Organic Chai Concentrate

No flight would be complete without a venti iced soy chai from Starbucks, although I’m finding it to be much much sweeter than I recall. I’ll slowly sip this all the way to FL, while reading “The Tea Goddess”, a book I dloaded to my Kindle a few months ago.

Okay, so, I’m going to let you all in on a dirty little secret of mine: occasionally, I am a terrible, godawful tea nerd and don’t actually steep tea. Sometimes, as a matter of fact, I buy it in a damn carton. And this is the only exception I can allow myself.

Tazo’s chai concentrates, whichever one your heart desires, are generally very solid products. Much richer and spicier than the majority of chai concentrates, and, I find, much thicker. They really do taste like tea. Super duper easy for even the laziest of tea snobs, I prefer to have about 3/4 chai to 1/4 milk (usually 2%), over ice. It is equally fantastic to your taste buds heated up, and I find that when I do boil it, it tends to become much spicier (which I like, because my nose can use all the spice it can get). Do not add milk while heating it, however. (D’oh!)

One last secret: if you are feeling crazy, as I often am, it is also mind-bogglingly delicious to mix this with chocolate milk. It’s definitely not a dirty chai, but it will make you feel dirty all over. With pleasure.

500mL mug

1 part chai concentrate, 1 part 2% milk. Gently heat in microwave til steaming. Then add two Stash Ginger Breakfast teabags and a splash of boiling water. Cover and steep on a desktop mug warmer for 5 minutes. Allow milk to carry sweet hot spicy gingery bliss throughout body. Sigh. Smile.

I really enjoy this concentrate. I’m not a big fan of powdered chai mixes. This is very good as a dirty chai latte (coffee, chai, milk).

Delicious and really easy to make. Tastes close to authentic Indian Masala Chai instead of the western lattes. You even get the crust-like thick layer on top if you let it sit too long.

The flavor of this concentrate is a little sharp, especially if you prepare it in the microwave rather than on the stove. I’ve discovered that if you don’t heat it throughly the ginger takes over and the other spices are more difficult to taste. Speaking of spices, Tazo’s chai is pretty mild in the spice department, so if you find chai to be over powering you may find this more enjoyable (plus you can always add more milk as necessary.)

You can read the full review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2015/11/10/tuesday-tea-chai-latte-concentrate-tazo-sweetmeetsspicyparty-sponsored

When I first started drinking this I had it straight for months before I read that it should be mixed half half with milk or something. I thought it was a bit strong.

I then started mixing it with orange juice and that was good.