Yogic Chai

Finally got around to trying this chai TastyBrew sent me a LONG time ago! Thank you! I did the stovetop method, as recommended. This was the first time I’ve ever steeped chai on the stovetop, and it was pretty awesome! I used soymilk/water (mostly soymilk) and a little brown sugar. It made my kitchen smell like I just baked something in the oven! It also tasted like a baked good, and was deliciously creamy! Now I think I’ll have to try this method with other chai’s. So delicious! I’m definitely going to try this out with the pumpkin chai I plan to pick up from DavidsTea next week. Can’t wait!

I’m on my second cup of this today (I made this one as a latte with soy milk and maple syrup [my new favorite way to do it], but the first was just straight up) and it is very good!

It’s pretty spicy and very energizing! It also has a subtle sweet creaminess from the coconut that I really enjoy!

I’m in the midst of finishing up last minute homework and packing because tomorrow (at 6:50 in the morning :( I have to wake up at 5:20 because the bus is 40 minutes away from my house :( times 10!) for the All-New England Music Festival in Dayville, Connecticut for 4 days! I’m excited/stressed/upset that it’s happening when it is/anxious but hey it comes with the territory of being a musician AND a full time student!

Steeped in a sort of gaiwan (don’t ask…) at about 205 degrees (almost right off from the boil)

First Steep:
Lots of raw fresh fish nodes on the inhale. Can’t really smell the spicy chai.
Tastes almost entirely spicy chai with a certain earthiness which is suspect is the pu erh coming through.
color very dark, even for a 15-20 second steep

Second Steep:
This is more of a baked tilapia scent (very faint baked fish smell) with a certain underlying sweetness
Taste: much sweeter chai flavor, not as much spice, with a few mellow earthy nodes, and that fishy taste in the back of your mouth about 30 seconds after a sip… mmmm
Color: almost coffee black, steeped for about 30-45 seconds

Third Steep:
Smell: here comes back that nice raw fish smell accompanied with a very nice spicy scent. they tango very well.
Taste: the chai taste overall on this steep is starting to decline and is instead being taken over by that wonderful earthiness, and as this steep gets a little cooler, I can taste more of that fermented/fishy/whatever earthy taste it is.
color: still very dark brown and heavy for a 45sec-1 min steep

this is where I took a small break to vape on my e-cig… definitely affects the flavor of my juice… very interesting to say the least.

Fourth steep:
Smell: lots of chai on this one. dat fish smell sort of takes a backseat on this steep
Taste: more fishiness, but also the spice from the chai is coming back out
color: almost just as black as the second steep, looks like I’m going to be able to steep this a few more times.

This tea has outlasted my patience in writing a review.
All in all, this tea blew my socks off for it being my first pu erh. The spicy/sweet chai and the what I’m guessing is pu erh flavor take turns coming in and out in between steeps.

I’m hoping other pu erhs are like this even heavier in the mouth feel and scent/flavor. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy the fishy-ness that I’ve read about at first, but to my surprise I really liked it. sorta sad I only got an ounce of this to try out.

10/10 would buy again.

Great scent out of the bag.

No milk in house so had a cup mildly sweetened with cane sugar, bold spice flavor when sipped. Think it really needs some milk. Really needs some milk.

Will wait for 2nd steeping after I go shopping

So I’ve had about 20 cups of tea in the last 4 days. I couldn’t write a note on any of them because they pretty much all tasted like hot water with an essence of tea. I got the friggin flu. I still have it. It sucks! It’s like the worst cold in history plus the added benefit of chills and body aches. Awesome.

Anyway, my only method of staying hydrated has been tea. And I’ve had a ton. But like I said, I haven’t been able to taste it. Until last night.

I have no idea if this tea is nearly as good as I thought it was, but I could taste it, and it tasted amazing. Maybe it’s the high fever or simply the desire to taste something so badly, or that it really is good. Regardless, I enjoyed it. Immensly. I love genmai cha. I love chai. But it really sounds like a strange combo, but I’m not turned off by strange, so I bought it. It is so perfectly roasty & toasty and even a smidge salty, but really spicy as well. I guzzled it down and immediately made some more.

I’ll have to try it again whenever this flu finally goes away. Hopefully that’s not as far off as everyone says. Assuming I have any left by the end it.

This is a pretty decent chai when making it the quick way by steeping the tea in boiling water for about 8 minutes and then adding milk and honey. It’s an AMAZING chai when you simmer it on the stove with the milk in there. My new trick is to steep in the water and then add steamed milk. Faster than the stovetop method, but still tastes really good.

The first time I drank this tea, I steeped it for 5 minutes in a mug with boiled water. I didn’t follow the directions that recommend brewing it in a pot on the stove. Infused this way, the only spice I could taste was the cardamom and it wasn’t as spicy as I would like.

