Vanilla Chai (Organic)

24 Days of Tea, Day 2.

Full disclosure: I’m not a fan of David’s Tea’s chais. I find them watery and flaccid, so I went into this without high hopes… and I was right. Because I find DT’s chais weak, I steeped this longer than the directions instructed, but upon first sip, all I got was licorice. Expecting a combination of chai and vanilla, I was unprepared for this, and I was taken aback, because even more than I dislike DT’s chais, I dislike licorice flavouring, especially in a drink. Here, it’s overpowering. I am glad I only had a small sample of this in my advent calendar, because it’s certainly not something I’d ever, or will ever, purchase.

I love Chai. I love Vanilla. Put them together? OK!!
I’ve never had this one before and from dry leaf it smelt promising. I brought it with me to school today after happily opening my advent calendar flap. Oversteeping might have had something to do with my experience with this tea but even then so it wasn’t as great tasting. There was Chai, and there was Vanilla. There was also a really strong licorice scent to it and I’m not a fan of licorice so that must have also factored into this test.

One of my classmates described it the best because he said it smelt like cough syrup.

Davids Tea 24 Days of Tea: Day 2

So I’m going to state this right from the beginning: I am NOT a huge chai fan!

However I love vanilla. So upon opening day two of the tea advent calendar I was intrigued to try this! I don’t mind the smell of this tea, I can smell the vanilla and chai in what I feel is a nice balance. However upon brewing (via David’s instructions) I am not a fan.

I drink almost all my teas straight. I just got into lattes the past few weeks and haven’t expanded my horizons yet, naturally I enjoy my teas straight, so naturally I drank this tea straight. Honestly all I could taste was chai! Yuck! No vanilla whatsoever. I was sadly disappointed. :( I started to struggle drinking my cup about half way through.

Overall Verdict: This isn’t a total write off, a. because i still have some of my sample left, and b. I bought about 25g a few weeks ago thinking I would like it. So I need to find a new way to try this!

Im not going to ‘rate’ this tea as recommended or not as I haven’t made a final decision. As a straight tea, nothing added, no I do NOT recommend… unless you enjoy chai. However next time I try this Im going to try it as a latte and hope this might make it more enjoyable for my taste buds.

DAVIDsTEA 24 Days of Tea: Day 2 out of 24

Chai is sort of my thing: I enjoy making it from scratch, and have been doing so for a few years now. Over time, I’ve developed a blend of spices that I really enjoy, at the cost of being hesitant to try pre-made chai blends from retailers. Since I know it won’t be exactly the same proportions of spices, it’s likely I won’t enjoy it as much as my recipe. But, when I opened today’s calendar slot and was greeted with this, I took it as an exercise to offer a more open mind to “other chai”. Not to mention that I was in the mood for vanilla today, which helped. :)

Tasted straight and with half-and-half + raw sugar. Straight, it’s surprisingly sweet-tasting: I had to double check the ingredient list to see if there was added sugar. Sadly, I didn’t taste much vanilla, despite seeing the specks of vanilla bean in the tea. Most of the flavor was cinnamon and ginger. In the end, I couldn’t get over the cloying sweetness I felt in the straight tea.

Fared better with half-and-half, although the vanilla I was expecting was still very mild. With the milk cutting the sweetness down to a reasonable level, I tasted more notes of clove.

All-in-all, not my favorite tea by a long shot. I’ll keep on making my homemade chai for the time being.

Day 2 of the 24 days of tea: Organic Vanilla Chai

I’ve never had this one before so this one was a new favour for me. Upon opening the tin there is a strong artificial vanilla scent, though not unpleasant. When brewed, the cinnamon scent comes out more, as does something resembling apple. The taste is just like the smell, only more astringent from the black tea and with a licoricey aftertaste :)

I always get nervous when I see on David’s Tea ingredients lists “cream flavouring” or anything creme on the name, because this means there will always be a strange coating left on my tongue and hard palate after tasting the tea. I have no idea what it is. But I do find that these types of teas do better with some milk which essentially covers this up and solidifies the vanilla taste.

So I ended up drinking this as a latte with some cookies.

Brewed tea has a delicious aroma with a nice mix of scents.

Nice mix of flavours. I am a fan of licorice and enjoy the balance of that flavour with the other spices. I can also taste cinnamon. Vanilla flavour is present only in the aftertaste and is artificial-tasting. Overall flavour is slightly dilute, as if there was not enough actual tea in the mix. This may do better with a stronger concentration of dry leaf. I would be hesitant to increase the infusion time in case of potential astringency.

Day 2 of David’s Tea 24 days of tea.

Disclaimer: David’s has never, ever made a chai that I actually like. Expectations: low.

This smells like artificial vanilla extract. EXACTLY like artificial vanilla extract. Which is a byproduct of wood pulping for paper…so not off to a good start. But I swore I would try everything except that cocomint cream one, so here we go.

The steeped tea smells very similar to the dry tea, but more…astringent. I didn’t even let it steep all that long (2-3 mins, I think), so it’s not like it’s over-steeped. The vanilla flavour does come out, along with some cinnamon, but that’s about it as far as the “spice” goes in the chai. I’m disappointed. I really, REALLY want to find a David’s chai that I actually like but this definitely isn’t it. The tea isn’t TERRIBLE, it’s just not…good. Too artificial for me, and not enough of the traditional chai spices. Give me a good chai, David’s!

Verdict: would not buy, but glad I got to try it.

I am really not a fan of the smell of this tea right out of the bag. It’s very pungent, almost chemical. But I thought I’d give it a shot anyways, and make a chai latte with almond milk.

12oz unsweetened almond milk
4oz whole milk
3tsp sugar
2tsp tea
Boiled for 8 minutes on the stovetop.

Tastes much better than it smells I think, the cinnamon is lovely and the vanilla stands out without being too overbearing, like it smells.

I’m OBSESSED. I drink this at least three times a week (and that’s with about 30 other teas I have up for grabs). It’s delicate for a chai (no ingredient overwhelms another) and has a super smooth mouth feel. I like the addition of licorice root to it; adds a little extra zing i haven’t seen in many other chais by David’s. I’ve found that even an accidental over steep yields a good cup, though I’ve found a 3 minute steep at 175 degrees is perfect.

I am always wary of chai blends. Mainly because I adore half the ingredients in a standard chai – the cardamom, the cloves, that kind of thing – and loathe two of them – cinnamon and licorice. If the chai blend is light on the latter and heavy on the former, I love it! Further note – I like actual cinnamon. The fake cinnamon flavour of Red Hots is what I don’t care for.

Vanilla Chai, unfortunately, is overwhelmingly the latter. The licorice flavour stuck to the back of my throat the whole way through, and fake cinnamon punched through right after. I didn’t get any vanilla at all – under the other two, I could barely even taste the tea. Too sweet. Too many licorice. Too very sad-making.