Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Product Description:
This Spiced Chai has seasonal Malabar Coast spices, the sweet caramel comes to the fore front with a sensuous Belgian White Chocolate finish. Spices include Ginger, Cardamom, Coriander, Cinnamon, Cloves and Black Pepper.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! What a wonderful way to wake up!
The black tea is a blend of teas from India and Sri Lanka. It’s a pleasant black tea flavor: strong but not overwhelming, astringent but not too much, while offering hints of malt and a caramel-y undertone that enhances the flavor delivery.
The description above is pretty spot-on, in my opinion. The sip starts out smooth and sweet with caramel flavor. The spices are fairly mellow, but that’s really what’s called for in a blend like this. It’s not all about the spices and it shouldn’t be. Instead, the spices are warm and comforting, and work well to highlight that delectable caramel flavor as well as the white chocolate, which emerges at the finish.
It is also near the finish where the spices come forth with a peppery kick. Not a strong kick, but just enough to let you know that this is a chai you’re sipping. The tea finishes sweet, chocolate-y and with a slightly dry, cleansing astringency which prepares the palate for a softly sweet, very pleasant aftertaste that is almost as enjoyable as the sip itself.
This is a real treat!
Assam Bukhial TGFOP Tea from Culinary Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Product Description:
The best estate in Assam. The soil conditions and climate produce a mellow and malty Bukhail TGFOP to be savored and contemplated. Thick and malty but surprisingly airy with good flavour.
Taster’s Review:
This is a delightful Assam: very rich and hearty, but as the description above suggests, there is a sort of lightness to it as well. It isn’t as hefty as some Assam teas I’ve tried, but where it lacks in that heftiness, it more than makes up for with a smooth, almost silky character. This is a suave, debonair Assam.
One thing that I notice in particular is that this Assam lacks any real hint of bitterness to it. With most Assam teas that I’ve tasted, there always seems to be that undercurrent of bitterness to them, as if to infer that if it had been oversteeped, it would have surely given the cup a bitter bite. But I’m not tasting that here. There is some astringency, and I would classify it as a moderate astringency that develops to an almost strong astringency.
Other than the bitterness, there is much of what I would expect from an Assam: a robust flavor with a nice malty note, caramel-y sweetness, and a solid boldness to it – GUSTO – to rev up the engine when needed. But where some Assam teas can be somewhat rugged and hefty – what I shall call a manly masculinity – this Assam has more of a sophisticated polish that I would liken to a more civilized gentleman-like masculinity. Both types are enjoyable; each in their own way.
A fabulous Assam. If you like to add milk and honey to your tea, this one accepts them graciously, and makes a really good breakfast tea choice. Its smooth quality also makes for a pleasant afternoon tea. I’d recommend this Assam to those who have found the bite of other Assam teas to be more than they can handle. This one may be much more to your liking.
White Chocolate Spice Chai Tea from Culinary Teas
Tea Type: Chai (Black Tea Base)
Where To Buy: Culinary Teas
Product Description:
This Spiced Chai has seasonal Malabar Coast spices, the sweet caramel comes to the fore front with a sensuous Belgian White Chocolate finish. Spices include Ginger, Cardamom, Coriander, Cinnamon, Cloves and Black Pepper.
Tasters Review:
I often have word association with many teas. This is one of them. White Chocolate. I remember my mother making Regular Chocolate, White Chocolate, and Orange Chocolate around the holidays. Many of you have read about my ramblings on Orange Chocolate before and didn’t realize until a few years ago that it wasn’t very popular outside of the Buffalo area. It’s a shame because Orange Chocolate is awesome. Anyhow…back to white chocolate. White Chocolate DOES have a different taste to milk chocolate. It’s more milky, creamy, not really like a pure chocolate but certainly creamy.
I can taste the white chocolate in this tea but it’s not over the top and I can taste most if not all of the spices! It’s milky smooth but with spice! So, as I really sat down and thought about this tea it did make sense and it did fit the description…milky-smooth fit the White Chocolate to a T and the spices were in line with what you would expect from a chai! All-together this was right-up there with the delightful flavored chais I have tried! NICE!
