Mayan Chocolate Chai

1 TB for 450 mL water, biggish splash of 2% milk.

Ssssssssmokin …

Cayenne leads, but ginger at once smooths and sharpens the edges. Tasting some cocoa on the aftertaste, almost a comforting ‘There, there.’ Not tasting much Assam tea, but I expect I’d miss it were this blend made with a China black. All this sauciness needs a bold tea to stand up to it. Ahh, there’s the Assam, again, on the aftertaste, once the cayenne turns to sparkledust and evaporates. Very hot chai. I added the milk as a precaution; very glad I did. LOVE THIS/.

Seriously, this is my new favorite tea. 52teas manages to knock it out of the park again and again with these kickass tea blends. This chocolate chai is no exception. I’m drinking it now with soy milk and sugar and the play of heat, spice, warmth, and chocolatey goodness is intense and delicious. After each sip, I breathed in cool air to cool my mouth, then felt it seep out my pores in tiny goosebumps.

Yes, it was that good.

This was super spicy =) It was a lot more toned down the second time. Maybe I didnt eat enough that morning but this really got me twitchy on caffeine — more than usual from tea.

This is missnamed I think. It tasted to me like Hot Tomales. You know the firey red candies. (These are in the USA not sure if they sell Hot Tomales in other countries.) When I drank it expecting Hot Tomales, which I like, then this tea tasted much better. When I first drank it expecting Chocolate Chai, I was dissapointed. I didn’t taste much of the chocolate. Seemed like I tasted a lot of ginger, almond, and pepper which is like well… Hot Tomales.

I also liked this with milk as more of a latte then plain and I liked it with sweetener. I use Truvia. While I enjoy the novelty of this chai, it isn’t one of my favorites.

This one was that lovely mix of unusual yet still quite wonderful and certainly memorable. If fiery chocolate sounds appealing, I would recommend it!… Be careful with your brewing time! :)

The tea is surprisingly delicious. The flavor is definitely unique from the first sip. I drink this tea when I’m in the mood for something a little different!

AJRimmer Advent Day 17

This smells like gingerbread, but tastes like spicy curry minus the curry. There have been a couple of teas I’ve tried recently like that. They have all the other delicious spices in the mix aside from the curry. My association with curry makes for a distraction when trying to ID the chocolate. I can do it, but my brain keeps going back to curry. It also reminds me of a chocolate bar that had a lot of curry (the dish, not the spice) flavors in it. Trying to focus on that association while sipping. There is a little bit of heat left in my mouth after each sip. Cayenne, is that you? Curry or chocolate bar, I like it either way!

Okay, this is the first bag from 52Teas that I have completely finished and then I had to wait until he blended it (and I think he changed the label at that time, because it wasn’t originally part of “ManTeas”.). I loved it. Itcomes in smooth and sweet with the chocolate and then has that KaPOW at the end… I discovered I had to shake it up every time before I doled myself another spoonful to brew, because it tends to settle, and all the pepper ran to the bottom. It’s very nice in winter because the peppers and spiced help add extra “warmth” to the hot water! I need to clear out some of my cupboard of teas and I will reorder this tea – even if it is targeting men!! It’s got the bite! Doubtless I’m not the world’s greatest tea taster and am glossing over nuances that others are waiting with baited breath for a description of, but I finished my last cuppa months ago and the memory is fading, other than the strong memory that I want to get more of this tea!

As for steeping time, water temperature, I’ve no idea. When the water boiled, I poured it on. I’m not much on scalding my throat and lips….so I like to add my stevia and creamers and such to cool it down if I’m in a hurry. If my lips say “ouch” its too hot and I let it cool. But I’ve never stuck a thermometer into my cuppa to find out what that “perfect temperature” was. Use your common sense, people! I highly doubt the earliest generations of tea drinkers, wherever in the world they lived back in the day (China, India, etc) ever did anything fancier then the “pre-digital thermometer” – stick a finger in it and if they screamed in pain, they took the digit out and let the cup of tea cool off.

This has become my hands down favorite chai tea. The addition of cacao nibs, almonds and cayenne pepper to a well balanced chai spice mix makes for a perfect blend. With all of the strong spices in this blend you are still able to appreciate all of the flavors as they work so well together and are blended so perfectly as to not overwhelm your palate. If you enjoy chai teas this is a MUST try!

Oh yum, this tea is so tasty! I wasn’t too convinced when I first opened the packet because the first scent that reached my nose was a strong chocolate-almondy note that I just didn’t find too convincing. But I went ahead and brewed up and boy is this fantastic. On brewing the chocolate is still there but it is less predominant, and the chili takes the lead followed by the ginger and cardamom and then the chocolate. If you want a tea that tastes strongly of chocolate this may not be for you but if you would like a really kicky chai with a subtle nuttiness and a chocolate finish then you will love this as much as I do.

Edit: I just have to add that I’ve finished half my pouch of this already & I’m ordering a second, bigger pouch today so that I can keep treating myself to this yummy cup of tea. It is just about the perfect breakfast tea, all those spices really get me up and moving in the morning.