The Chai Box

Another from Cameron B! Thanks so much. It’s fall, so the chai just TASTES better. I really have no complaints with this one. It’s spicy. It has a robust black tea base. I thought there was turmeric here, but it isn’t in the ingredients list. It seems healthy enough, but also tasty enough. I like it! I will certainly be enjoying the remainder of this pouch, so I think it found a great new home. :D

So, this one is actually going into my rehoming box, because the rose is much more prominent than I would expect with just petals and no flavoring. I prepared it strong with milk and sugar, and would venture to say that I can taste more rose than cardamom even?

It’s a nice natural rose note, but not being a rose fan, it’s just not for me. So I’ll put it aside and hopefully send it to a more appreciative tea nerd in the future. On the bright side, I guess this means I can restock on a couple of chai blends now, as this was my last caffeinated chai. I do have one rooibos chai, but I don’t generally take those with milk and sugar. So hurray! :P

Sipdown! (8 | 410)

Another chai that I sipped through with oat milk and sugar, which I’ve been loving for this colder weather lately. Having this last cuppa plain though.

I find this one a big strong to drink sans additions. It’s not that it blows my head off or anything, there’s just quite a powerful cardamom flavor to it, bolstered by ginger, anise, and a touch of clove. I’m not really tasting cinnamon. I do like all of those flavors, but I like them ever better with a bit of creaminess to smooth things over. This one is excellent with milk and sugar, as the strong spices stand up well and don’t get drowned out by those creamy notes. The CTC base is surprisingly smooth, even at 3 minutes.

Not sure I would buy this again specifically, I do enjoy some of their other chai blends more, like Punjaban Party.

The TTB has arrived! So big, so many teas… no chance to try them all!
Tea #34

I have prepared this tea unfortunately twice. First mug I had I knocked myself down, spilling 2 minutes steeped tea all over the table, chair and floor.

Second attempt was better (haven’t knocked it down), but of course I had to use new two teaspoons, with less cardamom in. But I have to agree completely with note by Cameron B., CTC base is smooth, strong and flavourful, spices are prefectly mixed, fennel being most prominent in this cup, ginger warms me up and I have decided to keep the remains and try it with stovetop preparation and milk. I will return with a note of that preparation method.

Sipdown! (3 | 364)

A pleasant enough tea, but not a favorite. Mostly I find it tastes like a mint and lemongrass herbal tisane. And I enjoy tisanes, but this has CTC black tea in it, which is a bit of a negative for something I would usually drink at night ha ha.

Maybe it would be better on the stovetop, but I never got around to trying it that way since I drink chai plain about 95% of the time.

ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge – “A CTC tea”

One of several teas I’ve ordered from The Chai Box, after loving the first blend I tried from them. I haven’t gotten around to writing a note for this yet, and have only tried it once or twice, so it seemed like a perfect tea for this prompt!

I think it sounds more interesting that it actually is. This is a CTC base with lemongrass, ginger, and mint. Mostly I end up tasting the mint, and a touch of lemongrass. The black tea is in the background, but is so overwhelmed by the herbs that I almost don’t notice it. So it sort of ends up tasting like a somewhat generic minty herbal tisane with a touch of black tea?

It would be interesting try this on the stovetop and see what it’s like… Or maybe I’ll try adding a touch of honey to my next mug to give it something extra. It’s pleasant enough, but definitely not one of my favorites from the company.

Sipdown! (17 | 66)

Prioritized finishing this one off because of all the coconut. Generally I avoid buying teas with coconut flakes, due to their tendency to go rancid fairly quickly. Since this was about a year old, I figured sooner was better than later he he.

That being said, this was a nice chai. Sweet and creamy without being overly coconutty, with those nice spices taking center stage. Cardamom is what I taste the most, with the ginger and fennel in the background. A very nice tea, but one that I probably wouldn’t reorder just because of the coconut issue.

Tea of the morning! I had left my The Chai Box teas out on the counter because I wanted to write notes for all of them, so here we are. To be honest, not sure what I was thinking when I chose this blend. I don’t typically love coconut in tea, though I do like it in other things…

But it’s surprisingly not that strong on the coconut, despite there being quite a lot of toasted and untoasted coconut pieces included. Maybe the spices are taming it a bit? It ends up tasting quite mild, with a sweetly spiced flavor. I would say the cardamom is strongest, but I do also taste the other spices, especially the clove. The coconut adds sweetness and a bit of a richer texture.

Overall, I quite like it. I can imagine this being amazing prepared on the stovetop as well, as the coconut would go so nicely with milk. Not sure I would reorder it, just because I don’t drink that much chai and I love some of their other blends a bit more. But definitely recommend it for coconut lovers!

TTB
Chai with more ginger and fennel notes than clove. I like it, I might need to dig out my bag of fennel and start adding it to other teas! Glad Igot to try this one.

Another new-to-me tea from my Chai Box order.

This one intrigued me with the combination of orange and cardamom. I’m quite surprised by how strong of an orange flavor there is, especially since there’s no flavoring listed in the ingredients. I find it a bit difficult to believe that it’s just from orange peel, but maybe the hibiscus is giving it a boost? Regardless, I really like the combination of sweet orange with a bit of tart hibiscus and the floral spice of the cardamom. It tastes just as good as I imagined, which is rare if I’m honest, ha ha.

The only downside is that because hibiscus is quite high in the ingredients list, I assume this one would not handle milk well. It sounds like, from the description, that it’s meant to be enjoyed as an iced tea, but I don’t ever drink iced tea. So I’ll be enjoying it hot!

