Steeped with a heaping tablespoon of leaves at 175 degrees in about 1 cup of water.
This tea was a new experience for me! I’ve tried lots of flavored green teas, but never one where the green tea was a substitute for black tea in a chai blend. As a result of this tea, I’ve realized how different these spices are outside of a conventional chai context and how much I take the black tea base for granted in chai blends!
As it steeps, I can detect a fragrance of spices; it smells like cinnamon and possibly cloves. The tea liquid isn’t very dark. In fact it’s only achieved a pale honeylike color after it’s finished steeping; it’s a little viscous, with nearly invisible flecks (of cinnamon, perhaps?) swimming in it.
The flavor is very different from any chai I’ve ever tried. The spices, instead of melding with a malty black tea flavor to form a rounded flavor profile, are instead mingling with the bright astringent green tea notes (grassy almost, but not much on the floral side that I can detect). This makes for a very focused flavor overall. It’s highly concentrated in the bright and forward flavor notes and not so much rounded out with the deeper tones that a black tea normally imparts to a chai (in my experience). It’s almost bitter, but then again, I may have oversteeped it a bit–I like my chais strong.
With milk, it’s suddenly not very strong at all. It still has spice flavors, but I’m really missing the black tea base here. And I know you aren’t really “supposed” to put milk in green tea, but that’s what I normally do with chai so I figured why not?
So to sum up, don’t expect this to taste like a more conventional chai! Instead, expect a bright, spicy, focused flavor that’s intended to be enjoyed alone or with a little sweetener; I recommend trying it without milk. In fact, I bet this would make a great iced tea!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Vahdam Teas
Description
A superior blend of fresh green tea from Darjeeling blended with choicest Indian spices like Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove & Black Peppercorns. Discover a smooth fulfilling aroma of fresh greens with delicious undertones of raw spices in every sip. The liquor is bright green with an energizing aroma. A unique chai tea which can be served with or without milk.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Spiced Chai from LucidiTea Co. . . An Earthy Chai to Try!
Spiced Chai from LucidiTea Co was a tea and a tea company I discovered while attending the Erie VegFest in late September. They were one of the vendors at the festival and for that I am VERY grateful! I ended up buying 3 of their teas and this was one of them.
This chai is a great starter chai because the spices are not overly intense like some others I have tried. Don’t get me wrong I like both Chai’s…the ones that are more mellow and the ones that are intense. There is just a time and a place for everything and this time around I was looking for something on the quieter side. Enter Spiced Chai from LucidiTea Co. I really appreciate that they used a Darjeeling as the base for this chai. The vanilla seemed to smooth out the ending, too!
Spiced Chai from LucidiTea Co makes my mouth happy! It’s comforting and warm but not over the top spicy. Great for a fall day – or any day – really!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: LucidiTea Co
Description
Our organic Spiced Chai blend is wonderfully aromatic, warm, and delightful. It has deep earthy tones as well as alluring accents from various warming spices making it our favorite tea to drink in the colder months. This blend produces an exotic flavor that is sure to comfort and please your taste buds. Not only does it smell and taste incredible, it proves a stable clean energy for hours while regulating metabolism.
Ingredients: organic darjeeling tea, organic ginger root, organic cinnamon bark, organic nutmeg, organic cardamom, organic cloves, and organic vanilla bean.
Ideal steep time is 3-5 minutes. Recommended serving size is 1-3 tsp depending on strength preference.
This blend contains caffeine.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Firebird Chai by Wendigo
While sniffing this tea before steeping (what? Don’t tell me I’m the only one who does this) I can definitely pick up a big whiff of ginger in the dry leaves. The leaves are better-looking than average for chai; they also have more of a presence in the blend (as far as fragrance and so on) than some do. I also observed lots of chunks of other stuff (spices?) in there with the tea leaves. The curls of dried ginger were the most noticeable of these. (And also were quite impressive. Don’t most chais just have minced ginger or something? These curls were really cool-looking.)
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Wendigo Tea
Description
FireBird
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
#FanaticFriday: Lapsang Chai from Bluebird Tea Co.
We at SororiTea Sisters love all things fall! So today we are fanatic about fall!!
I’m not sure why I jumped into a Chai phase abruptly – perhaps it’s because Fall is finally here – whatever the reasoning I recently busted open a bag of Lapsang Chai from Bluebird Tea Co.
I’m always interested in teas that have that ‘little extra something’ so when I saw that Lapsang Chai from Bluebird Tea Co contained India Assam Tea, Lapsang Souchong Black Tea, and Chai Spice I knew I had to try it! Indian Black Assam AND Lapsang Souchong? Yes, please!
Dry – I could smell the Lapsang right away and then the chai spices. Wet – I could smell less of both but they seemed more even and equal to each other after infusing. Lapsang Chai from Bluebird Tea Co brews to a dark brown – just as I assumed it would.
Lapsang Chai from Bluebird Tea Co is a really nice cuppa! It’s spicy but not overly-so. It oddly has a smoothness it to that I wasn’t expecting but found comforting along side the spices. Pine, smoke, ginger, and clove join hands with the blended black tea base. I really like Bluebird’s twist on this chai! VERY Well Done!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Bluebird Tea Co.
Description
We like to do things a bit differently at Bluebird. Our latest infusion is a thoughtful blend of Lapsang Souchong, malty Assam + aromatic masala chai spices. A BREWtiful blend of tea + culture alike!
Indian Assam tea, lapsang souchong black tea, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, red peppercorns.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Organic Masala Chai from Hope and Glory
We’ve been having some tropical weather lately, so today was much cooler and rainier than usual for this time of year. I do appreciate cool weather when I can get it, especially because after a few days/weeks/months of summer I get tired of not being able to have any hot tea after 8AM without overheating and getting a migraine. So to celebrate the great rainy weather, I decided to have a big mug of milky chai right in the middle of the day; and fortunately for me, I was lucky enough to have a sample of Hope & Glory’s organic masala chai on hand!
The back of the sample packet said to simmer the tea with milk and water for 5-10 minutes, so that’s what I did. (I know this means my review won’t be much use to people who can’t drink milk, and I apologize. I once tried to make my lactose-intolerant brother a chai latte but I was unprepared to adapt to using soymilk and to make a long story short, he probably still dislikes spiced chai. But I digress.) I then strained it into my tall latte mug and added a few teaspoons of sugar and a little cream.
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!