Original Masala Chai

Stovetop Latte Sipdown (318)

The best before date on this was early November or December of this year and while it is still very tasty, there is a touch of flavor deterioration. That’s fine though since it just means there is slightly less spice than there originally was, and there originally was a lot so its still very flavorful.

I am sad to be finishing this one because as far as chai goes, this is by far my favourite. It’s just the perfect balance of spice and sweet. And just so comforting on a cold and snowy day like today. It’s got the burn from the ginger and pepper that hits the back of your throat but the honey and anise keeps it sweet as well. It’s just awesome and I am sad that its gone and also sad that it seems Chaiwala has no boxing day sale. In fact, it seems most places aren’t having boxing day sales and if they are, they aren’t great sales.

I had this at the tea festival last year and loved it. So much! But when I got it home. I could never copy how they had done it at the festival (they did it as a latte, but somehow I couldn’t do it at home).
Anyways, the other thing I had with this one was that every time I made this one I would end up with an upset stomach. I don’t have a clue as to why. The only thing I can think of is the honey as I never eat honey. Like ever. I don’t like the taste of it. SO now I’m wondering if maybe I have an allergy or maybe just an intolerance to honey… Who knows…?

made some of this stovetop this past weekend even though it was super hot out. I was in the mood for something warm and comforting and it fit the bill. I really enjoy the overall flavour of this chai especially since it’s not overly clove heavy. Figure i should drink this one up before we get around to the tea festival again…feels like February is just around the corner at the rate life is running these days heh

So much noms!! oh man, I love me a cuppa this with some almond milk.
I knew that the blend is a strong one so I decided to try it with a milk that tends to overwhelm most…. not this one though hehe.
Oh man was it ever delish! Not as sweet as I expected though, given that the first ingredient listed was honey. I had to add half a teaspoon of sugar for the flavours to pop, which kinda made me sad. I’d much rather have enjoyed it without!
The richness and complexity of flavour did impress me overall, so points there. I think I’ll try it with other types of milk before making any rating decisions

One of the neat things about this blend is that it has fresh ginger and honey mixed in with the black tea, resulting in a kind of thick, crumbly mix. I think the honey is here both to add sweetness and to prevent the tea and spices from spoiling when in contact with the moistness of the fresh ginger.

And oh my god, there are a LOT of spices in this mix. In addition to the black tea and honey, there’s ginger, orange peel, cardamom, fennel, nutmeg, bay leaf, and a whole lot more. You can see how much spice is in this mix when you actually measure it out for brewing. It looks a bit like vegetable slaw, I think.

Chaiwalah’s chai smelled bracingly strong, spicy and pungent: so strong, in fact, that I had trouble picking out individual flavours. However, I’m pretty sure that I was able to sense cloves, fennel, bay leaf, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I will say it again: yowza, this tea smelled strong.

The instructions on the Chaiwala package said to mix 8 ounces of milk (preferably soy milk) with 8 grams of chai and then heat the milk on the stove on medium until it just reaches a boil. For all that effort, I decided to measure out about 16 grams of leaf for 16 ounces of milk and then make myself an extra big cup. I don’t buy soy milk, so I used plain old 1% cow’s milk instead.

This tea was super strong. However, I couldn’t taste much in the way of black tea at all: the strongest flavours were of ginger, fennel, cloves, and bay leaf. (For some reason, the bay leaf was particularly prominent in my cup.) Part of me wonders if this is because I used cow milk instead of soy, or because I let the tea sit in the milk for several minutes before putting it on the boil. There’s plenty of room to experiment, however: I’ve used only about 1/4 of the package from Chaiwala, and because of the way it’s mixed (tea, honey, and fresh spices), I need to use it up quickly before it goes bad.

Full review at http://booksandtea.ca/2016/02/valentines-day-with-chaiwala-chai/