Yorkshire Harrogate Tea from Culinary Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Product Description:
Few teas have such rich fullness and flavor. Yorkshire Harrogate has a lightly astringent cup becomes golden bright on milk. A traditional tea that befits a Yorkshire man!
Taster’s Review:
For many tea drinkers out there – this is the kind of blend that they think of when they think of tea. It is good and strong. As in STRONG! This is the kind of tea that you’ll reach for time and time again when you want something that will invigorate you and get you going. A perfect morning cuppa!
This is definitely a masculine kind of tea, and yet, I’m discovering a wonderful complexity to this full-flavored cup. Yes, it is an incredibly bold cup of tea, I am not finding it to be too strong. Layers of flavor! A wonderful sweetness that is somewhat caramel-y (which is further enhanced by the malty tones), as well as a honey-esque sweetness.
The malty tones not only highlight the caramel-like flavors to this cup, but also its biscuit-y tones that remind me of a freshly baked loaf of yeasty bread. And despite its robust nature, it is quite smooth. It doesn’t have a strong bitter note (although I do taste a hint of savory bitterness toward mid-sip, it does not offer a powerful bite), and there is a fair amount of a slightly dry astringency. If you find the astringency to be a bit too much (I do not), it can be softened significantly with the addition of milk. In fact, it takes to this addition quite well (a drizzle of honey is quite nice too) Overall, I’m finding this to be a well-rounded cup of tea.
A right proper brew, this Yorkshire Harrogate!
Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai from Culinary Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Product Description:
So, what goes into a tea named after the terrifying tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman? Pumpkin, of course. (The story goes that the horseman had the head of a pumpkin.) Add to this a select blend of herbs and spices, chai mix, cinnamon and ginger pieces. The taste of Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai, it goes without saying, is to die for!
Taster’s Review:
What better tea to drink on Halloween than a tea called Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai? If this doesn’t get the taste buds excited for tonight, nothing will!
The dry leaf is visually appealing, with not only lots of large pieces of spices tossed amongst the black tea leaves, but also orange, purple and green candy sprinkles for a touch of whimsy. There aren’t a lot of sprinkles (the photo above shows more sprinkles than I could see in my package), so they don’t add a whole lot of sweetening to the chai, and as always, I do recommend sweetening the chai as it enhances the spices. (I used turbinado sugar for my cup)
I tried this two ways: first, I tried it with just the sugar added to get a taste for the blend before I lattefy (Yes, it’s a word, I just made it up, ok?) with some steamed milk. The pumpkin flavor is well-defined. Very often with pumpkin flavored teas, the pumpkin can often be somewhat obscured by the spices, and since this IS a chai, I expected that to be the case with this blend. But it is certainly NOT the case!
Yes, the chai spices are strong, but the pumpkin is equally as strong and shines through the warm, peppery flavor of the masala spice. The peppery flavor of ginger and black pepper comes through strongest, but, I can also taste the cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom … as well as the flavor of the black tea.
One look at the ingredient list and you’d think that this chai has a lot going on, but, all the ingredients work together quite well. To be honest, when I saw that hibiscus and rooibos were both in this blend, I had to go and check my package, because I really don’t taste them, and I can’t really see any evidence of their presence in the dry leaf.
After finishing one cup with just the sugar to enhance the spices, I then moved on to what I’ve been looking forward to since receiving this tea – a Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai Latte! I mean, this time of year, every time I walk past a coffee shop I see signs announcing their fall flavors and it makes me WANT to try them; but, since coffee leaves me with some ill after effects, I must avoid these alluring advertisements. I love that Culinary Teas makes it possible for my own version of a fall flavored coffee-house special without the coffee.
And … YUM! All the flavors I mentioned before remain intact with the addition of the steamed milk, but instead of a “spiced pumpkin” sort of flavor, this is a bit like pumpkin pie filling topped with whipped cream that’s been added to my chai. This is absolutely delicious!
No tricks, this tea is definitely a TREAT!