This is a tasty chai, but I can’t taste the rose.
Which totally stresses me out, guys.
I want to be like “the rose notes are a pink rose, first bloom of spring, a tender, easy rose, like the kind you buy for a fresh love.”
Or perhaps “this rose is a sultry red, the color of midnight kisses and lipstick on the collar. It’s the last wisp of your lover’s perfume on your clothes as you drive away into the shuddering rain, alone.”
But I can’t taste that.
I’m getting a lot of spices. Which is totally what a chai should be — a violent slam to the face of cinnamon and its squad. So crazy-spiced that you’ve gotta cut it with vanilla almond milk to handle it.
A rugged, full-throttle, roadrunner-speed lightning-streak from your tongue to your stomach. Boom.
Your eyes widen a little wider and you realize that you had been tired all day — and now you’re awake.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Tea Dude
Description
Chai with a hint of Rose Hip. Nicely balanced flavor. Great hot or cold. Use approximately 1 tsp. per cup. Steep until desired strength.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Honeybear Chai Green Tea from Curiositea. . . . .
I know I keep saying how much I love Chai tea, and it seems like every new Chai I try becomes if not my favorite, one of my favorites! But this Chai seriously blew me away. It’s a loose leaf tea, so I added it to my little tea ball and let it steep. I first noticed this was going to be something special when I was emptying my infuser. It smelled like freshly baked cookies! I wanted to eat the leaves! I added a tiny bit of coconut sugar and a splash of coconut milk and seriously had one of the best cups of Chai ever.
It has the normal Chai spices like cinnamon, clove and ginger, but it also has the addition of salted caramel flavoring! It tastes like dessert in a cup! The flavors all work so well together! The salted caramel doesn’t really stand out on it’s own, it’s more of a delicious sweet flavor that makes you wonder what it is! It tastes like a cookie, but I can’t quite put my finger on what kind of cookie, but it’s a cookie you want to eat over and over.
I can definitely say hands down this is the BEST Chai tea I have ever tried. When I took my first sip, I said Oh my, delicious out loud, to myself. My cats looked at me like what the heck. It’s that good!! If I weren’t watching my caffeine intake I would be drinking this all day! It’s really like a sweet hug in a cup. I just cannot say enough good things about this amazing tea!!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: CuriosiTea
Description
Salted Caramel is the new trend in food and beverages. We’ve been experimenting a lot with it and surprised ourselves at what turned out to be our favorite combination.
Sencha green tea is flavored with sweet honey and salted caramel. We then add our signature spice blend of cinnamon, ginger, clove, coriander, fennel and anise. The result is one of the most delightful smelling and tasting teas we have ever had. Light and fun, this heavenly tea is sure to be one of your faves.
This tea is sold loose leaf, meaning it will not arrive packed in tea bags.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
I’m CooCoo for White Coco Choco Chai from Nelson’s Tea
When I’m trying to cut caffeine, but still want some chai spice, I often drink nutty rooibos chais or lemony herbal chais. Depending on the blend and my mood, these alternatives can be tasty, but sometimes I find myself wanting more. White Coco Choco Chai from Nelson’s Tea is the perfect solution.
This tea has a white tea base along with the usual suspects of chai spice: cinnamon, ginger, cardamom. But it also has the addition of allspice, black pepper, coconut and chocolate chips. There’s the same heat I know and love from black tea chais, the kick of ginger and pepper, but there’s also a creaminess from the coconut and chocolate that gives decadence and body where the black tea is absent. The white tea base is light on the caffeine and astringency, making for a spice-driven cup that’s okay to drink just about any time of day.
This tea is like an x-ray, just the white bones of a chai; spice, distilled. Even in the bag, it’s lovely to look at with big cardamom clusters, allspice pods, cinnamon bark, and the white curls of coconut shavings. The tea leaves seem so few in proportion! The smell of this blend in the bag and while brewing is strong and cozy, filling my kitchen with its spicy scent. This tea has all the comfort of a delicious baked good, livened up with the zing of allspice and pepper.
I got to taste just a few cups from a small tea sample, but I will definitely be stocking up on White Coco Choco Chai from Nelson’s Tea as soon as I can!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Nelson’s Tea
Description:
Spicy chai blend in a warm and sweet white tea base with succulent chocolate and coconut. It’s dessert in a cup.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Vanilla Chai from The Tea Can Company. . . . .
