Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Looking for a chai with a little extra ZING? You’ve found it! We crafted this warming chai with extra ginger and cinnamon, plenty of anise seed, peppercorns and even a touch of red pepper flakes. It’s not super spicy like they cayenne pepper blends we’ve created, but it will do a great job of warming your bones.
Learn more about this blend here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
The name of this chai made me go hmm. – Spicier Chai – Spicier than what? But after I took my first sip, I got it. I understood.
Because…
Wow! “Spicier” is right!
And to answer the question: it’s spicier than your average chai. And it might even be spicier than the average spicy chai. Frank (Chief Zoomdweebie at 52Teas) didn’t skimp on the spices in this chai.
And I’m LOVING it! This is the way chai should be.
Oh sure, I’ve loved many a mild chai. But, in my heart of hearts, I like my spices robust and zesty, and to call this Spicier chai “robust and zesty” would be an understatement. This takes robust and zesty to the extreme! This is sure to warm you up after a day out in the snow. (Or the cold, biting rain like we experience here in the Pacific Northwest.) This will warm you up – starting on the inside and that heat will radiate outward. And I like it like that.
There is a good amount of ginger to this, and that, along with some black pepper and red pepper flake is what is providing the heat. But I’m glad that there is more to this chai than just ginger and pepper! I am getting a nice cinnamon-y backdrop and a pleasant anise flavor. The snappy-sweet licorice flavor from the anise contrasts nicely with the peppery flavors. The cardamom and clove work together with the cinnamon to create a cohesive “chai” flavor rather than something that tastes like it’s all peppery/gingery heat.
I think that’s what I like best about this chai is that it’s not a one-note kind of chai. I am tasting a masala blend here, not just one or two spices.
Yes, I do taste the black tea too. I have to say that it does get a little lost in the spices here, but the black tea is strong enough to offer a background of black tea flavor. I’m not drinking an infusion of spices. I’m drinking black tea and spices and that is evident in the flavor. The nuances of the black tea are difficult to discern. I’m not tasting “delicate floral notes in the background” or “notes of fruit” within the layers of flavor. I taste SPICE and I taste black tea. And really, that’s good enough for me because the spice is bold and strong and that’s what makes this a seriously good chai.
If you’re one who tastes a chai and thinks, “Hey, where is the spice?” or if you’re one who thinks that the average chai is just a little on the tame side, you really should try this chai! This chai has some bite!
Pumpkin Spice Chai from The Tea Spot
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The Tea Spot
Tea Description:
Our NEW seasonal Pumpkin Spice Chai may soon become your favorite tea to look forward to each Fall! This chai blend boasts a perfectly-balanced full leaf Assam black tea base with cinnamon, clove, cardamom, allspice, and pumpkin flavor to get you warmed up for Fall. This tea makes an amazing pumpkin latte with the simple addition of steamed milk. This seasonal treat will have you jumping in piles of rainbow-colored leaves in no time!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This year (at least this time of the year this year) seems like it’s been the year of the pumpkin chai! I’ve reviewed quite a few different pumpkin chai teas this year! I’ve enjoyed most of what I’ve tried (nothing comes to mind immediately that I did not enjoy, but some I definitely enjoyed more than others), but I think I’m saving the best for last! This one – this! This is one of the very best pumpkin chai teas that I’ve ever tasted.
The first thing that really impressed me when I opened the pouch of this tea is the aroma! Wow! I can really smell the pumpkin! It is a distinct pumpkin-y fragrance. It smells like the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning when the pies are baking! I smell notes of spice and black tea too, but the pumpkin notes are prominent!
The aromatic pumpkin notes are there in the brewed tea too. The fragrance wafting out of my teacup right now are scrumptious! To brew this, I used my Kati Tumbler and measured 1 heaping bamboo scoop of tea into the basket. I like to use just a little more leaf when I’m brewing a chai! This is especially important if you plan on going latte, because you want to accommodate for the heavier flavor of the dairy – or whatever product you’re using to make it a latte.
I brought 12 ounces of water to boiling and poured it into the tumbler and let this tea steep for 3 1/2 minutes. I usually stop at 3 minutes with a black tea (and especially an Assam, which this is!) but because of the spices, I wanted to give them a little more time to develop so I crossed my fingers and hoped that the Assam would let me steep it a little longer!
Fortunately, the Assam didn’t seem to mind the slightly longer steep.
This is a really delicious pumpkin chai. The pumpkin notes are distinct. They are THERE. There’s no mistaking the pumpkin here! This isn’t a pumpkin pie spice type chai where you’re tasting the spices of a pumpkin pie but no pumpkin flavor. This is PUMPKIN!
