Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tealicious Tea Company
Tea Description:
Our version of Indian Spiced Chai Tea surpasses any other available. We blended our magical recipe of anise, cardamom, cloves, whole red peppercorn, ginger, vanilla and cinnamon together with our finest Ceylon OP to create this delightful Chai.
Learn more about this chai here.
Taster’s Review:
Autumn has officially begun! Well, at least for me it has. I know that the official first day of autumn was a month ago, but, for me, it isn’t really autumn until I need to start putting on sweaters when I go outside. When it’s cold and wet and grey … when drinking a hot, spiced chai blend is so comforting!
This Indian Spiced Chai from Tealicious Tea Company is indeed comforting … and oh-so-good!
The spices are really delightful. They are warm and soothing. I like that the cinnamon and ginger do not seem to be overwhelming the flavors – I can taste each of the spices. The cloves are strong, the cardamom gives a warm, exotic note to the cup, and I can even taste a hint of snappy licorice from the anise and I’m really loving that. For those of you who tend to not like licorice flavor, don’t worry, the licorice-y note isn’t strong, and the anise really melds together nicely with the other spices to create a more unified flavor. It doesn’t really taste “licorice-y” … or even “cinnamon-y” or “clove-y” for that matter. It just tastes warmly spiced.
The vanilla is my favorite element of this chai. It adds a very pleasing creamy touch to the cup; eliminating the need to add milk. It tastes so sweet and creamy, almost latte-ish without the milk!
Which is good because the black tea base is a Ceylon tea, and it’s a fine black tea base but I think that this chai could definitely benefit from the bold, malty flavor of a rich Assam. The Ceylon tea is smooth and tasty in this blend, but it just feels and tastes a little weak. The background doesn’t seem as “solid” as I like from a chai. As a result, adding milk to this chai may end up muting the flavors more than enhancing them.
But as I said, adding milk really isn’t necessary, because the vanilla really gives this tea a deliciously sweet, creamy taste without the milk. This is really delicious served without milk, with only about a half a teaspoon of turbinado sugar to enhance the spices a little bit.
A really delightful cup of chai to help kick off the start of my favorite season of the year!
Life in Balance (Black Tea & Chai Spices) from Hari Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Hari Tea
Tea Description:
What is your body made of? In the most elementary sense: earth, water, fire, air, and ether. You probably don’t think too much about them, but if they get out of balance, you feel it. How do you feel? Why it’s elementary, my dear. Enjoy life in balance with black tea and just the right exotic blend of chai spices.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of this tea is delightful – I just love the scent of a well-blended chai! Spicy, heady, almost intoxicating! That’s what I’m getting from my teacup as the fragrance wafts from it.
The flavor is very nice. It is a nicely balanced spiced chai: it doesn’t taste too spicy, the spices taste warm and inviting, and the flavor of the black tea is present in each and every sip. It is well-rounded and has a spicy-sweet taste rather than the often overdone spicy-hot taste. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some zesty hot spices, but, I really admire how Hari Tea balanced the spices here so that they’d be warm and invigorating, but not too spicy. It allows for some of the natural earthy tones from the spices as well as the tea to express themselves – something that I don’t often experience with a spiced chai blend.
This tea also comes in the neatest little cotton muslin bags that appear to be hand sewn. Normally, I’m not a fan of bagged tea, but, I do like these bags. Because they’re made of fabric rather than paper, there is some “give” to the bag so that the tea can properly expand.
I find the tea to be quite soothing while it seems to restore me from the inside out. A very pleasant experience, indeed! I did not try this chai as a latte, mostly because I found it quite delicious served straight. A little milk or cream would give it a very pleasant creamy taste and make it almost dessert-like and I do enjoy a good chai latte! Perhaps next time!
Genmaicha Chai from Culinary Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Tea Description:
Genmaicha Chai has delicious toasty rice notes dappled with green tea and a lively spice finish. It is a ceremonial tea union of Japan and India.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love spiced chai, and I adore Genmaicha … so it doesn’t surprise me at all that I am loving this tea.
The Genmaicha is sweet and toasty, and the roasty-toasty taste of the genmaicha works so deliciously well with the warm chai spices. The spices are not overpowering or even what I’d call spicy, at least not spicy-hot. They are warm and comforting and well-balanced. I taste notes of ginger and pepper – I find that these two spices in particular work in unison, providing a gentle, peppery heat. I also taste the warm, sassy notes of cinnamon as well as the cloves and cardamom. A hint of coriander ties all the flavors together in a very pleasing way.
And even though the spices are strong, they do not overwhelm the soft sweetness of the Genmaicha. The roasted rice adds a satisfying level of sweetness to the cup so if you like a semi-sweet cup of chai but don’t like to add sugar to your tea, this chai may be just the ticket for you. The buttery tones of the green tea add a hint of creaminess to this as well, providing a smooth quality without adding milk – which I typically do not add to green teas. I suppose this blend would be quite good with milk, although I’d recommend steeping it at double or even triple strength before adding the milk to avoid overthrowing the delicious flavors of this cup.
