Chocolate Chai

I was really hesitant to try this tea, since chocolate is usually a difficult flavor to get right in a drink, and the leaves have a spicy, almost cinnamon like aroma to them which brought back memories of the shock that you get when you first taste bitter baking chocolate and expect it to be like the sweet chocolate that you normally eat.

HOWEVER, I was actually (and pleasantly) surprised by how this tea came out, as the chocolate mellows out into a subtle accent, with just a hint of the bitterness coming through that does well to balance the flavor of the chai itself. The aroma does tend to be on the bitter side of the chocolate spectrum, but it’s enjoyable when mixed with the aroma of the chai, and creates a really nice, spicy note that accents the flavor.

Firstly, this tea smells wonderful out of the tin. When brewed, I do not get a ton of chocolate flavor, mostly cinnamon and clove. (I think). The spice taste could be a little stronger, but it is a very drinkable tea.

I really enjoyed this. I tried it in a local tea room before buying, and found that I liked the chocolate note being very subtle as opposed to IN YOUR FACE sweet. The spices seem gentler than other chai blends I have in my cupboard. It is light, spicy, and sweet. Very enjoyable.

The flavour is decent, but too mild. Tastes more like chocolate than chai. I’ve been blending with my vanilla chais, and that worked rather well.

We selected this as our free sample with a recent order from Adagio.
As I added it to my Steepster “cupboard” I noted there is also an Adagio raspberry chocolate chai. I missed that one or probably have picked it (sounds delish!)

But I was pleasantly surprised by a Sat. delivery of my Adagio order. What better treat on a crisp fall day? We decided to try this one first, having not tasted it before.

That said, I’m happy I chose the the chocolate chai. It’s very yummy. It’s low key on the spice as a chai goes; I thought it worked well as the flavor profile was nice with the chocolate. It provides a nice gentle flavor with a heavenly aroma.

I’m down to just a couple more servings left of loose Chai in the house. This is it. I’m all out of Masala Chai. My feet were painfully cold just now, so I turned the AC up a few degrees so it would stop freezing me out, and brewed up some of this in my neglected IngenuiTea.

It smells nicely of chocolate, and has just a hint of it in the taste.

I made it with sugar and milk (I’m out of half & half), and whipped it with my frother to latte it up. So nice and warming on this rainy afternoon.

Sharedown

Forewarning – I generally don’t care for chai. I don’t like much ginger in tea, I am not a fan of much clove or really heavy cinnamon use, I don’t love black pepper in tea, I try not to add milk or sugar because I have plenty of sugar elsewhere in my diet. So take this tasting note with a grain of salt if you love chai.

I had it first for breakfast, served with an omelet and buttered English muffin. The omelet was made with a fresh olive egger egg with a lovely green shell, cherry tomatoes from our garden that I dried last summer, and chives and German thyme that I picked this morning.
With all that going on, the tea had to compete.

It wasn’t horrible. I didn’t hate it. The chocolate seemed almost chemical-y at first but I decided it might the ginger adulterating it. It was fine and I drank a small pot of it with no problem.

This afternoon I thought I would give it a fair shake and prepare it a little more how chai is intended to be served. I steeped it western style and then added milk and sugar. The chocolate aroma now seemed much more natural and more prominent. It smelled a bit like a chocolate eclair. But it was still a type of tea I don’t love and adding milk and sugar did not turn it into the cozy comforting cup I was hoping it would.

I am rehoming this to my neighbor who I think will like it very much indeed.

Delicious as a tea latte

I am a big lover of different kinds of spicy chai teas and make it a point to try almost every one that I come across. This one is quite tasty with enough chocolate to make it noticeable but not so much as to take away from the spice.

I went through a chai phase a while back and bought Adagio’s chai sampler. I was searching out the “perfect chai” for a coworker. lol Now I make some masala chai on the stovetop whenever I want tea, but I need to de-calcify my tea kettle. Vinegar for the win!

I made this the traditional masala chai method: dissolved the sweetener in 2 cups of water, brought to a boil, added the tea, boiled for ten minutes, added 2 cups milk (almondmilk in my case), brought back to a boil, strained and served.

It’s very yummy! The cocoa nibs make it extra smooth and little sweeter than my usual chai. The cinnamon is strong enough that not being able to find my cinnamon sticks was totally okay. The ginger gives it an extra hot punch, which is great. I kind of miss the cloves or cardamom. I think it could do with a little more actual masala. The black tea base isn’t super high-quality, but it survives the boiling without being really bitter. Overall, I’m impressed. When I’ve sipped down all my chai’s, this could be in the running for a repurchase.