When I was in Vancouver for the Olympics I stopped by the Blue Teapot, which is a tea shop that’s sort of an old favorite of mine, located in the Lonsdale Quay. The owner had gotten in a bunch of new merchandise in anticipation of the tourist influx and he was selling some of the David Rio chai mixes.
I’ve never tried any of David Rio’s teas but having some experience with Oregon Chai and Second Cup’s chai mixes (which can be diabetic coma-inducing) I asked the owner to tell me which one he thought was the least sweet of the bunch. He pointed out this one and since I thought it sounded interesting (I’ve never had a green tea chai latte) I got it.
Okay…the cute name might have been a factor aswell. ;P
I was expecting something a little bit like sweetened matcha…yeah. When I opened the package the powdery contents inside were a pale yellow colour and they smelled like one of those vanilla pudding mixes.
The ‘texture’ of the tea in my mouth feels a little off. The package instructions say to use hot water but I think I’d like this better with milk instead. It’s just too thin with water. It tastes sweet but not sickly sweet, thankfully. I can distinctly taste the vanilla and the spices which are a good mix – I do wish I could pick up more of a green tea flavour though. It’s there, but you have to look for it in each sip.
It’s not bad, I might buy it again if I come across it and it isn’t too expensive, but it’s not anything that’s likely to become a regular staple in my cupboard. I prefere whole-leaf chais anyway.
