which can be served with or without milk.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Golden Turmeric Loose Leaf Chai from Chico Chai #VeganMoFo2016
We are starting to wind down our Vegan MoFo prompts, only have a few days left but it sure has been fun to match up tea with our vegan friends at Vegan MoFo. Today’s prompt was a bit harder to match up but I think we did it in a way. Today’s prompt was to recreate your favorite food memory. While there are lots of teas out there that can conjure about memories from our past, today I thought I’d chat about a tea that I’m absolutely going nuts over and have for some time! Let my love for all things #tumeric begin!
I’m going to come right out and say it…I LOVE TURMERIC! So when I heard that Chico Chai had a new product highlighting this incredible ingredient I couldn’t wait to try it! Introducing…Golden Turmeric Loose Leaf Chai from Chico Chai!
Golden Turmeric Loose Leaf Chai from Chico Chai contains rooibos, dried coconut, nutmeg, ginger, orange peel, and cardamom. I was excited to see how this blend of flavors would work with a Rooibos base. As for the aroma upon opening the tin – Golden Turmeric Loose Leaf Chai from Chico Chai smelled like wondrous chai! Sure it was SPICY but there was a hint of sweet from both the rooibos and the coconut AND it was even a bit savory! Perhaps that was because of the turmeric ‘making friends with’ the ginger. But you know what…the orange in this was surprisingly lovely, too, but more of an afterthought.
Golden Turmeric Loose Leaf Chai from Chico Chai was full of surprises! Eventho you could still see that there was turmeric loose and buy itself flowing freely among the dry ingredients you could also tell that it stuck to the coconut really well, too! I can’t say enough about this Golden Turmeric Loose Leaf Chai from Chico Chai!!! I absolutely LOVE it! You have to REALLY like chai and really like turmeric and lucky for me – I do! This is blended so well! I don’t think I would change anything about it! This one will be hard for me to share with others but I want to pass it along to my Sororitea Sisters to see what they think about it, too! Ahhhh…I’m so conflicted! But for good reason…Golden Turmeric Loose Leaf Chai from Chico Chai ROCKS!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos Blend
Where to Buy: Chico Chai
Description
Turmeric blended with rooibos, dried coconut, nutmeg, ginger, orange peel and cardamom. A rich, warming tea, blended specifically for the cool autumn weather. Blended in small batches, by hand in Chico, California. Only Organic Ingredients and Fair Trade Organic teas are used to make Chico Chai.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
