Lemon Meringue Chai

mmmmm thank you Cavocorax I was hesitant about picking this one up from Frank as i haven’t had a lot of success lately with the blends that i’ve picked up. So when Cavo offered to send some my way to try I was excited! I’ve missed my opportunity to pick this up, which is a little sad but i can safely say that this is pretty darn tasty!

I brewed this up in my usual 52 black base fashion – 2 mins, lower than boiling temperature. The tea is a nice lemoney chai. The spices aren’t too overpowering and the lemon stays present throughout the entire cup. Not that i typically add milk or honey to my chai’s – i think in the case it might make the cup even better with the addition of a little sweetness. I’ll have to try that next time!

thanks cavo!

First cup of the morning. I’m still really enjoying drinking this when I arrive at work. The combination of the lemon and spices makes me feel all warm and cosy, and somehow cheered.

I have things to be cheerful about today, though. The 52 Teas reblends, for one. I read about them on the bus, and took the opportunity to grab a few before I started work at 9.00. I’ve had one cup of Rainbow Sherbet in my life, thanks to Sil, and I loved it, so I’m really pleased I’ve finally got the opportunity to try more. Cotton Candy I love, so that was a no-brainer, and I’ve been desperate to try Coconut Cream Pie and Strawberry Zabaglione for ages, so they went into the basket too. I could have added more, but I usually try and restrict my orders to 4. It’s not like I need loads more tea, but I just find myself unable to resist.

The second bit of good news was that I won my battle with HR, and I will now be offered four weeks notice on my new contract instead of one. It’s a risk for me to leave a permanent job for a fixed term one, but I think it’ll be a good career move, and I’m happier about it now that I’ll have a little more warning should it end unexpectedly. It was a battle worth fighting, so yay for me! I’m off to collect my new contract now! It’s also Friday, so what could be better? I love days that keep on giving in the happiness department :)

What a day. Weddings are beautiful but come with a lot of work. I’m sipping on this and munching on some chocolate chip cookies. I’m not much of a chai fan unless I’m really in the mood for one. This is good. To me it’s a classic chai with a twist of lemon and a bit of sweetness. A nice one to just relax with.

I’ve decided that this tea and Star Trek are going to be an integral part of my life starting now. Small commitments.

Additional notes: A HUGE thank you to Dustin who sent me a pouch of this because I love it so much! I really appreciate it! Hilariously enough, the day I after got this, 52Teas reblended it. So I figured I should place my very first 52Teas order (they had Earl Grey Cheesecake too which I was dying for a reblend.) I can’t have enough of this blend anyway!

This cup I overleafed a little bit – a heaping teaspoon and a bit more. I should have known with the relatively small leaves that it would have a bit of astringency, but nothing I can’t handle. 52Teas has very nice chai blends. I just love the lemon & mallow, I just wish there was MOORE. Hopefully the reblend is just as nice. I love that the mallow adds sweetness & the lemon adds a bit of tartness & juiciness. The second cup was really good, if not better.

Second try of this tea….

I was not pleased with my first try due extreme lemon peel bitterness.
Was I pleasantly surprised what less leaf and less steeping time did to this chai. This is sooooo good. The bitterness is gone. Now this is lemon chai!
Lovely lemon lusciousness with subtle scrumptious spiciness and the assam base is just the right strength.
This one is now not in time out anymore :)

So… I think I overleafed this guy. Definitely not an oversteep, as I was careful about the 2 minutes, but this is potent! I can taste the chai (and I do usually like 52teas’ chai, so the spice mix is great), as well as the lemon, but I’m really not getting “meringue”. Nothing creamy at all, really, but overleafing can mess with that sort of thing. Luckily for me, Cavocorax sent me enough for at least another attempt or two, so I’ll see if I can fix this problem next time! In the meantime, I think I’ll steep the second infusion super-long and doctor it up with milk/sweetener. I think this tea might be great that way. Thanks for sharing, Cavo!

ETA: Second infusion with maple syrup and coconut milk tastes like a chai, with lemon. Haha.

I’m not crazy about chai’s, but something about this caught my attention. I’m glad too because it’s very good. A bit creamy. A nice amount of lemon, mixed with spices!

(Typing with a sick baby sleeping in my lap is quite a feat! I’m down to one hand, and pick her up and cuddle her so she could sleep)

Thanks for this sample, Cavocorax!
Leif & I also drank a small pot of this after breakfast. I think he really enjoyed it, & was the first to point out that there was a noticeable hint of Melon flavor to this. He was right! There is was, a flavor that seemed a little odd, & he nailed it!
Anyway, not my favorite Chai, although there’s nothing bad about it. I don’t hate it, I’m just not a big fan of lemon flavors in my tea, including ice tea, although I like lemon in my water. Go figure!
I do think I’ll try it as iced tea also, & I’m glad for the opportunity to try it.

Backlog:

OK, this seemed like a really unusual approach to a chai. But I was certainly excited to try it because I love Lemon Meringue pie … and I love chai! And I had every confidence that Frank could pull this off.

Unfortunately, I found myself just a little bit disappointed by this chai. I found myself more enchanted by the idea of a lemon meringue chai than the actual execution of it.

It was tasty enough, but I found the base to be a bit too harsh. I think it would have been better to utilize the black tea blend as a base and then maybe add some extra Assam rather than go straight up Assam.

There’s a nice level of spice … not too spicy. I like the lemon touch, but I wanted some vanilla in this to give it more of a creamy lemon taste … like the taste of the lemon curd in a lemon meringue. And the marshmallow seemed to be a little overwhelmed by it all.

It was alright, but not my favorite chai from 52Teas.