Coco Chai

Steeped this for a minute less than I did last time (6 minutes instead of 7), and I like this a lot more. It has more of a creamy vanilla taste to it, I guess from the coconut. The peppercorn is still there, but it’s not nearly as overwhelming with this steeping.

Adding a little sweetener (agave nectar) and milk make this tea amazingly delicious. See my full review: http://mandybee.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/coco-chai-rooibos-from-mighty-leaf-is-delicious/

I’m a night time Rooibos- feen. I aim to try just about all of them out there. This one caught my attention. I’m not sure why. Maybe it just had a nice label (I know, bad reason)
Anyway, personal note, red peppercorns in tea, do not repeat.

Can def. taste the Rooibos blend in this Chai. It is an almost striking flavor of cinnamon to it (like most Chai) and the sweet taste of Rooibos definitely shows through. Has a nice, dark orange tint to it (which makes sense, since it’s Rooibos). Interestingly spicy, though I am not a huge fan of spicy tea, it definitely will spice your day up, wow.

Leaves a type of “grainy” feeling in my throat and I can feel it going down. Do. Not. Like. Teas should be strong, but not grainy like this. It almost burns on its way down.

Backlog

So yesterday, between assignments, I stumbled to the kitchen, eyes blurry from staring at a computer screen, and searching for tea. This was sitting out on the counter, so it was chosen.

This smells like alcohol, something I’ve noticed in 52teas Honeybush blends. But it was already in my hand, and instead of searching for something else I decided to give it a shot anyway.

When I first got really into tea, I thought Rooibos was the bomb, and order a few different Rooibos teas, including 50g straight Rooibos loose and a box of straight Rooibos bags. Now, I realize I don’t like it as much as I thought, and all that straight Rooibos sits untouched.

Anyway, point is, when the Rooibos flavor is stronger in a blend, I’m not as pleased as I used to be. And while I didn’t really notice any alcohol in the taste (huge plus), there is a lot of woody Rooibos taste. There’s also some creaminess, seemingly from the coconut. And some spice.

Overall, not bad, but not my favorite.

I’ve been looking forward to trying these loose-leaf herbal blends from Mighty Leaf ever since I received my sampler box. Let’s see when was that? My tea life has become a blur of box deliveries… Anyway, the reason why it has taken a while is that late at night when I seriously entertain herbalia, I am deterred by the possibly stimulating effect of the pink peppercorn in this blend.

The night is young, however, only 9 pm, so I still have half my day to go! I brewed this colorful mélange rather strong, because I wanted to give it a fighting chance. To be honest, I’m not the number-one fan of rooibos blends, to put it mildly. I do love chai, and I have tried some herbal chais before, including a couple of rooibos chais. But I was not all that optimistic in this case, given past experience.

I am happy to be able to report that my low expectations have been exceeded. I credit the ample provision of coconut and ginger in the blend to its relative degree of success. The coconut imparts a rich feeling, what is so often lacking from herbal chais. With a mediocre black-tea blend, there’s always cream to save the day. But I cannot really fathom adding cream to a rooibos blend. Shredded (unsweetened) coconut does the trick here. And the blend is spicy, with a big hit of ginger, along with the pink peppercorn (which from what I understand is not really pepper—a similar case to wild rice, which is not really rice, but that’s another story…). Happily the cinnamon and cardamom are balanced and do not overwhelm, as so often happens in these sorts of infusions.

All in all, I am pleasantly surprised. I do recommend brewing this blend very strong so as to avoid the dreaded “Vitamin Water” effect.

I made this as a cold brew. I’ve been doing that a lot lately. Wonderful blend of chai spices. No spice overwhelming the others. A little sweet and spicy. The coconut adds a bit of creaminess. Altogether a very nice cup in my tumbler!

This tea is ok. Not amazing, but definitely a good choice for a caffeine free chai, if you’re into chai, but not into caffeine.

I tried this tea recently for the second time, because I don’t like to walk away from a potentially good tea. My problem is that Chai, to me, is a milk tea that should be smooth and creamy. I don’t like the sudden tang of peppercorn in this tea. At all. I’m not a fan of Rooibos either, but the tea did not detract too much from the smoothness of the coconut. The peppercorns, however, were too strong a contrast, and left me with an aftertaste.

For those who like peppery teas? Worth a try. So far, though, my favourite Coconut Chai remains the Southern Seasons blend.

Rich and bold with aggressive ginger flavor and peppery aftertaste. Cocoa emerges slowly. Great.