Help our tea company build blends you love

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Golden monkey has a mild, fruity note to compliment it’s smokiness. Considered one of the finest black teas out there. At the moment we accept all major credit cards and gift credits. How’d you like the website?

cteresa said

No offense, but I would not buy a chai based on its base being a premium tea – it would be like using a great wine for sangria. Sangria or chai, to be good, should have other flavours pretty strong, it´s no way to appreciate a good base.

And to be fair, mild and smoky is not what I would want for a chai base anyway. Maybe a prejudice of mine, but for me a chai base should be indian (though not darjeeling) or ok, ceylon or nepal (though to be fair, for my own chai mix I used portuguese tea, a traditional orange pekoe and it worked!). Chinese tea, I love chinese blacks way more than indian black teas, but for chai, dunno if I would like it or even try it.

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I dare you to come up with a savory chai. Basil, peppercorn, and oregano can add surprising fun to a tea.

You dare us, eh? Challenge accepted! I’m intrigued by your idea, so I may experiment with those ingredients tonight or tomorrow.

Have you had any luck creating a savory chai yourself?

That sounds like an awesome idea!

Looking forward to what you concoct. Since chai is technically just spicy tea, with all the herbs and spices out there, you’ve got a whole world to experiment with.

I haven’t created a savory chai yet, but I dabble around with herbs and spices. People have been brewing savory teas for ages, but it doesn’t seem to have caught on in mainstream tea culture for some reason.

cteresa said

Now that is interesting – not so sure about oregano or even basil but I think I got a hint of thyme in a blend and it was a very good idea for that tea. And I got a Kusmi chai who has bayleaf as a major note and it works.

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I also wanted to mention that we have set up a company profile on Steepster, as well, for those of you that are interested in following the Simple Leaf brand: http://steepster.com/Simple%20Leaf%20Tea

I wouldn’t yet call it complete because Dom and I are wanting to interface more directly with all of you using our personal profiles. However, as we continue to grow I expect that it may become a more useful way to discuss our blends with the community.

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I’d looooove to see a cherry tea, any base… with true cherry flavour that isn’t sour or floral.

That’s so funny you say that! Just yesterday I was thinking about moving this direction. The top of my to-do list right now is:

(1) Investigate savory chai blend
(2) Investigate cherry chai blend

I’m glad someone else out there is thinking along the same lines!

Great minds ;)
I would seriously be interested in a cherry chai. Not sure about the savoury one myself tho!

yyz said

That would probably be pretty awesome. My second favourite chocolate I have ever had was a kirsch and Ancho chili dark chocolate truffle. Chili and cherry goes really nicely together.

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Lynxiebrat said

A few fruit blends might be interesting/challenging. Though off the top of my head can’t think of what fruits would taste well with chai.

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graceatblb said

Just had a couple of ideas i.e. random cravings. My first thought was a date chai. Kind of the same idea as the fig with the brown sugar and vanilla. Another idea I had is licorice. It’s a definite love it or hate it thing but I would love it with some espresso beans and spices. I’m Italian…espresso and anisette are best buddies. This would work great with a smokier tea. And my final idea is dark chocolate and hazelnut…I hate Nutella but this flavor combo is one of my favorites and would work well in a chai.

Can you tell I’ve been craving a good chai?

Lots of good ideas here, graceatblb! I have mentioned elsewhere on this thread but we do have a Vanilla Espresso blend, but it does not contain anisette like some of the other blends. I’ll make sure we discuss whether it would make sense to include it in the recipe.

Also, dark chocolate and hazelnut… sold. I fear it may be more difficult to craft a balanced chai with those ingredients, however. :(

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Lala said

Rose chai.

A bit of a softer or milder chai.

We do have a blend that utilizes rose petals in the recipe and it’s very good. Unfortunately, it’s an unspiced tea blend and we haven’t put much effort into making a comparable chai blend as of yet.

I certainly agree with you that this is worth pursuing.

cteresa said

There is a Mariage Frères tea which is rose with cinnamon and a few other things, called Mandalay

http://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/31363-mandalay

a truly wonderful tea, it might be what you are looking for, Lala,

Lala said

Thanks Cteresa, will definitely have to look into that. And thanks Rory for putting so much work into coming up with tea blends that us tea drinkers want.

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Love the idea of a Banana chai, or different fruit blends if done properly. Theres a coffee place near me that makes a blended drink with chai and bananas that tastes JUST like banana bread. So that could work out wonderfully. And I’ve had ‘dirty chai’ before, one with coffee beans mixed in, and it can quickly become coffee with a kick of tea instead of the other way around, so if you do that be careful. I myself also adore marshmellow in all its forms, so a marshmellow chai would be a quick seller to people like me. Just ideas.

Oooh, dirty chai sounds delicious! I’ve always wondered about coffee/tea blends, gotta try that now.

Our Vanilla Espresso blend has ground espresso as part of the recipe. Dom crafted this particular blend so he may be able to provide more detail than myself, but I know most of the effort is put into making sure all the flavors are balanced. We don’t want to be a coffee company!

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