PRODUCT REVIEW: Tiger Spice Chai Mix from David Rio

davidrioProduct Information:

Where to Buy:  David Rio

Product Description:

David Rio’s signature and award winning chai is a rich and creamy mixture of black tea and premium spices including cinnamon, cardamom and clove. A percentage of profits from the sale of ALL David Rio Tiger Spice Chai® will be donated to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (www.ifaw.org). For more info, visit ourAnimal Welfare page.

Learn more about this instant chai mix here.

I received a packet of this instant chai mix in my January Love with Food box.

Taster’s Review:

In addition to my tea addiction … I also consider myself a bit of a foodie, and I enjoy receiving a couple of “food tasting boxes” every month.  I subscribe to a couple of them, including Love with Food.  Love with Food is a great company that every month, sends out boxes that are filled with little samples of food items.  And for every box sent, Love with Food donates a meal to a hungry child.  I like that.

In January, I received a package of this Tiger Spice Chai Mix from David Rio. Now, this isn’t the first time I’ve tried the Tiger Spice Chai Mix from David Rio … I had the opportunity to try their products years ago, after being introduced to them through a hot beverage convention that I attended back when I was still self-employed as a tea vendor.  I enjoyed it back then, and I’m enjoying it now.

It has a creamy, sweet-spiced taste. It is … in my opinion, too sweet.  I’d rather be able to sweeten it myself than to have all that sugar added to my chai, but, as a once in a while treat for myself, I think I can handle the occasional sweet drink.  And since this is the first time I’ve had this chai in … probably six or seven years, I’d say that’s once in quite a while!

And since that last time that I tried this chai … I can say that my taste buds have really come a long way.  I used to really LOVE this stuff.  It’s still … OK … but, it’s not all that I thought it once was.  The black tea is quite obscured by the sugar and the creamer used in the mix.  The spices are not very spicy … they’re pretty mellow in comparison to other chai blends I’ve had recently, and a bit more mellow than I would like it to be.

It’s drinkable, certainly, but not something that I would want to drink on a regular basis, and as it is pumped up with a lot of sugar and corn syrup solids, it’s probably better that way.  I enjoyed it, but, certainly not as much as I would have enjoyed a chai that I had more control over – that I could decide how much sweetener (if any) I would add, and how much milk/cream/creamer I would add, if any.

That said, I think it’s commendable that David Rio is committed to Animal Welfare.  You can read more about that here.