Then I tried brewing it the way the company recommends in half water and half milk for 5 minutes on the stove. It’s still not very spicy. This time I can taste other spices than the cardamom, but I was expecting something stronger. It’s good for people who like very mild chaï.

Yogic makes an excellent chai. I love that cardamom is the dominant flavor. It’s definitely a top spice for me. I love it in cookies and rice pudding and now chai :)

Catching up on Tivo tonight. I think Captain Hook is a nice addition to the Once Upon a Time cast. He’s beautiful. Also crazy excited to see Ethan Embry will be on the show :) Love that guy!

Wanted something dessert-like last night, so I made this amazing chai. Yogic really does it right!! I’m still craving it right now :)

Got this at Yogic’s pre Black Friday sale. Finally getting a chance to enjoy it – and boy is it enjoyable. A beautiful blend of chai spices. Made a foamy latte with it. YUM!

It’s been a few days since I posted. It’s hard to find time to post when you’re celebrating Christmas with family and friends. I’ll just have to make all the teas I’ve had again to post later ;)

I feel a bit bad for saying this since this is an award winning tea and a lot of people seem to love it, but I’m rather underwhelmed by this chai. For a company that specializes in chai I’d expect something a bit more edgy and a bit more flavourful. This isn’t bad mind you, but it comes across as a bit bland and ordinary. I thought Tea Desire’s Masala chai was better.

The chai is good, but a little heavy on the cardamom.

Customer service is horrible. my order took over a week to ship. After waiting a week, I tried leaving a message on their phone, email, and facebook to reach them. It took them two days to respond. The told me they’d rather I didn’t order anything else from them. I was not nasty in any off my correspondence, I just wanted to know the status of my order. They had charged my credit card over a week earlier and I had not heard anything from them. They seem to think the consumer owes them something.

Thanks so much to TeaEqualsBliss for this one! It’s been on my shopping list FOREVER, and finally I get to try it, hooray! I must admit that I kind of spazzed out when making this. I saw “chai” and immediately made it my preferred way for lemongrass-based chais: boiling water, 5 minutes, with coconut milk and brown sugar. Okay, I prefer it with dulce de leche but I don’t always have that on hand! As I was pouring it into the milk I realized with horror that this was a green tea. That I’d poured boiling water over, steeped for 5 minutes, and added milk to. Gah! Coconut milk, but still. I was prepared for a disaster.

Well, somehow, it came out AMAZING. The genmaicha and chai are a perfect combination: toasty, nutty and earthy from the genmaicha, spicy, tingly and warm from the chai. The lemongrass adds a Thai-ish, citrus-y twist that is just divine. It’s like the perfect chai! The spice balance is really amazing: clove and ginger up front, a sweet hint of cardamom and a kick of cinnamon. Sooo tasty, now I know why everyone was telling me to try Yogic haha.

I got a bit of this from TeaEqualsBliss. The moment I saw this tea, I knew it was going to be something strange. There was all this powdery stuff mixed in with the tea. Hmmm… well I was in the mood for something both fruity and spicy so let’s give this crazy looking concoction a try!

I steeped it overnight in the fridge. The moment I poured in the water, all this blueberry powder can right out of the filter. I don’t really mind bits in my tea but why did they powder the blueberries? To get more flavor out of them maybe? hmm I like how they are trying to use real blueberries for flavor rather than flavoring.

I like the balance of spicing here. I this Yogic Chai makes very tasty chais. The white tea here tastes earthy and a bit chocolatey. The blueberries are slightly tart. It’s sort of strange, but not bad. I really prefer 52teas’ Peach Fuzz Chai.

Thanks to Ian for sharing this one, sorry it has taken me so long to try it…

I’ve always enjoyed chai spices and this is one heck of a spicy tea. I was hoping for a bit more coconut here but I’m getting a lot of ginger and cardamom, I don’t mind at all! The mate is lighter and in the background and as my cup cools I am getting the coconut element coming up. This was another one that was also good with soymilk (does anyone drink chai plain??)

It definitely packs a wallop in terms of flavor but perhaps there is a bit too much going on here for me. I’m used to drinking chai with darker things like black tea and rooibos that seem to temper the spices a tiny bit more. The mate is a little wimpy for this mixture, I think…

I enjoy this as a nice change of pace from Yogic’s award-winning Original Masala. In fact, I like it better than that. The coconut is just right-doesn’t reach out and smack you, but you don’t need to struggle to taste it either. Yogic’s brewing instructions are to boil the tea with water and milk together in a pot. It tastes best that way with soy and coconut milk. However, it still tastes great when steeped in a warm cup for 5 minutes with boiling water from my Zojirushi and soymilk and sugar added after. I will buy this again at some point.

Erm, I’m horrible. I forget who sent this to me… I’m sorry! This tea is so delicious! The spices are well balanced and not too much fennel or anise or any of that licorice flavor. Bleh. The roastiness sort of gave this a caramel-like flavor. I need more of this. Better than rooibos or black base. There should be more kukicha blends out there.