First and foremost Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it! Even though I am far away, I still celebrate! Sadly, there is no vacation for Thanksgiving in Ecuador, but I took the day off to stay home and share it with my family and doggy.
This tea is always a pleasure to drink. As long as you don’t oversteep it, it is really hard to mess up.
The leaves are nice mix of large pieces of spices. some apple pieces and adagios usual black tea base. It is both pretty and fragrant. I always get oohs and aahs when I open the tin. It smells deliciously spicy.
I used 2 teaspoons to my 12oz of water and steeped for 3 minutes. The brew is reddish brown. It smells rich and spicy. Adding brown sugar generously it manages to taste a lot like apple cider. It is missing a tiny bit of apple tartness to be actually called an apple cider tea.
I added a bit of milk and the apple flavor does a disappearing act! It is completely gone! It is still a decent chai, but no longer apple at all. No matter how much I tried to find it, it was gone. Poof!
I made another cup to make sure I wasn’t crazy. I wasn’t! Without milk apple ciderish yummy tea. With milk decent chai no apple at all!
I do really like this tea. I don’t think I will add milk to it again, as there are plenty of chais that work great in lattes. This one is yummy all by itself.