Saigon Chai (Organic)

i bought this because i’m a sucker for something with peppercorns and i liked that this was just an interesting chai. tastes better with a longer steep (4 mins at 205* for this batch but i’ll do it for 5 minutes next time and it’s possible even longer will be better). delicious with milk and sugar!

I thought this was going to be awesome, but it’s pretty weak and nondescript. I get a bit of cinnamon, cardamom and pepper, and a note that reminds me of really cheap black tea bags, but it all around just tastes kind of flat.

Maybe different steeping parameters would make this better. Milk and sugar helped a tiny bit, but for now, this is bleh and every other chai I have in my cupboard is better.

So when I got David’s Chai Collection this was the first of the trio that I tested out. After making a few pots full and drinking them down, I went ahead and got a full tin of the stuff. I couldn’t even wait for the sample I had to run out, I just needed to have plenty of it on hand immediately. It’s that good.

Things I love in my chai: spice, heat, comfort. This chai definitely meets those marks. Steeped in warm milk, water, and just a touch of raw sugar, it’s got lovely flavor while tasting a bit lighter and less decadent than chai usually does to me when prepared stovetop-style. (Once I tried chai that way, back when I was still just discovering tea beyond cheap bags, I just couldn’t go back to steeping it in plain water and then adding whatever else – the most time/effort-crunch compromise I’ll make is quick-heating the milk and water, combining them & the sugar, and then steeping the tea in the mixture.)

Overall it’s not the best in the world, but it’s pretty perfect as an everyday blend for me – and as a humble but delicious addition to my daily life rather than a special occasion type of tea, I adore it entirely. If you want a lighter chai that still has quite a bit of spice, you can’t go wrong with this one.

I made a trip into David’s yesterday and this was one of the teas I bought. I only got 20 grams, just to be on the safe side. I’m trying to experiment with chais and figure out which kind I like the best.

Anyway, my first cup was… well, awful. I brewed it for too long… 5 minutes. I was going based on the directions on the package.

This morning I re-steeped for only 3 minutes, and it tasted just fine! It has a nice flavour! I’m not sure if it’s the type of chai I would buy again… I like more of a cinnamon spice, this chai really has more of a gingery taste to me.

But it definitely is a nice tasting tea, and I’ll thoroughly enjoy the few cups I’ll get out of it.

Love chai. Not this one. Tried it with and without milk, cold and hot and it is just super bland. Maybe if someone doesn’t like spicy chai it would be good?

Needed some black tea to wake me up this morning, and this seemed like a good candidate since it’s approaching sipdown territory.

This is a really round, bold tea. I think that the strongest flavours are of ginger and cinnamon, with the ginger winning out. I tried it unsweetened first. Then I added some agave nectar, and that really helped balance the flavours and make this an enjoyable, sippable cup. A nice morning boost. Not sure if I’d want to restock it, but I do like the spice balance here.

Thanks again to Aimee Popovacki for a sample!

Morning proTEAn latte with vanilla Promasil. Noms. Getting a very drying sensation in my mouth though, and I’m pretty sure it’s the tea, not the protein powder. Not my favourite chai, but it will do. (I actually don’t think I would drink this chai without some sort of sweetening, as I just don’t like it otherwise.)

Nothing like drinking Saigon Chai on a cold (-40C/-40F) winter day to warm up. I am able to detect the different spices of Saigon cinnamon and cardamom the most, followed by the ginger and cloves. I think I will need to crush the pink peppercorns to detect more of their flavour.

I find that on it’s own, the tea can be bitter if over steeped, but with a bit of soy milk and some honey or agave nectar, this tea shines. On the 2nd steeping, the tea has mellowed a bit more that I can have it without soy milk and only with honey/agave.

Again, I’m not normally a chai drinker, but I tried this one on a whim today… and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised! I think the addition of the peppercorns and the specific type of cinnamon gave this one a different flavour than what I was expecting.

Note: I usually am a fan of the floral/fruity teas, and am a verifiable tea noob. So take my reviews with a grain of salt (or a slice of lemon)
This is my first DavidsTea chai.
This tea is spicy and savoury, almost to the point where it seems like soup to me. There is no strong black tea note that I can discern.
Will not repurchase