And even though the pumpkin flavor is strong, it is a true-to-the-squash type of flavor. It doesn’t taste artificial. It tastes like someone liquefied pumpkin puree and added it to my teacup.
The spices are nice. They’re good and strong – flavorful – without pushing it to the spicy level! It’s a distinct, spiced blend. Not just warmly spiced, but not quite “spicy” either. It’s somewhere between. Consider the amount of spice that you’d find in the typical pumpkin pie. Let’s call that mild spice. And then there’s the super zesty, spicy level … this is somewhere in between. This tastes like a chai that is also a pumpkin tea.
And I like that the spices are so thoughtfully balanced. I like that this tastes like a chai! I taste each of the spices: cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger. I am also tasting the allspice which is nice (and not always something that’s added to chai!) It’s warm, it’s cozy, but it’s also got a certain zippy invigorating quality that I get from a well-spiced chai.
You might think that with all that pumpkin and spice, that the tea winds up on the short end of the stick. But no! This is an Assam tea and it’s got some gusto! It is a rich, malty tea and the sweet, caramel-y notes together with the malt really play nicely with the flavors of pumpkin and spice.
For the purposes of this review, I didn’t go latte with this chai. I wanted to experience the tea straight up, with just a little bit of raw sugar added to enhance the spices a little. (This would also be amazing with honey!) After I finished writing my thoughts about the non-latte chai, I decided to add some steamed milk and it’s awesome like that too! So rich and creamy and yum! Better than what you’d find in the local coffee stop!
This is a very clever, well-crafted pumpkin chai. This is the best of the pumpkin patch!
9 Spice Chai Black Tea from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
Could it be? A perfectly balanced chai tea? Yes, we know chai means tea and we are saying tea tea. But we like tea tea. Anyway. 9 Spice Chai is a smooth, deep, and complex black tea with just enough spiced flavor to penetrate the Indian and Sri Lankan black teas. Finally, a cup of chai that isn’t literally a cup of cloves or a cup of cinnamon nutmeg! Rejoice! This blend is part of the Original 20 M&K’s Blends.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
If you’ve read many of my reviews, you know by now that I love a good chai! So, I looked forward to trying this 9 Spice Chai from M&K’s Tea Company. After reading the description, it would seem that M&K’s is promising me a good chai here, so I am eagerly anticipating that!
And I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the humor in M&K’s description. I know that ‘Chai’ means tea and when I say “Chai,” I am more often than not – 99 times out of 100 – referring to a spiced tea blend. But I also often find myself worrying about those purists out there that might read one of my post titles that say “chai tea” and they’re snickering about me saying “tea tea.” I like that M&K’s addresses this “confusing” subject with humor. Thank you.
Anyway … let’s move on to the chai tea that sits in front of me, tempting me with it’s lovely aroma. It smells warm and spicy, like the kitchen during the holidays when there are lots of tasty things being baked.
Especially when I was a kid in my gramma’s kitchen … not so much now because if tasty things were being baked in the kitchen, that would mean that I was baking them and doing all the work. Things smell a lot better when I’m not the one doing the work. I think that’s why the childhood memories of pies, cakes, cookies and other yummies “smelled” so much better than when I make those things.
I’m just full of tangent today, aren’t I?
As I was saying, this chai smells good. It has a lovely, warmly spiced fragrance. And, I’m happy to say that it tastes as good as it smells! The spices are nicely balanced (as promised in the above description), I taste gentle notes of cinnamon and cardamom and clove. Hints of nutmeg and vanilla. The pepper and ginger are zesty. The allspice and coriander round out the flavors. The spices have been carefully considered here to create a pleasing, round flavor that warms you from the inside out without coming across as too spicy.
It has a flavor that is reminiscent of a homemade spice cookie. It isn’t too strongly spiced – but it isn’t subtle either. It’s somewhere in between a very strong, spicy chai and a more softly spiced chai. The spices aren’t competing with one another and there isn’t one spice that overpowers the others. This isn’t all about the cinnamon or ginger or clove. I get a little bit of each spice in each sip and that’s what I mean by a nice balance of spice.
The black tea base is a blend of Ceylon and Assam, and these two teas provide a solid background of flavor. It’s robust and holds its own against the strong spices so that I’m not just tasting spices in each sip, I’m also tasting tea. The teas don’t taste bitter but there is some dryness toward the tail – a slightly astringent sensation – but it isn’t unpleasant. I like the way the dryness allows the spice notes (a contrast between spicy and sweet) to come through in the aftertaste.
