I bought this sampler back in December 2010. I gave the Earl Grey to my partner and finished off the green tea and the blood orange a while ago. Somehow the Pirate Chai took longer to work through. These tins are great though. The chai held up quite nicely in one even after 2 ½ years. The tins are also super cute and great for storing opened Teavivre samples.
This tea’s ingredients are not listed anywhere but appear to be clove, orange peel, black tea, and maybe cardamom. It tastes like there’s cinnamon in the blend, but I can’t make it out visually.
I used 1 tsp for 8 oz, steeped in boiling water for an unmeasured amount of time (probably about 5 minutes). Spi-cy! The clove slams into you up front, the cinnamon takes center stage mid-sip, and there’s just a smidge of citrus throughout. I can’t make out much about the black tea base other than that there’s just enough astringency to make it clear that this is a black tea (the pain in my stomach also confirms that it’s a black tea – I’m a bit of a dummy for drinking this at all). I’m not tasting the cardamom, but that might be because I’m not quite sure what cardamom tastes like…
I added some rice milk halfway through, but I don’t think it improved the flavor any. If anything, it made the tea less enjoyable. Somehow how the creaminess just didn’t mesh well with the spiciness. Maybe brewed too strong? Not enough rice milk? Needs sugar? Whatever the issue is, I liked this tea better straight than creamy.
The aftertaste is all spice and tingly lips. Lovely! This would work better as a morning pick-me-up than an evening tea, though.
