I’m still really new to tea drinking. A fellow tea friend gave me some of this tea when I told him I was getting into the hobby. I tried it the other day by mixing 1tsp with 8oz water. Boiled the water then steeped for 5 minutes. It was quite strong and spicy, but I liked it. It reminded me a little bit of hot apple cider…which gives me an idea…(check out my next log review on this tea).
My only complaint about this Chai has to do with the name itself. Did a little research and found out that there is actually no such thing as “Chai Tea”. The word “Chai” is basically the Hindi word for “tea” and is not a specific flavor or type of tea. Calling it “Chai Tea” is not really saying anything except “tea tea”.
That being said, my research further revealed that Chai is quite popular in India and comes in very many types, flavors, and methods of preparation (ie…Chai Latte, etc). Similar, I would imagine, to the American coffee craze. So even though the word “Chai” itself doesn’t really denote any specific combination of spices, the name does seem to carry with it a certain gravity of ethnic flavor that does set it apart from other iterations of “tea”.
You’re right that what is usually called “chai” is actually “masala chai” (spice tea). But it’s such a common misnomer (at least, here in the States) that it’s fairly unavoidable. Tea tea! XD