Chad’s Original Black Chai

I was given a lovely new journal today for logging tea notes because, yes, I filled up another one! It is a beautiful shade of cobalt (one of my favorite colors) with an embossed peacock on the cover. The cover is made with rubbery pseudo suede which has the best texture, I keep rubbing the cover because it is so soft! I will certainly enjoy writing about tea in this lovely journal.

Today I am going to be your Chai Wallah, ok not really, I am not that cool. Chad’s Original Black Chai by the titular Chad’s Chai is a blend of Full Leaf Indian Tea, Organic Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Clove, Organic Chili Peper, Ginger, Star Anise, and Organic Cardamon. The first this I notice about the aroma is how intense it is, I really dumbly put my nose right into the package instead of wafting and ended up with a hilarious sneezing fit. The chili pepper and black pepper really pack a punch, so don’t do like me and stick your nose in it! After my schnoz calms down and I can analyse the aroma from a distance I notice that the tea smells rich and a bit earthy with potent spices. Primarily ginger and peppers with a secondary kick of cinnamon. The cardamon and star anise is very faint and there is a mild finish of malt.

Once I give the leaves a good soaking the leaves have an earthy, malty, and spicy aroma. The spices are a bit diminished, but there is a still an intense kick of pepper. This tea smells hot and warms me down to my toes. The liquid has a rich and sweet aroma, less earthy and more of a melange of spices since no one spice stands out.

Since this is a chai is is brewed with the traditional sugar and cream (ok, Half & Half is my cow product of choice, so not exactly cream) The first thing I notice is the initial warm kick of spices, it is not unpleasantly hot, just enough spiciness to warm my mouth up. This quickly fades to a blend of gentler ginger and cinnamon with a mix of earthy and malty. The tea finished with a kick of peppers again so it leaves a pleasant burn in the mouth. This is a good chai, but it is not really the type that rocks my world. I prefer my cardamon and anise to be the prominent spice and the more ‘hot’ spices to be secondary. I also really thought the base tea was quite good.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/02/chads-chai-chads-original-black-chai.html

I am getting the pumpkin essence that was described by TeaEqualsBliss (thank you, by the way, for sending me some of this!) … not only in the unbrewed tea, but also in the brewed liquor and just a hint of it in the taste. Not a bad thing – just a bit of a surprise. It’s not a strong essence, just a whisper of pumpkin.

I love the balance of spices in this blend. Right up front, I’m tasting the Star Anise which is a favorite spice of mine, and I’m glad to see it in this blend. I am not getting a lot of chili pepper taste, there is a vague, low note of chili and black peppers in the background but this is not a strong SPICY tea, rather, it is a pleasant level of spice.

Very nice!

I had some of this over the weekend with soymilk. There was a bit of pepper or something that really kicked the back of my throat. I actually didn’t enjoy this one too much until I added a few packets of sugar, which isn’t a great sign for me.

And thus I’ve nearly worked my way through the teas available at my neighborhood coffee shop. I think I’m going to mostly stick with the darjeeling.

This smells like Chai and Pumpkin prior to steep for some reason…

Almost done with infusion…

My water was a little cooler than I would usually use for a chai but it didn’t seem to hurt the flavors. It’s a nice flavored chai – not overly strong which I appreciate – not overly spicy. I really like this chai!