Masala Chai

I made this for my dad and myself after he dropped me off at my apartment and was so kind as to purchase the stuff for me. Back to school soon, blagh. Having this straight up because, I don’t have any milk right now so the traditional preparation is out. This is nice, it’s spiced, but not too spicy. I was a bit worried that it might be overwhelming but it really isn’t. It seems to be getting sweeter as it cools off too. It seems to have a sort of stick-to-your-ribs vibe about it. Like it’s filling. I’m sure it would seem even more filling with milk and sugar in it as well.

I was actually really excited to open this tea and smell the cardamom! I feel like most chai blends are heavy on the clove so this was a nice surprise. It’s too bad that the steeped tea didn’t retain any of the cardamom flavor. It’s still a good chai in the sense that it’s a nice spiced tea, but the cardamom tease left me expecting more than I received. Overall, a suitable bagged tea for on the go.

This is a sipdown for me. I’m way behind on my sipdowns this month, so it feels nice to get through another one. This sampler was from the travelling tea box, and I really liked trying different brewing methods.

My first brew was on the stove in hot water, then sweetened with agave and soy milk.

This morning’s brew is Western style with soy milk. I think I prefer this method to avoid the bitterness than comes from stronger brewing (hotter water while boiling on the stove leads to a more bitter tea than cooler temperatures). I normally use ~75-90 deg. C water. I don’t measure it exactly, but I also don’t care about using cooler water and getting a weaker brew.

I like the spice blend here – very spicy, fresh spices, a traditional blend of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and clove. I prefer this blend over most spice blends I have tried because I find it more flavourful and pleasant then the blends with licorice root or no clove. IT could maybe use a bit more ginger, but overall it was a great chai.

I was worried this was going to be another mouth full of clove which seems to overwhelm a lot of chai, but it isn’t. The pepper, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom are strong and hold up under almond milk and sugar.

made ma a strong cup this morning got crazy bizy before i realized that i had not drank it….added ice and a half of cup of almond milk and now i am in spicy,cinnamon heaven

I love this tea for being both robust and soothing. If steeped too long, it has a bit of a burnt toast aftertaste, but I do love it. Makes a brilliant latte with plain almond milk.

Well, this is delicious. Strong, spicy and heavy on cardamom – my only complaint is that the flavor of black tea gets a little lost. I’ve tried brewing this on the stovetop, according to the directions on the package (substituting almond milk and Stevia), as well as a regular method (one rounded tbsp, just under boiling water, steep for 3 1/2 minutes). Stovetop is better, but I usually don’t have the time or patience, and both ways work for me.

Really impressed.

This is a well balanced spiced chai. Some chais have too much of a certain spice that I don’t care for and I’m not sure what it is. I personally like it but my Chai loving husband was not impressed. I would get it again next time I’m at a Whole Foods that has it in a bulk bin in order to experiment more with it.

somehow steepster ate and buried this? grrr.

nope. wrong mix for me…. actually i thing chico chai might have ruined me for others, to be honest. i had high hopes….. but it was completely out of balance and so strong after a really moderate 5 minute steep that it went right down the sink.

damn.

the semester’s almost over. i spent the weekend working my butt off analyzing data on global theory that is outside my specialty only to have it ACTUALLY HAPPEN…..!!!!!!!!! and then i got marked down because i wasn’t focused enough. …. ……. ………… are you sure i wasn’t focused enough? because i’m pretty sure i was. do you feel like reading it again maybe?

however, at least i loved the project. and at least my ‘lower mark’ was an A-. and at least that was tying together SO many different disciplines that regardless of the mark i am very bloody proud.

this chai. hum. if you would like to have random patches of body hair forcibly burned off by spice via tea containing milk and agave…. then steep this for 5 and have at her. this will be going in the traveling tea box for my part. arrivederci!

Totally a chai morning! It’s so cold! I had to put a sweater on just to sit in the living room. I made this over the stovetop with breakfast. I have to be careful not to burn the almond milk and I think it came out perfect today. Only thing is, I may have over sweetened it. Oops! Oh well, the spices held up nicely. This is a very solidly spicy chai. Oh, and yay for fall back DST!