First to review! Wahoo!
I am not a HUGE chai fan, but I don’t necessarily DISLIKE chai… I am more in between because usually there is something in most chais that just sort of doesn’t strike my fancy…
This tea, however, seemed to know exactly what I didn’t like, removed it, and added some new flavors to make it even better!
This chai has the same basic components of chai, but then adds lavender and rose petals to smooth it out. In comparing to their Cha Cha Chai, this one does NOT have star anise, peppercorns, fennel and ginger- so, it’s much less spicy but still has that delicious cinnamony taste.
When I first got on the train and started drinking this it was Hot hot hot and the lavender was slapping me in the face (in a good way). As it cooled, I could pull out more chai flavors. When it got TOO cool, however (after about 2 hours or so), I lost a lot of the flavors that were once there. That COULD have been from the soy and the tea separating, though, which I have found can happen when I let some teas sit for too long. So I won’t hold that against the tea and will just rate it on what it tasted like when normal people who don’t buy houses 80 miles away from their work would drink it ;)
Looking forward to more teas from Steep City and also drinking this one more! I have a feeling the flavors will come out a lot more when simmered on the stove, so I’m going to try that. Also, it looked extra dark after 2 minutes so I pulled the bags out, but I think maybe 2.5-3.5 minutes might have allowed more chai flavors to pull though… Only time will tell!
Whoever’s idea it was to add lavender to chai knew what they were doing! :D
