Masala Chai

I tried giving this another shot today. It’s been over a year since I had a cuppa, and this was a free sample so why not!
Overall, I must say it was much better than the in-store cup I had. Must have been a bad batch.
This one was nice and rounded. A little to sharp for my tastes but still tasty. Must have been cloves and cinnamon that made it so potent. Well, I also brewed it up quite strong, which is just how I like my chais. Bitter almost, so that the milk can swoop right in and save the day! ha.
Raising the rating a bit here. Not my fave blend but I’d take it if someone offered me a cup!! :)

Made this as a proper latte on the stove. Added some cinnamon to garnish, honey to sweeten, and even though I used skim milk, it’s still decently creamy. Well, as creamy as you can get with skim milk lol. Not as spicy as I would like, but still good.

Thank you IndigoBloom for this tasty tea sample!

Happy First Day of Summer!
(Anyone reading this in the Winter will growl and offer a curse on me…well you’d better NOT!)

I had a small packet of tea left from IndigoBloom which was labled “Masala…don’t know from who” and today…the mystery of “who” was solved when she did a review mentioning her Masala from Teopia. Ha! Gotcha!
I read a caution not to brew the Chai too strong “it has a punch”…so I obeyed! I played it smart at 3 minutes, sweetened my cup and added cream. Turned on some smooth Sinatra (oh yes, croon on Frankie) and
took a drink throwing my head back like a lady with a cocktail at the end of a hard day.

Ahhhh,yessss…the perfect strength. Not too strong, not too spicy. Smooth. Just right!

I tasted some apple first, no standout spice… but I could feel the cinnamon heat. All of the spices were blended together in harmony. There was a bit of a honey-malt sweetness from the underlying Black Tea.
(Soooo glad the Tea was not completely covered up with a blanket of spice!)
I believe this is one of the mildest Chai’s I’ve ever enjoyed. Quite good and better than I thought it was going to be! (Ya’ll tricked me with your warnings!)

Next time, maybe I’ll take the steeping a little longer, although why should or would I? This tastes really good as is!

Summer, Swimming!
I have a pool…come on over! http://youtu.be/bTcmCxqOE_s Sinatra

Probably one of the best teas I’ve ever tasted. This has a lovely spicy cinnamon undertone and is literally like drinking gingerbread. It’s sweet and has a full flavour. Adding milk and sugar to this can’t hurt, but it is great without as well.

I really like this Chai I was very sad to see it wasn’t going to survive the transition from teaopia to teavana. I live in an area where I had easy access to both teaopia and teavana (before it got stores in Canada)and have tried the Black tea Chai from both places an I hated teavana’s Taj masala Chai but loved Teaopia’s Masala Chai. I am currently hoarding what is left of my teaopia chai until I can find something to replace it ( the closest I’ve found is from a little cafe in Windsor, Ontario called Taloola’s).

I tried a few sips of this without milk and sugar to start, and I get that it’s supposed to be a transition tea from coffee to tea. It’s quite dark, strong, and a little spicy. The smell is very sweet, predominantly cloves. A little milk and sugar later and… mmmmm. Everything I want in a chai: sweet sweet sweet with a little bit of lingering spice on the tongue. Delicious!!
ETA: points off because I find myself thinking I’d like this to have more spicyness

Being very picky with the kind of Chai I like, I’m quite fond of this one. It’s lovely when steeped for a longer amount of time and with a bit of milk. Normally I like my chai to be quite spicy and strong so that the milk doesn’t bring down the taste, but I found this one to be really quite lovely and perfect for early afternoon.

A cup I have just finished. It’s strong, and earthy if you steep it for 4 minutes. Now, it’s pretty good for the season, but the tea leaves me with a dry mouth after a few sips.