I really am enjoying this chai. I think if I’m to offer any kind of criticism about it at all, it would be that I think I’d like just a tad more vanilla to this. The vanilla here is rather subdued, perhaps because it’s in the presence of so many other spices but I think I’d like to experience a little more of the sweet, creamy notes of vanilla here. A little more vanilla and you wouldn’t need to add dairy to make this a latte – it would be like a latte in a cup without the dairy!
White Chai from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where To Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
Our white chai is perfectly blended with white tea, chai spices, lemongrass, coconut, fruit pieces and peppercorn for a delicious bold taste. It comprises sweetness from the fruit pieces fused with a bold kick from chai spices and peppercorn.
Learn more about this chai here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! OK, so take everything you know about chai and throw it out the window, because this will challenge your thoughts on what chai should be! This is a deliciously different chai!
After reading the above description, my first thought is that this tea has a lot going on. But everything is nicely represented in this cup. I’m not getting too much of anything and it all works together surprisingly well.
Because it’s crafted using a white tea base, the flavors are kept to that level. That is to say that the flavors here are blended skillfully so that the delicate flavors of the white tea are not overpowered. And yes, I can taste the white tea! It’s got a fresh, light, airy taste with hints of a hay-like flavor. It’s subtle, yes, but the other flavors of this cup are also kept on a subtle level so that the white tea doesn’t get lost in the mix.
And that’s not to say that the “chai” here is a mild chai, either. This chai has some kick to it! The ginger is zesty, the cinnamon is well-defined but not overdone. The cardamom and clove and pink peppercorn offer warmth. The “usual chai ingredients” have been utilized here (along with pink peppercorn which is not what I’d classify as a “usual ingredient.”)
With another tea type used as a base, the level of spices used this blend would probably seem a bit on the mellow side, but when combined with a white tea, it becomes rather invigorating and bold!
Then you get the fruit flavors: coconut, pineapple, apple and lemongrass. Yeah, I know lemongrass isn’t technically a “fruit,” but because it adds a nice, lemon-lime-ish flavor to a tea, I’m calling it a ‘fruit flavor’ for the purposes of this review. These sweet fruity notes add a touch of tropical flavor to the cup which is quite enjoyable.
I find myself especially appreciating the coconut because it adds a touch of “creamy” to the cup and because this is a white tea, I didn’t want to go latte with this chai. But I do still like a touch of creamy to most chai blends, it just seems to make it taste a little more indulgent. I like that the coconut adds a little bit of that “latte” creaminess to the cup without overwhelming the blend.
It’s a very unique spin on the traditional chai, one that I enjoyed quite a bit!
To brew: I used my Kati Tumbler (I prefer not to steep chai blends in my Breville because the spices impart their essence in the tea maker that are difficult to remove without soaking in baking soda) and put 1 1/2 bamboo scoops into the basket (remember, I like to use a little extra leaf with a chai as well as with a white tea!) and added 12 ounces of water heated to 170°F. I steeped it for 3 1/2 minutes. Perfection!
Apple Spice Tea from Culinary Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Tea Description:
Our Apple Spice Tea takes our apple tea and add a dollop of cinnamon – excellent fireside tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a lovely autumnal tea, this Apple Spice tea from Culinary Teas. It’s got a rich and flavorful black tea base, deliciously sweet apple notes and warm cinnamon tones. Culinary Teas has captured the essence of autumn in a teacup!
To brew this tea, I used 1 bamboo scoop to 12 ounces of boiling water and I let it steep for 3 minutes. This produced a coppery colored liquid that smells as good as it tastes. The aroma of cinnamon is so cozy and delicious and just beneath the cinnamon I can pick up on notes of apple. Mmm!
The sip starts out sweet and immediately I start picking up on the cinnamon notes. It’s a warm cinnamon. This tastes like the kind of cinnamon that’s in your spice cabinet, not the kind of cinnamon that you’ll find in the candy aisle. You know, those spicy cinnamon gummy bears? Yeah, this doesn’t taste like that kind of cinnamon.
This cinnamon warmly accents the apple, bringing the sweet, juicy flavors of the fruit forward. There are hints of tart to the apple too. It’s more sweet than tart, but there is just enough tartness to offer contrast.
The black Ceylon base is bright and brisk. It’s got a smooth, crisp character. It’s moderately astringent. The aftertaste is clean with mere traces of the cinnamon that had been there during the sip.
This is delicious served hot – it’s a comforting, soothing drink. I drank it straight up, but I think it would take the additions of honey well, and it might be quite delightful with a splash of milk. (A La Mode!) But, I found this tea to be quite nice served iced as well. It would make a refreshing alternative for your holiday beverage.