The entire time it was cooking, I couldn’t help but hover over the saucepan taking deep breaths. It smelled amazing!!!
I followed Samovar’s directions exactly. Two cups of water and one tablespoon of Truvia went into my saucepan. I brought it to a boil and added the entire Samovar Chai sample and one bag of Twining’s English Breakfast. It boiled for 10 minutes. I then removed the Twining’s bag because I was afraid it would become too bitter. But I left in the Samovar Chai sample and added one cup of whole milk. I brought the mixture to a boil and immediately removed it from heat (I have an electric stove) and covered it. I returned 10 minutes later and strained out the tea and spices.
Finally, it was time to taste it! Mmm, good but not what I expected. The aroma is MUCH stronger than the taste. It’s still delicious, but it also tastes kind of diluted. It’s missing that piquance I get in the Starbucks Chai Tea Latte.
I really thought this would be the perfect chai tea. The spices in the aroma are lovely, strong, and intoxicating. The spices in the taste are significantly lighter and more in the background.
The lacking black tea base didn’t bother me. Samovar gives you mostly spices, and I think that’s a pro. You can add whatever black tea you want to it, making an infinite number of chai tea possibilities.
But I wish the taste was as fantastic as the aroma. Truly, the aroma of these spices could not be better. I wonder why it doesn’t translate into the taste better. Maybe there’s a better way to cook it. Perhaps I did something wrong? Lots of other Steepster users describe this as spicy, strong, peppery, and almost chewy. But I’m getting a pretty light cup of spices myself.
For that reason, I’m giving this tea a little bit lower of a rating. But I would still recommend it because maybe someone else can figure out the best way to prepare it. Others definitely do seem to get more out of it than me.
