A tea friend and I rather randomly ended up at Calabash Tea Bar & Cafe last time I was in D.C. The owner of this gorgeous cafe is an herbalist, so the blends focus on the medicinal value of tea, herbs, and spices. It started raining just as we got there, so we decided to settle in and stay a while. I’m so glad we did. We got to try several of their teas and both fell in love with this one (though really, who could resist Idris?). I ended up buying this and the anti-inflammatory Triple Goddess blend to take home.
I have brewed this tea a few times now. I always brew it hot – it just seems wrong to drink a chocolate chai iced. My favorite way to enjoy it is with a splash of chocolate almond milk, which turns this into a creamy chocolate bit of heaven in a cup. Even without any additions, the chocolate flavor is rich with a bit of the bite that dark chocolate has. The most dominant chai spice here is clove, but it is not overwhelming. I’m also picking up maltiness from the base tea, cinnamon, and a hint of citrus (though I am not at all certain that there is either cinnamon or anything citrusy in the blend). The clove, malt, and chocolate notes linger after the sip, with the clove lingering longest because of that tingling sensation clove can cause. This blend can be steeped a second time, though it loses the cocoa notes and comes out a tad watery. Some almond milk fixes that right up though.
Overall, this makes for a great fall tea that doesn’t require milk but does benefit from it.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Calabash Tea
Description
Add an extra dash of spice makes Calabash’s Hot Chocolate Chai a delight!. This organic chai is strong, spicy, sweet and unapologetic about waking you up for a lil’ lovin’ in your cup. INGREDIENTS: The highest quality Assam Black Tea, Cocoa Powder, Chai Spices, Chocolate Buttons & lots of love.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Orange Cookies Tea from Kent & Sussex Tea Co.
A few quick questions for you guys:
1. Is there anything more delightful than cookies dunked in tea? I think not.
2. Is there anything more delightful than tea that tastes like cookies-dunked-in-tea? NOPE.
3. Am I boring you with my incessant questioning? Wait. Don’t answer that.
If you could tell from my aforementioned poll-taking, this tea is delightful. Truly. The dry leaf smells like a confection straight from The Great British Baking Show (can you tell what I’ve been Netflix-bingeing lately?), and brewed, it’s even more delightful. This tea reminds me of a citrus chai, but with a warm, buttery-cookie element that really takes it to the next level. Often citrus and spice can be fairly one-note, lacking that depth of flavor that really heightens the tea drinking experience, but not this cuppa.
With a little milk and maple syrup, it’s the perfect level of decadence that levels up a traditional breakfast tea without overdoing it on the saccharine-sweet. I’d pair this one with some orange spiced scones. Or a cinnamon tea cake. Or some orange-glazed shortbread. Mmm. Either way, the dunkability on this tea is unmatched.
Get Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood over here, I think we’ve got a showstopper!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co.
Description
Orange Cookies Flavoured Black Tea! A super new spicy loose leaf Tea. Combining pieces of Sweet Cinnamon Spicy Cardamoms Cloves and Fruity Pepper with lovely chunks of Sweet Apple pieces. A wonderful concoction with the scent of juicy Spanish Oranges. Orange Cookies Black Tea Ingredients: Black Tea, Apple pieces, Cinnamon bits, Coriander, Flavouring, Cardamom pods, Orange slices, Pink Pepper and Cloves.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Pumpkin Chai from David’s Tea
When seasons collide! Today I brewed up DAVIDsTEA’s Pumpkin Chai as an eggnog latte, combining a Fall favorite with a beloved holiday classic. The end result? Perfection!
Pumpkin Chai is one of the blends that people wait for each fall as it brings together both the Fall flavors of Pumpkin Spice and Chai. Add to that some caramel and you have a winner that people will buy year after year.
