Decaf Vanilla Chai

I’m not having great luck with the Stash teas this week. This one was bland and barely spiced.

The vanilla with its sweet mystery really smooths the spices. Tastes like tea. Inviting aroma. I like the tea even better after it’s gone cold. Great for warming up when I didn’t get home until after dark. Thanks Leafhopper :)

With the switch to standard time, cold evening temperatures and a consistent 8 to 5 schedule (yay promotion!), the desire to cook has returned. I’m making carrot ginger soup and roasted cauliflower tonight. Earlier this week I made a creamy pumpkin sausage mushroom soup and last night a simple Asian veg and broth getup. <3

This is tea 17/50 I bought in a Stash Assortment. Like the other teas in the assortment, quite weak. Since I am not a chai lover, I like the Stash Chais best of all. Nice vanilla flavor.

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Seven- Tea #24
First, someone included a tea this round that expired in 2014. Hmm. No wonder no one wants to join the teabox (that I decided will take a break for now and possibly start again in the future when there is more interest…. my teabox fun certainly hasn’t waned!) Otherwise, the black tea here, though decaf, was super pale and tasteless. Which was probably the case when fresh too. I think a chai should either be strong with black tea OR just be a herbal chai with no black tea at all and only spices. Can’t judge this one fairly though, as the bag says it is quite old. Sure, I drink old teas, but I wouldn’t pass them on to other people.

mmmm this chai really hit the spot. It has all my favourite things: a smooth DECAF black base, lots of ginger and easy on the cinnamon, creamy vanilla, a nutty aroma. Very rich, yet well balanced.

I brewed this 45 min cold (1 teabag, 500 mL water) then added lots of ice. Fantastic. It would be great brewed hot, too. Plus, it would handle any type of milk (I recommend vanilla almond milk) or sweetener well, but is also excellent on its own. It has an after taste of nutty vanilla and cooked milk, so I think it handles the sweetness/creaminess fine on its own. With the nutmeg and allspice, this is a very spicy and aromatic tea.

last bag of the stash

I got a couple bad of this tea from one of my teachers, and thought I’d give it a try. Stash is one of my favorite tea companies, so I ignored the fact that it is a black tea and breed it up. Needless to say, I fell in love with this tea. It had just enough vanilla flavor, and the chai was spicy enough. I ended up getting different vanilla chai options due to the fact that my local grocery stores do not care this variety of stash.

I really like this tea because it smells lovely of vanilla and black tea. The taste if brewed too long is a bit astringent. But when brewed correctly it tastes like black tea with a hint of vanilla. I feel like adding a bit of milk and sugar/honey helps bring out the vanilla taste a bit. This is one of my favorite teas to have as a latte.

Love. it’s soft, smooth and creamy with a nice warm vanilla touch for cold days.

A good basic chai. Taste is primarily vanilla with the spices appearing afterwards. I did a fairly short steep because I don’t like my black tea getting bitter, but it probably gets more “spiced” and less vanilla with longer brewing. Best with milk or equivalent.

Initially picked this up because I was at my local grocery/cafe and didn’t like any of the hot teas on the menu. Am slightly distrustful of anything that says decaf (it probably isn’t, not entirely) so this will remain a morning/weekend tea.