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!
Buttered Spiced Rum Green Tea from 52Teas
Gentle, warm, and soothing are 3 words I would use to describe Buttered Spiced Rum Green Tea from 52 Teas. Oddly…these are the same 3 words that 52 Teas used to describe this tea, too!
Organic ingredients include green tea, oranges, cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice, nutmeg and natural flavors. 52 Teas doesn’t mess around! At least they don’t mess around with top quality ingredients. They might just have a little TOO much fun when it comes to blending the flavors but there’s NOTHING wrong with that, is there? No. I didn’t think so.
As much as I hate the phrase ‘mouth feel’ I can’t think of another adjective at the moment to describe the way the buttery-goodness of the green tea base swirls around in my mouth. The spices aren’t overly loud but act more like a merry-go-round with the buttery green tea. The citrus notes juice it up nicely, too!
This is delicious hot or cold! A flavored green I would drink time and time again.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
Hot Buttered Rum is a traditional winter drink – something that will help warm you up when it’s cold outside. As I’ve often mentioned, I’m not much of a drinker of alcohol – tea is my drink of choice – but I still enjoy the idea of a warm, soothing cup of hot buttered rum – so I decided to create a tea that brought those flavors to life while still enjoying my favorite drink.
I chose a buttery Chinese Sencha as my base because I felt that the natural buttery tones of the tea would highlight the ‘buttered’ part of the buttered rum. Then I added a few spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. The spices aren’t overwhelming because I wanted a gentle, warm spice flavor but not something that would overpower the flavors of creamy butter and rum. A couple of the recipes that I found online for Hot Buttered Spiced Rum called for orange zest – instead, I added some dried orange segments. The orange flavor is delicate here, just a touch of orange to brighten the cup. As I already mentioned, my goal was to highlight the buttered rum flavor so I didn’t want those flavors overwhelmed by other profiles in this blend.
The result is a gentle, warm, soothing beverage. Something that makes me want to curl up next to a crackling fire and read a good book. This one’s really nice!
Taster size is approximately 15g
organic ingredients: green tea, oranges, cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice, nutmeg and natural flavors
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Spiced Orappangele Green Tea from 52Teas. . . . . .
I woke up feeling my throat was an exploded landmine. What did I need, aside from a mountain of cold medicine? A tea. A GREEN tea. That’s HEALTHY, yeah?
Sure. It’s healthy as heck. I’m going to live forever.
I picked around my work tea basket and this one spoke to me.
“Hello,” Spiced Orappangele Green Tea whispered. “You have taken too much Robitussin. You should not operate machinery or respond to my voice aloud.”
“Why can’t I respond to you aloud?” I asked. Everyone in my office looked at me quizzically.
“Ahhhh,” I said, in my head. “I get it now.”
“Try me. I am the thing. I am TOTES the thing,” it said.
And it IS, guys. This is the citrus-sweet-light-spice concoction of your dreams. It’s a throat soother. It’s a taste sensation. It’s tasty enough to break the barrier of cold-tastelessness, but not so strong as to upset my delicate stomach.
(When I get sick, my stomach gets upset. When I am stressed out, my stomach gets upset. When I eat too much unhealthy food, my stomach gets upset. When I work out too hard, my stomach gets upset. My stomach is also upset by: virtual reality, strong smells, the sight of raw meat, flight turbulence, trying to read in the car, crying, fear, and being hungry too long.)
(I am a delicate flower.)
This flavor is juicy, but not fake. It doesn’t have that weird tart Jolly-Rancher thing that a lot of apple flavors do. The cinnamon/nutmeg also take this high-flying sweetness a little bit more down to earth.
I daresay this tea is sugar, and spice, and everything nice.
This tea isn’t available on 52Teas’ site right now, but I recommend keeping an eye out for apple mixes and spice mixes from them in the future. They seem to be nailing these really well lately.
Stay healthy, Sisters!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for what is currently available.