Random tea again!

This pick actually fits right in with my desire to start trying and writing notes for new teas. Right now they tend to get somewhat ignored, because I’m working on sipping down instead. But no more! This is from my most recent tea order, which arrived early this month. I got this random urge to order more chai from The Chai Box, so I chose five new blends to try.

This was a bit of a risky choice IMO, but mostly I ordered it because I was intrigued by the inclusion of elderberries in a masala chai. This tea is meant to be a sort of cold & flu remedy, based on the owner’s grandma’s recipe. I rarely get sick, and when I do I don’t usually want tea, so the concept doesn’t really appeal to me. I was just interested in the taste.

Sadly, I don’t really taste elderberry here. Which isn’t at all surprising considering all the other strongly flavored ingredients that are included. It ends up tasting like a nice, strongly spiced chai that leans a bit toward the savory side of things, due to the fennel and perhaps the tulsi. I definitely taste star anise, though it doesn’t overtake the other spices. I have no idea what brahmi and ajwain taste like, but otherwise I feel like I can taste all of the other spices here, which is impressive, and there aren’t any negative herbal or bitter sort of flavors at all.

Even though I’m wishing for elderberry, I’m still enjoying this cuppa. The spices stand out and yet blend together well, which is a nice balance. It also tastes very fresh, the spices are potent and flavorful. I’m sure it would be lovely prepared stovetop as well.

Sipdown! (10 | 165)

I randomly ordered some more blends from The Chai Box the other day, not sure how I even ended up on their website, but I guess that’s how it goes sometimes lol. So because of that, I was inspired to sip on some of their teas that I already have.

This one sounds really good, it has mango and coconut with cinnamon and clove on a CTC base. And it’s certainly not bad, it’s just… The clove overwhelms it for me. I’m not a big clove fan in the first place, but here it’s most of what I taste. I don’t think I taste cinnamon at all, there is some mango and a touch of coconut. But mostly I’m tasting clove.

I guess this tea and I just weren’t meant to be! A shame, but I do love some of their other blends.

TTB Review #37: I definitely think this one is best cold. Lots of interesting flavors interacting here. The ginger, cardamom, and fennel all make their presence known, but, as tends to be the case with most ginger-inclusive teas, the ginger mostly steals the show. I may have used too much for it comes across very strongly. Overall decent but not great.

Sipdown! (10 | 116)

Feeling those fall vibes this month, and starting to drink chai again. I like chai, I just don’t normally reach for it in the warmer months (although, it’s still about a billion degrees here in Austin). But in the fall and winter seasons, it’s a cozy treat with milk and sugar.

This one is lovely, I really enjoy the combination of the ginger and fennel together, and the cardamom gives a nice aromatic quality. The sweetness of the fennel goes perfectly with milk and sugar, and the base is strong but still smooth.

I think I only have one more chai blend left, and then I might have to do a bit of restocking… :P

My goodness, this tea is so good.

I don’t normally make non-sipdown tasting notes, but this is so tasty that I had to. I can taste the ginger, the fennel, and the cardamom all distinctly, and nothing is too strong or overpowering. The CTC base is somehow so smooth, which is shocking to me ha ha. It has enough body to support the spices, but there’s no trace of bitterness at all. The candied ginger is adding just a touch of sweetness, but not too much. I just… yum.

And honestly, I’ve been super impressed with all 4 of the teas I ordered from The Chai Box. Even though they’re all masala chai blends and they’re all black teas, each has its own personality. I haven’t even tried any of them on the stovetop yet, I’ve been so happy with them plain.

The other reviewers don’t seem to share my opinion though, ha ha… :P

I am cold. A chai sounded good. I find this one to be a bit lacking though. It’s spicy which is good but otherwise, it is rather bland. A true chai, in my opinion, should be able to stand on its own and with milk. This barely gets the job done.

This is a pretty typical chai from the TTB, but it tastes nice. There’s a ton of candied ginger, but that doesn’t seem to make much impact. I definitely taste the cardamom and fennel. The second steep is almost as tasty as the first. It’s quite pleasant to start the day with a warm cup of this.

Iced Tea with Vanilla Cold Foam Sipdown (225)

Strange VariaTEA TTB: Tea 23

My sister gave birth this week, a month before her due date. So it’s been hectic and I’ve largely been sustaining on iced white mochas with cold foam from Starbucks. Though at some point I decided I wanted to try out my new handheld milk frother and make a cold foam. I decided vanilla cold foam on a plain chai was the. Eat way to go since it was a fairly simple flavour combo. The frother worked great. The tea tasted sorta like bubblegum. So it wasn’t bad by any means but I was very confused.

Advent Calendar Day 15

This chai was heavy on the ginger and also unexpectedly sweet. It didn’t have that nasty stevia aftertaste, thankfully, so maybe the sweetness is coming from the candied ginger? Anyway, nothing super special or memorable, but a pleasant enough cup to start my day!

Tea Thoughts Halloween countdown box day 1. This box is bringing me absolute and total joy. I’m in complete fall tea mode and my chai options are currently pretty limited, so I was quite happy to open this.
I’m getting a bit of cardamom, but the dominant flavors are definitely the ginger. Makes sense, as the dry blend is absolutely packed with ginger bits and candied ginger. The fennel is pretty dominant as well, which I actually don’t mind in this blend. Overall, so smooth and easy to drink. A lovely chai!