Thai Chai

Now this is the tea I was trying to get when I bought the Harney’s Thai Tea. Last weekend I went into my local tea store where I first had this tea and asked to buy it despite the crazy price on it. They were out so I quickly said “Where do you get that tea, Adagio?”. She said yes. I must have thrown her off with my surprise question to get an answer. So, I ordered it from Adagio at a much much lower cost.

I love this tea. It’s like tea, no wait, soup, no wait, tea. Nom. It’s got this interesting savory quality to it that’s killer. It tastes like someone poured full fat coconut milk into my tea. If you like coconut, then this tea is for you. It’s coconut and ginger and a little lemongrass. The other flavors in the tea are just mild accompaniments to the coconut. This one is really great.

In honor of the Deal of the Day I decided to make a pot of this. Brewed hot, no additives, two minutes. The short infusion time gives just enough time to let the spices start to develop but enough of the coconut and lemongrass come through so that this tea is not overwhelming.

A sipdown from TeaboxB! Sorry about the avalanche of tasting notes lately! It has been mostly new-to-me teas lately! It has also been an avalanche of chai blends for me.. usually that happens when the colder weather hits. I think I love chai even more in the fall than I do in the winter. I love the name of this one. This one seems to be a chai with coconut and lemongrass in it. At first sip, this one seemed to be a little off tasting to me. It seemed like it had a coconut preservative flavor I don’t love. And the lemongrass seems weird in a chai (though I do love the lemongrass on its own that I just happened to try recently). This wasn’t terrible, but I guess I like chai with just black tea and spices. And the black tea didn’t seem terribly strong to me, even though there was way more than two teaspoons.

It’s a cold sunny day, perfect for trying this chai with a tropical twist. I had my doubts about whether these flavors would go together, but somehow this really works!

The spice is mellow for a chai, and the coconut and lemongrass add a summery touch. The flavors are perfectly balanced, and adding milk takes this to the next level of coconut creaminess. It’s both refreshing and comforting at the same time. Oh tea, you paradoxical little thing! I wonder if you could cook with this? Wish I could try but I gulped this down in record time…might have to get me some more. Thanks for the sample yappychappy!

50/50 milk/water + sugar all boiled together. So very yum. Has a flavor like there is coconut milk in it. Very bright, summery chai.

I got this in a swap from Nina (a swap in which I was a terrible swap partner and kept forgetting to bring money to mail her tea – Sorry Nina! It’s on it’s way!). I’m a big fan of Teavana’s Cha Yen Thai Tea and I love chai so I thought this might be a good combo.

In the bag it smells like most chais do. I didn’t get a ton of coconut aroma.

First brew was just ok. Something seemed too strong and it came off a bit bitter. I was gonna toss it before rebrewing the following day but decided, based on its smell, to give it another try. I’m glad I did give it another try. The second day the flavors meshed much better than the first and I did get chai with a twist. Not sure it was still terribly coconutty, but it was certainly good.

Unfortunately I made the mistake of going for a day three brew and the flavor was all off again. Too much of the spice came through and was, again, bitter. This tea seems to shine on its second steep so much that I may brew it once, toss that, and go for it again.

I made a super strong pot of this today to stand up to soymilk and sweetener. Delicious! I really like traditional chai, but I like Adaigo’s Thai take on it more than their masala.

Great blend, though I think I over-steeped it in too hot water, so the coconut flavor didn’t come through as strongly as it could have. The lemongrass was a fantastic addition to the spicy chai flavor though, and adds to the aroma as well, so that was nice. Definitely a tea with a lot of potential, and one that I’ll enjoy as I try and perfect the formula.

This smells incredible! Immediately upon opening it I got a huge whiff of coconut and lemon, but in a really natural way – the really nice scent of coconut that isn’t overpoweringly sweet.
After I brewed it, it smelled just like Tom Kha Gai soup, which is one of my favorite flavours ever. It smells of coconut and lime and lemongrass with a perfect sweet and sour tang, all on top of the typical chai scent.
I added milk because in my world chai is always drunk with milk.
Wow, and one sip and I am in love! I can really see this being one of my go to teas. It is smooth and milky and creamy and the coconut plays so well with the milk. The lemongrass notes are defined but are perfect in the blend. Nothing is overpowering.
I am so glad that I decided to give chai a second chance!

It’s funny but I didn’t even notice when ordering a sample of this that it had coconut. I noticed it as a mild taste with each sip. I’m not the biggest coconut fan but it blended smoothly with the chai and other flavorings and was a nice treat. I prefer the traditional Masali but this is a refreshing change. Fortunately the lemongrass is mild. I didn’t add milk and drank with one teaspoon of sugar, and, as for other chais I steeped 10 minutes. I see now to steep five but 10 was delish to me. Will finish out the rest of the sample with some milk tossed in, yummy.