I love chai. I love chocolate. So why is this tea such a disaster? This does not have the flavor profile of any chai I’m familiar with, and it does not taste very chocolatey to me either. It’s not that I don’t like cacao nibs, which have a unique, raw, almost wine-like quality – in fact, I buy cacao nibs in bulk because of how often I use them.
The cacao and chai overtones are there, but the spices are skewed towards an odd curry-like savory direction. Vague, sickly sweetness and chicory root overpower a thin black tea component, and the whole thing has an oddly musty, dirty sock/fish vibe. There is no sweetener or creamer that can redeem this. This tea has been on the shelves for a while, so somebody is clearly buying it and enjoying it. I just tell myself that I got some crazy dud, because it disturbs me to imagine that somebody out there would have been depraved enough to enjoy the cup that I poured down the drain.
I’m being generous on this rating…