Chocolate Chai

Today being the cold and long day that it was, I was starting to get comfortable under some blankets watching TV while starting to fall asleep. It being barely 8pm, I decided that couldn’t happen. I brewed up some of my dirty chocolate chai with a slight twist: bring water to boil in a pot, add 1/2 tsp rock sugar, dissolve, add 2 tsps chocolate chai, let boil 3 minutes, lower temperature, add 1 tsp instant coffee (I know, I apologize, but desperate times call for desperate coffee), let cook one minute, add milk to taste, let warm through (about 20 seconds), strain and enjoy.

Blasphemous? Possibly. Delicious? Definitely. Best of all, I am wide awake and warm to the bone. Enjoy!

This is the fourth of six in the Adagio chai sampler. I made this on the stovetop with 1% milk, Splenda and the SpecialTeas Cream with Cocoa Pieces as the extra black tea.

I think using the SpecialTeas was the right choice, as this came out incredibly chocolaty and reading the notes here, one of the biggest complaints about this is that it isn’t chocolaty enough. It has been my practice in the past to add chocolate flavored black tea to chocolate chai for an extra flavor boost so I kept it up here.

The result is that my BF and no. 2 exclaimed that the entire house smells like chocolate. ;-)

Chocolate is indeed the dominant flavor, as it should be in my view given the name of this chai. I also get some spice against the chocolate, mostly ginger, but the cardamom, clove and cinnamon flavors as a blend are also there in the flavor.

It has been so long since I had any other chocolate chai (except at Starbucks) that I can’t remember them well enough to compare this to them, but it’s at least as good a representative of its genre as the Adagio masala chai is of its, so I’m rating it the same.

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Big thanks to the lovely Darby for this – since Adagio’s international shipping costs are ludicrous, a swap was the only way for me to try their stuff.
I seem to be in the minority, but I really like this, and this is surprising for me seeing as I don’t like chocolate.

RANT BEGINS
You would NOT believe the kind of abuse I get for saying that I don’t like chocolate. Good lord. ‘Oh my god that can’t be true/you’re lying/How is that possible?/Do you mean, ever?/That’s because you haven’t tried the RIGHT one yet!/Are you sure/You’ll change your mind/More for me!/I’m not speaking to you again/We can’t be friends anymore/So, what do you eat then?/But, do you go out and stuff?/Oh my god do you watch TV?

I wish I were joking. I don’t like chocolate. Do you like oysters? I could live on them. There’s no accounting for taste. Now leave me alone.
RANT OVER

This is great because the chocolate is really there to smell more so than to taste. It makes the chai a little bit more bitter than what I’m used to but it’s not a bad thing at all. The base isn’t the strongest and frankly isn’t spicy at all, it’s a mellow chai with just a hint of a woody feel because of the chocolate. I’m really enjoying my cup.

sipdown thanks for sharing this with me terri! the last little bit of your tea. Sadly i don’t get much in the way of chocolate from this but it’s not a bad little chai.

I finished my tin of Chocolate Chai today. I’m on this decupboarding business too! I am going to finally try A&D’s DFTs. Anyhow, this one was nice and creamy since I added some milk and agave to it. The chocolate was nice. Good Morning!

I got this in a sampler set from Kaliskaa for my birthday! I’ve been curious about it for years, since Adagio first released their line of chai. However, their Thai Chai and Spiced Apple Chai drew me away until now.

In my sample, I made this both as hot and iced, since I’m still on a bit of an iced chai kick. As an iced chai, it was nice first thing in the morning. It’s like the chai equivalent of a mocha, except spicier.

The cinnamon and ginger come forward strongly against the chocolate. The actual chocolate flavor is much more present in the dry leaf’s scent than the actual tea. In the tea, it’s not entirely recognizable since there’s so much else going on. It tastes more like a gingerbread man that was left in the oven too long. Still, I really enjoy it. It’s not my favorite chai, but it’s still nice.

A little something to savor in my Bubble Bath this morning.
Don’t tell Ms. Theresa…

It’s an average chai, nothing special. I prefer the chais from Upton Teas.

One problem I’ve had with all of Adagio’s flavored teas has been that I get a splitting headache after drinking them. I didn’t want to blame the tea, but so far this has happened every single time I’ve tried an Adagio flavored tea and not at all with their non-flavored teas. (It also hasn’t happened with the Golden Moon or Upton Teas flavored blends.) I tried a number of them on my Chicago trip but didn’t log them because I didn’t want to be unfair to the tea. However it seems that I am probably sensitive to the base they use for their flavors. So, I will not be trying any other flavored teas from Adagio.

I had to double check the label on this sample because I’m not really getting any chocolate at all from this tea. When I opened the bag the smell that hit me was gingerbread – actually it reminded me very much of that Holiday Gingerbread Loaf they sell at Starbucks. It has a distinct gingerbread flavour as well – not surprise as there are big chunk of dried gingerroot and cinnamon bark in the tea. If it were marketed as a straight-up, regular chai or something, I’d rate this higher, but there is literally next to no chocolate involved in this tea and that feels like false advertising.

It begins! My birthday weekend, ok it isn’t until Tuesday but since Ben has school that day and everyone will be out of town next weekend, we are celebrating this weekend. No idea what all we are doing except going to the British Faire held by the Daughters of the British Empire local chapter. I plan on talking to them about joining, my dad was English and on my mom’s side I can trace my genealogy back to English and Scottish royalty, I am a perfect candidate! A good way to start off the celebratory weekend is with a good chocolaty tea!

Chocolate Chai by Adagio Teas is a Chai blend featuring Chocolate flavored Ceylon tea, Cardamon, Ginger, Cloves and Cinnamon. The aroma is very chocolaty and reminds me a little of Xoclatl (Aztec drinking chocolate) with its blend of spices and chocolate. There are rich malty undertones and sweetness. This aroma is quite delicious, especially if you are craving some chocolate.

Once the tea is steeped the aroma becomes even spicier with the ginger and cinnamon being prominent with a touch of peppery spice. The chocolate is not as strong after steeping the blend, but there is still the malty aroma. The liquid without all the leafy goodness has a very sweet aroma with strong notes of chocolate and spices. No one spice stands out as dominant.

The taste perfectly hit the spot, creamy, spicy, chocolaty goodness! The blend of chocolate and spice makes for a balanced cup, I do wish that I could have a little bit more cardamon, but that spice is strong so I can see how getting it to be balanced would be a pain. The taste still reminds me of Xoclatl but with a bright tea taste instead of just the chocolate spice. Brewed with milk (whole milk in my case) and a bit of sugar this makes for an excellent chai with a chocolate twist.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2013/11/adagio-teas-chocolate-chai-tea-review.html