I’ve been on a kick lately of sampling different flavored chais. Vanilla is one of them that has been in my top stash as of late. When I was sent Vanilla Chai from The Tea Can Company I was hoping I would find something tasty in my tea sipping experience and boy did I!
Vanilla Chai from The Tea Can Company has a Assam Black Tea base with Cardamom Seeds and natural Vanilla. It offers a sweet and delicious blend to any day but often served at traditional Indian Weddings. There’s a little bit of tea trivia tidbits for you to get you thru the day, eh?
The fact that there are only three ingredients in this loose leaf mix tucked inside a silken and see-thru bag blew my mind! The Assam base was a medium strength black tea. The Cardamom Seeds played an important part but weren’t a ‘ball hog’ either. The Vanilla flavor seemed to round everything out and made it both sweet and creamy at the same time. I really like that Vanilla Chai from The Tea Can Company offered sweet, spicy, creamy, and slightly malty notes, too!
Vanilla Chai from The Tea Can Company certainly warmed my heart and tummy while putting a smile on my face! Vanilla Chai from The Tea Can Company…I raise my tea cup to you!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: The Tea Can Company
Description
Assam Black Tea with Cardamom Seeds, and natural Vanilla. A sweet and simply delicious blend often served at traditional Indian Weddings. Serve hot. Best with milk and sugar or honey.
Ingredients: Black Tea, Cardamon Seeds and Natural Vanilla, Contains Caffeine
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chai Houjicha from 52Teas . . . . .
I was so excited to try this tea. I love love love Chai tea. I love Chai green tea especially since I’m working on cutting back on caffeine.
And doing some Googling I discovered that Houjicha is green tea that has been roasted. The roasting process cuts down on the earthiness of green tea, making it more caramel like in flavor, and also cuts down on the caffeine. This makes it a nice tea to serve in the evening.
Bonus!!
As soon as I opened the packet, I could smell cardamom, which excited me because with a lot of Chai tea the cinnamon and nutmeg kind of take center stage, which is fine but it’s nice to let other flavors play a role.
This blend also has pepper and long pepper, so it is nice and warming. I wouldn’t say spicy, but it is nice and zesty and flavorful. It has a perfect balance of flavors. As I read the ingredients, I noticed that I could taste every single ingredient, including ginger which often gets lost in the mix.
This is one of the best Chai teas I’ve had, and at this point I’ve had a lot. I really enjoy the flavor of roasted green tea, it goes very well with all the Chai spices. I had mine with a little bit of raw sugar and a splash of coconut milk. It was a wonderful thing to have first thing in the morning, especially on this grey winter day. It made me feel warm and cozy.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
As I sit here, tasting this, it’s just a couple of days past the first day of FALL – my favorite time of year! There are a couple of reasons why it’s my favorite time of year. First, I love the change in temperature. The change of color outside with all the beautiful orange, red and yellow leaves is wonderfully inspiring but the main reason fall is my favorite season is the change in temperature. That cool, crisp air of autumn is certainly a welcome respite from the heat of summer (and in August around here, it usually gets down-right unbearable!) And the cooler temperatures not only mean it’s time to start wearing warm, fluffy sweaters and cozy wool socks but hot tea is much more enjoyable this time of year – and especially “chai” teas. (Yes, I know that “chai” translates simply to “tea” and means all tea types but around here when I think “chai” I think of a nicely spiced tea.)
If I had to narrow my ‘flavored’ tea choices to just three or four favorites, chai would certainly make that list (as well as Earl Grey and probably chocolate – or possibly vanilla?) Fortunately, here at 52Teas – we don’t have to narrow our choices when it comes to tea! We’re all about celebration of flavor here! But that doesn’t diminish my adoration for a well-spiced chai!
I decided for my first ‘official’ chai of this fall season, I’d make a Houjicha based chai! I started with an organic, roasted green tea (aka Houjicha) and added cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, cardamom, black pepper and a little bit of long pepper.
Mmm! The toasty flavor of the Houjicha adds a delightfully warm, nutty flavor to the cup and it is beautifully matched with the warmth of the spices. Not a hot spice – but comfortably warm. The kind of tea you want to curl up with while cuddling up under a a soft blanket and a good book.
Large size is approximately 50g.
organic ingredients: roasted green tea, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper, long pepper and natural flavors.