I believe this is the first time I’ve had a Chai Diaries tea. I’ve been curious about their teas for a while, so I’m excited to finally try one.
The dry leaves are small and broken. They look like a standard Assam. Once steeped the tea has two very strong characteristics: malty notes and astringency. The malt note is nice, but wow! that dryness hard to handle. I added cream and sugar, and that helped quite a bit, but there is still a fair amount of astringency especially at the end of the sip. The tea is pretty smooth, and there is no bitterness. As the tea cools I get a bit of a bread note as well.
Not my favorite, but not a bad tea either.