Culinary Teas never ceases to impress me with their high quality teas, not to mention their reasonable prices. Their products are fresh and delicious, and they are a really nice company too – I like that they have an online presence.
When I drink tea from Culinary Teas, it’s is like enjoying tea with dear friends!
Chaider from World Spice Merchants
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush & Rooibos
Where to Buy: World Spice Merchants
Tisane Description:
Chaider is sure to take off the chill with its original blend of Star Anise, Tellicherry Peppercorns, Cassia Cinnamon, Ginger, Cloves, Green Cardamom Pod and Seed, Honeybush and Rooibos. Serve it steeped as you would tea, or in warmed apple cider.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a very tasty tisane from World Spice Merchants. It does indeed have a flavor that is reminiscent of hot spiced cider, all that’s missing is the apple! Then again, it is a little different from a typical cider. This has a strong licorice-like flavor to it that gives it a sharpness and a sweet flavor and gives this its own unique flavor.
I’ve had this twice now, and the first time I steeped it, I steeped for ten minutes using a little too much leaf – about 2 heaping teaspoons per 8 ounces, which is about the normal amount for me when I make a chai blend, as I usually plan on diluting it with steamed milk to make a latte.
However, I didn’t make it a latte, so I had a very strong-tasting tisane, and I think it was a bit too strong, especially after tasting my second cup which I steeped for about 8 minutes and used 1 1/2 teaspoons per 8 ounces instead of the 2 heaping teaspoons. This made a big difference in the taste, and I found the second cup to be much more palatable.
The anise flavor is quite strong with this tisane, and as I am a fan of anise, I don’t have a problem with that. However, if you’re not a licorice or anise fan, this is not the tisane for you. The other spices are nicely balanced, and the cinnamon and anise complement each other very well. But this isn’t too cinnamon-y which is something I often find with cider-like teas or tisanes, and I like that I can taste the other spices here.
I can also taste the rooibos and honeybush, and they bring a nice, woody tone to the background. Normally, I am not a fan of the woody flavors of these herbs (especially rooibos) but it works here, because of the overall rustic quality of this tisane.
A nice, warming tisane for these chilly early spring evenings.
PRODUCT REVIEW: Chai Cola from Natural Brew
Product Information:
Product: Chai Cola – a bottled, micro-brewed soft drink from Natural Brew.
Where to Buy: New Seasons Market or where Natural Brew products are sold.
Product Description:
Chai is the Hindi word for “tea,” a centuries-old beverage often mixed with a complex blend of spices. By using only the finest natural ingredients, Natural Brew® Chai Cola offers a spicy, aromatic pleasure accompanied by a unique and refreshing taste.
Learn more about Chai Cola here.
Taster’s Review:
As some of you may be aware, I’m not only a tea fanatic, but somewhat of a foodie too. I write about my foodie adventures on another blog, and I even subscribe to the Foodzie monthly tasting box. Every month, we choose from three different boxes with different themes. In February, I selected the Valentine’s Box which was loaded with chocolate goodies (did I mention that I’m also a chocoholic?), but there was one product in another box that really piqued my interest: Chai Cola. Since that time, I’ve been on a mission to find some Chai Cola so that I could try it.
I don’t know if the Chai Cola that was in the February “Movie Night” box was from Natural Brew, but, when I found a four-pack of this cola in New Seasons yesterday, I had to have some! And while I don’t drink cola or soda on a regular basis (you may have noticed that I drink a lot of tea instead), I really like what I’m tasting here!
This has a totally different taste from most commercial sodas on the market today. It actually tastes as though it was made with care, rather than mass produced, a result, perhaps, of the micro-brew process. As a result, I find that this is a beverage with more flavor, and less of a syrupy sweet concoction that inundates the palate with sweetness rather than anything of substance.
It is sweet, of course (sweetened with cane juice), but after the first couple of sips, I find that the spices of the chai really start to come alive, and help offset the sweetness of the beverage. I taste hints of ginger, a little cinnamon and even some clove in there! It doesn’t taste overly spicy, but it has a gentle spiced tone that contrasts pleasantly with the sweetness of the cola.
And then there is the tea! I was actually surprised to read in the ingredients list that it is a decaffeinated tea that they use, I suppose that the “cola” part of this already has caffeine in it and the caffeine of the tea might have been too much? I don’t know what their thinking was when selecting the tea. But that being said, it doesn’t taste like a decaffeinated beverage, nor do I get a chemical-y taste from the decaffeinated tea … but I do taste tea. Of all the flavors that I do taste here, the tea is perhaps the mildest of them, but I can definitely taste it.
Overall, I find this to be a very delicious cola … I still prefer tea, but, for a soda … this is definitely my cup of tea!
