Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Third Street Chai
Product Description:
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Organic Green Tea with Mint Concentrate, Malic Acid
Taster’s Review:
For my husband’s Superbowl party this year, I prepared a gallon of this tea – and it was gone when I returned home after the game! Apparently it was a big hit!
And for good reason – it’s not only tasty but very refreshing too. It has a clean, crisp minty taste that quenches the thirst without tasting overdone (not too minty) or too sweet. In fact, this concentrate is unsweetened, which I like! It allows me to decide just how sweet I’d like the tea to be. And I find it to be really delicious without any sweetener whatsoever. For the aforementioned party, I did add some agave nectar, and after a quick taste I found that a small amount of sweetener brings out some of the mint notes of the tea. But it tastes great with or without sweetener, and I like that Third Street Chai leaves it up to the tea drinker whether they’d like it sweet or not.
The green tea is a very light taste here, but it isn’t overwhelmed by the mint. It has a delicate vegetative taste – this is a very light grassy taste and I don’t think it’s enough to be off-putting to even the most sensitive palate. This is a green tea that even those who don’t care for green tea can appreciate.
It is super convenient too! Just mix 1 part concentrate to 7 parts cold water. I actually use a little less water because I add ice which dilutes it – however, since this is so easy to make, it would be equally as easy to make tea cubes to chill the tea.
This would be perfect for your next BBQ!
Product Review: Spicy Ginger Chai Concentrate from Third Street Chai
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
For more information, visit: Third Street Chai
Product Description:
A generously spiced blend of fine black tea, fiery ginger, and freshly-milled aromatic spices.
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Evaporated Cane Juice, Fair Trade Certified Organic Black Tea, Organic Cardamom, Organic Clove, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Ginger, Organic Black Pepper, Organic Fennel, Organic Nutmeg, Citric Acid.
Taster’s Review:
I don’t usually go for chai concentrates. I don’t stop at a lot of coffee shops (although here in the Pacific Northwest, there seems to be at least one on every street corner) and order chai lattes that are made from those concentrates. The reason is that I find that they don’t really taste very much like tea. They are more like some sort of sweet (sometimes sickeningly sweet), spicy, milky beverage that is alright, but not something I’d want to drink on a regular basis. On average, I’d say I have one of those coffee shop chai lattes about three times a year.
But… if I found a local coffee shop that used THIS chai concentrate, I might visit more often! This is really good. I prepared it according to package directions, using a ratio of 1 part concentrate to 1 part milk, put it into a mug and then zap it in the microwave for a minute or two.
The results are delightful. Although it is sweetened – it is sweetened just right for me. It is not so sweet that the sweetener overpowers the flavor of the black tea and the spices. And neither does the milk.
I can taste the strong black tea and the spices – and if the name of this particular variety is any indication to you, I especially taste the ginger. It is peppery but not over-the-top spicy. It warms me up without making me feel like I need something to offset the hot spice. Just enough zing without making my mouth feel like I should call the fire department!
This is really delicious!