Creme Brulee Chai

Caveat Emptor! This company does not have their act together. My order was either never sent or lost in the mail, it took anywhere from a few hours to two weeks for them to answer emails, and when I finally got my order after six weeks, one of the items was missing.

Most of Herbal Infusions teas seem to be pretty weak. I tried this one with one teaspoon/8 oz, and could barely taste it. I tried it again with two teaspoons/8 oz. and it was much better. It’s still a very light tea, but I could taste caramel and black tea. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I wish I could have tasted the spices, but I really enjoyed this regardless.

I’m super glad that this was another tea that wasn’t for me given HI’s notoriously awful customer service. Kittenna share this one with me and while i DO like the flavour blending of this one, i cannot get past the tea base that HI uses. It’s like a lot of 52 tea black tea bases – just doesn’t add much to the tea and the undernotes in the tea just don’t work. Thanks so much for the share though Kittenna! always appreciate trying new teas!

Uhhh, I can’t seem to recall who sent me the sample of this tea. I’m sorry.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was pretty good! (For a chai).

I did find it tasted a lot like a creme brûlée with major big time chai. Super spicy chai. This is probably exactly how spicy chai normally is, but the last few chai-ish teas I’ve had were Adagio fandom versions of chai, not as spicy.

It was a neat dessert tea to try, I enjoyed drinking it, though I wouldn’t buy it because of the strong slickness.

Thanks to whoever sent it, sorry I didn’t have the foresight to write your name on the bag when I got it in the mail!

I don’t know what to say about this one, for once. It brews up quite dark and there’s a bitter edge to it, but it doesn’t taste oversteeped. It’s reminiscent of coffee, in a way. The actual flavor is more like French toast than crème brûlée. I’m not getting any creaminess, and the spices aren’t very assertive like I hoped they would be from the “chai” in the name. Oh, well, to the swap pile with it.

This is good, I like it, but I don’t love it. I think I want Creme Brulee OR chai – I don’t need them both in the same cup. Something about the “burnt sugar” and the spices doesn’t quite work for me. Oh well, 100’s of other teas to try…

Sipdown! Just saw that I did write a note on this haha totally forgot that i logged this lol, well this note should be the more detailed one I guess haha. I overleafed a bit as there was not quite enough left for another cup.

The dry smell reminds me of that tea Della Terra put out last fall..darn I can’t remember the name..some sort of apple tea, and it also contained nutmeg, so I think that’s mostly what I am smelling in the dry leaves. It’s definitely a blend of chai like spices. This cup I steeped for 2 minutes with boiling water, I can’t remember how I did the others haha. The steeped smell actually smells much better than the previous cups, if my memory serves me correctly. It’s very spicy, but with a definite caramelly undertone, a brown sugar sweetness. I can actually liken the scent of this cup to creme brulee a bit! Maybe it’s the different water at this place haha.

As for the flavor, wow, this is spicy tonight. Not as much caramel and not much of the flavor I disliked previously, a different spice is showing itself tonight lol, very peppery and strong. It could be from overleafing too haha. I much prefer this cup to the others, but it still is not my favorite chai. It needs more chocolate and caramel notes to make it a favorite, and a bit more variety than just strong spice. There is a hint of caramel in the aftertaste, but I don’t think it’s enough to make this a reorder. Still was a very nice tea to try though, I am very glad I got the chance to! Also want to try more teas from HI in the future, I enjoy their cacao teas and the marshmallow EG (heavenly). So yes, decent cup, just not a complete favorite! Chai fans should give this one a shot though! See previous notes as well :)

ETA – I should have tried this stovetop, it might be amazing and make me need it haha. Oh well, maybe another sample will find its way into my future cart and I can give it a go :)

I sipped this down yesterday morning, with half and half and a bit of brown sugar. It’s pretty good but not amazing. I wouldn’t order more.

Trufax.

Backlog:

I love a good chai this time of year (well, actually at the first sign of a chilly night back in September, I start thinking about Chai!) because I love how it warms me from the inside out. And this is definitely a tasty chai!

Spicy but not over the top. The spices are strong … stronger than the tea … but they don’t overpower the tea. I taste clove and cinnamon strongest, followed by cardamom. I love the licorice-y note from the anise, as well as the creamy, custard-like creme brulee flavor. I would like there to be a tad more creme brulee flavor to this, and that would be my only real complaint is that while I can taste the custard notes, they aren’t as strong as I’d like them to be.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/01/20/creme-brulee-chai-blend-herbal-infusions/

Updating my cupboard and realized I already finished my sample size bag last week. I need to remember and shake the bag up next time, my last cup tasted like a lot of pepper. It was still good and left me wanting more.

I made many lattes with this tea for me and the husband. I sweetened it with brown sugar and ground Trader Joes cinnamon and sugar on top. I think the combination enhanced the creme brulee taste and smell. I look forward to getting more before eggnog is back in season and trying the recipe for a Chai Nog Latte they posted on YouTube.

This tea is amazing. Not too strong with a nice creme brulee flavor! I got it from the Toronto Tea Festival, which by far was one of my favorite tea booths. I would definitely buy again!