Brewed up as an eggnog latte, the sweet gooey caramel really shines. Underlying that is the creaminess of the eggnog that plays off the spices in the tea making for a decadent sugar and spice treat. Imagine a spiced bread pudding with a creamy vanilla-caramel icing. Awesome!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: David’s Tea
Description
Let’s face it, the best thing about fall is pumpkin pie. And this spiced black tea is arguably just as delicious. It’s got all the warmth of cinnamon and cloves, plus the sweetness of caramel and pumpkin candy. For a true autumn treat, top it up with steamed milk and stir in a spoonful of brown sugar. It’ll make you wish it were fall all year round.
ingredients
Black tea, cinnamon, cloves, caramel (milk, sugar, glucose s yrup, butter, sorbitol, mono and diglycerides), carrot, lemon peel, pumpkin candies (sugar, rice flour, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, corn starch, gum arabic, cellulose gum, yellow 6, confectioner
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Cricket from Whispering Pines Tea Company. . . . .
Today I’m drinking tea to try to cut through the hazy, dizzy feeling from too many of my mother-in-law’s mimosas. My in-laws are a rowdy, touchy bunch that imbibes, as opposed to my silent, book-readng, tea-drinking clan. I’m not with my family today, so I have to channel them via tea.
This cup is a gentle white tea with flowery cinnamon notes. It’s like a summer morning in a flower-strewn prairie. The tea itself takes a backstage to the dainty main notes.
When I looked up this tea on the Whispering Pines site, the author talks about a cricket song dancing through a desert plain. I was super-hype that I’d come up with the “outside flowers-in-an-expanse” visual.
Were the Whispering Pines dude and I connected? Am I a psychic? Should I take up tarot reading or palmistry or numerology or astrology? Or maybe I could acquire a crystal ball? Where does one acquire a crystal ball? Ebay, as it turns out. It’s also possible to get pendulums, runes, and scrying stones.
I could become a full-fledged witch. I think both my families would be accepting. If they aren’t, they can throw back mimosas until they can handle it.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Whispering Pines Tea Company
Description
The summer air was dry and warm as I watched the sun set over the high deserts of Prescott, Arizona. I could see the monsoon rains forming in the distance and feel a chill in the air as the plants braced for what was to come. A soft breeze carried the aroma of desert sage, juniper, and mesquite across the open land. The manzanita painted crimson lines into the sandy ocean of a desert, perfectly matching the sunset. An owl flew across the darkening horizon and the lizards scurried into their places, decorated with wildflowers. The land was silent, for no creature was brave enough to stay out in this storm. As the storm rolled in and I turned to leave, I heard the soft chirp of a beautiful cricket. I smiled and wondered how such a seemingly small creature could fill the entire desert with just a simple song.
Cricket is a desert-inspired chai blend. The base is a sweet white tea with strong notes of sage, and it’s blended very delicately with safflower and elderberries. The final touch is adding our classic chai spice blend and to pull it all together, adding a small amount of rubbed sage. The finished blend is immensely sweet and delicate with smooth spice and warm sage notes. The aroma of desert berries and mesquite spice fill in the final pieces of the experience, creating a synthesis of flavors that can bring anyone to the high deserts.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Organic Masala Chai from Hope and Glory
I still remember my first Chai latte. It was love at first sip. And the spicier the better! Whether at a coffee shop or at home, I never imagined drinking Chai without some sort of plant milk, my favorite is coconut milk.
However, I am also a very impatient person, and I wanted to try this Masala Chai from Hope&Glory, and I have no plant milk. I was kind of scared to try this straight, because some Chai’s I’ve gad in the past are a bit sharp, and need something to tone it down a bit. But it was a cool and crisp morning, the type of morning where I like a cozy Chai.
First of all, the smell of this blend is amazing. I want to live in a field of this blend, and bathe in it. It smells of cinnamon and spice and everything nice that I want in a tea. I put one teaspoon of coconut sugar in my cup, and took my first sip. Smooth, spicy, clean and the perfect amount of everything. It’s spicy without being too sharp, and it tastes like real ingredients, real spices. It tastes like someone whipped it up personally for me.
I’m sad that I have none left. This is the perfect tea for the upcoming cooler months. This is what you want to come home to after a long day, or better yet this is how you want to start your day. This is by far my favorite Chai blend ever.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Hope and Glory
Description
A full-bodied blend of organic Ceylon black tea and spices, Masala Chai derives from the Hindi literally meaning ‘mixed-spice tea’. Spices such as cardamom and cinnamon have been expertly blended to give a warming, rich blend of flavours and a sweet aroma.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
