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Elephant Vanilla Chai from David Rio
84

OMG I should NOT have checked Steepster this morning. Stupid idea. For two reasons. 1) It made me miss the train (again) and 2) I’ve spent the whole entire day in a ’don’t wanna work, wanna play!’ frame of mind. Needless to say, the day went by reaaaaaally slowly.

On the way home from work I came over kind of peckish so I stopped in at this new little bagel place at the train station to get me something to eat on the way home. They also had your basic coffee drinks, cafe latte, cappucino, that sort of thing. And they had chai. Remembering my recent experience with the Chai-cino from Baresso, I thought I’d try what the chai here was like. As it turned out, when I had ordered, they had several different kinds to choose from. It didn’t say so anywhere on their menus or signs or anything, and I couldn’t really hear the girl who made it very well, so I picked this last one because it was the only one where I could hear what she said. I had already asked her to repeat herself on two other things, and I was getting tired of it. Too much noise around. They had some awesome looking tins, though. Unfortunately I couldn’t seem to spot a brand name. I have, however, found a website that tells me they get their chais from David Rio, and then they listed their five variants. Some further poking about the internet landed me on David Rio’s site which was rather more forthcoming with the details.

Based on the description on DRs site and the fact that I’m pretty sure I picked one in a blue tin, I THINK this was the one I had.

This one was a better experience all in all. It was definitely vanilla-ish and it blended well with the milk. It wasn’t as drowned in cinnamon as the Chai-cino was, but I could still find a touch of cinnamon in it. There was also something else that I couldn’t identify at the time. It was a warm sort of flavour. Not hot like chili or something like that at all, but a warming sort of flavour. It wasn’t even really a flavour as much as it was a sort of sensation of some sort of warming spice being around. Does this even make sense? In my head it seems very likely to have been the cloves and cardamom in combination.
I thought it even had an overall caramel note underneath all the vanilla.

It still tasted quite fat, though, and it was obviously rather sweet. It tasted really nice, but it was more kind of a dessert rather than a beverage.

I think I’m getting better at this chai malarky!

And now to tackle the Dashboard. Deep breath of courage
Beware, I shall start playing with my cupboard very very soon!

People who liked this

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Comments

Auggy
Auggy 2009-11-19 12:28:57 -0500

Okay, now I want rich, fattening, sugary chai – with vanilla!

Angrboda
Angrboda 2009-11-19 12:41:11 -0500

Sorry. :D (not.)

takgoti
takgoti 2009-11-19 15:33:30 -0500

Your search fu is strong.

Vanilla + chai sounds like an amazing combination. Now I really want chai. That’s totally happening tonight.

Angrboda
Angrboda 2009-11-19 15:37:19 -0500

Apparently this is even a brand that you lot over there would be likely to encounter. :)

Now that I know what’s in them, I can try one of the others some other time.

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Bio

Angrboda felt her bio needed to be re-written, but she failed to consider what she wanted it to say instead.

Um…

Okay. Ang prefers black teas and the darker sorts of oolongs. She has to be in the mood for green and white and she enjoys, but knows little to nothing about, pu-erh.

Her preferences with black teas are the Chinese ones, particularly from Fujian, but also Keemun and just about anything smoky. She occasionally enjoys Yunnans but they’re not favourites.

She is sceptical about Indian blacks as she generally finds them too astringent and too easy to get wrong. She doesn’t really care for Darjeelings at all.

She likes flavoured teas as well, particularly fruit flavoured ones, but also has an obsession with finding the Perfect Vanilla Flavoured Black.

However, she thinks Earl Grey is generally kind of boring. Cinnamon and ginger are also not really a hit, and she’s not very fond of chais. Evil hibiscus is evil. Even in small amounts, and yes, Ang can usually detect hibiscus, mostly by way of the metallic flavour of blood it has.

Ang is not super impressed with rooibos or honeybush. She doesn’t care for either, really, but when they are flavoured, there have been known to be surprising exceptions to this rule.

Ang has a number of teas that she regards her Standard Panel and will always try to have on hand.
-Lapsang Souchong, any brand really, but preferably AC Perchs.
-Blackberry flavoured black or similar, any brand.
-Late Summer Blend, AC Perchs
-Raspberry Oolong, AC Perchs OR Red Fruits Oolong, Le Palais des Thes
-Caramel, Kusmi OR Toffee, Le Palais des Thes
-Something orange flavoured, black or pu-erh, any brand.
-Tan Yang Te Ji, Teaspring OR Bai Lin Gongfu, Teavivre
-A good Keemun, any brand.
-The Perfect Vanilla Black if and when she ever finds it…

Angrboda is almost always open to swapping. Just ask her.

The Formalities

Contact Angrboda by email: iarnvidia@gmail.com
Contact Angrboda by YIM: angrboda@ymail.com
Angrboda does not respond to gmail chat.

Find Ang on…
Steam: Iarnvidia
Goodreads: Angrboda
Livejournal: See website.
Dreamwidth: Ask her
Teatra.de: Angrboda

Location

Denmark

Website

http://angrboda.livejournal.com

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