Vanilla Chai [duplicate]

Good vanilla flavour. A bit artificial-tasting. The brew is thinner than I would like it but it has a bit of a creamy edge.

The last remaining tin of my 2014 advent calendar. I didn’t try this initially because my boyfriend complained about the licorice root, and it was exam season so I decided to pass on it really. But, now that the 2016 calendar has started I figured I may as well bite the bullet and finish this one off.

I don’t mind the concept of a vanilla chai, I think that vanilla is a flavor that can work really well in a chai. The dry leaf of this tea smells a lot like ginger with notes of vanilla and cinnamon, not a bad start at least. But, it seems like things have quickly gone a bit downhill because as I’m typing this I can smell the licorice root already. Not a good sign.

When steeped, the tea does turn a nice amber-brown color, typical of my favorite chais. However, the smell of licorice root is still very prominent. At least I won’t need to add any sweetener, clearly. My first sip of this without any sweetener or milk, is… as you might expect, licorice root. My boyfriend tried to warn me but here I am two years later falling to my hubris. Not even adding milk and sugar helps bring out the chai or vanilla flavor enough for me to even get through this cup.

Overall, I’m not surprised that this tea didn’t come back, but I do hope to try other vanilla chais because I really like the idea behind it.

I drank this as a 50/50 soy milk/water latte and think chais are best steeped with milk. I liked this with milk a lot more than plain (plain I gave it a 38/100 rating before). It isn’t the best chai I have had, and the metallic licorice is really weird in it. Fennel, coriander, and anise are better chai ingredients IMO. I still have about 2 cups left, but I’m going to use it all up at once I think. It isn’t bad, and I’d drink it again if it was offered to me, but I wouldn’t buy it again. I don’t like that almost smokey base used in this blend, it adds nothing for a chai blend.

Sipdown! So glad to have this one out of my cupboard. It’s drinkable, but definitely won’t be buying it again.

1.25 tsp for 300mL water @96C, steeped four minutes.

Very strong scent of licorice. It dominated. I can even smell it through a sealed plastic bag, where I dumped the wet leaves. Could not even try to drink this.

A bit too much liquorice for me, but this is a great tea for brunch! I usually drink teas black but this one is better with a bit of milk and sugar.

Love cinnamon, love black tea, love vanilla. This is a wonderful combination of the three. Has a very mild, sweet and lightly spiced flavour. Smells amazing. Great everyday tea.

Received this in my Advent Calendar. The first time I tried it straight with no milk/sugar and didn’t like it. It’s only when I came back now to do a review that I noticed licorice listed amongst the ingredients. I’m not a huge fan of licorice so maybe that’s why I didn’t like it the first time around.
I had one last little bit of this so I thought I’d do it as a latte. I steeped a tsp of the tea in about 1/3 cup of boiling water for about 4 mins. and added 2 tsp of brown sugar to that. Then steamed a cup of 1% milk and added it to the sweetened tea. It tasted much better this time around. It’s not as spicy as a standard chai is. Quite light in fact. I guess because it was a ‘vanilla’ chai anything else would’ve overpowered its delicate flavours.
If you like the idea of chai but don’t want the strong peppery flavours, this may be the chai for you.

I had high hopes for this chai. I really did. Vanilla chai sounds amazing. In theory.
Not so much in reality, when it includes licorice?! In my head, those two just do not go together. Nope. No they no do not.
It ruins everything!!! That makes two cups of tea down the drain today. I’m thankful they allow ten gram samples.

Wow this smells amazing in he cup. Taste though? Not a super powerful chai thats for sure. The spice is very mild in this one, and the vanilla flavor is very prominent. I dont add anything to my teas, and this one is mildly sweet on its own (naturally from the cinnamon). I really like this one… its nothing too crazy… just an all around good chai. But I will say… if you did add milk and honey to this it would probably be AMAZING! Im just a “naked” tea kind of gal.