I picked this up at the Bobalicious near Denver, on my way to the airport after an SCA event. (The tea smoothie with boba was to die for, BTW, and as they had just opened for the day and the mall area was still deserted, the nice man behind the counter talked with me about tea for half an hour!)
Let me say that I am not really a black tea person. I don’t mind it if it’s the only tea available, but I don’t tend to buy it. As a result I’ve never been into chai, but I do like the various spices and flavors often added to chai. Bobalicious had three different chais, and this one smelled the sweetest and most interesting to me. So I bought it.
I boiled water, steeped for 4 min., and came up with something that isn’t really to my taste black, but I could see how a chai afficionado would enjoy it. I then added a generous amount of half-and-half and some sugar—what I’d been intending all along—and NOW I have something tasty. Not really a latte; this is actually how I like my brewed coffee when I make it at home.
This has a smooth feel to it; the spices are there, but not overwhelming. Mainly I taste ginger and vanilla, with aftertastes of pepper and just a general impression of everything else. Maybe it’s the vanilla, but it took the sugar beautifully. Rather than tasting exotic, it’s kind of a comfort cup, for me anyway. I would make this again.
Actually I’m hoping to make an iced chai latte sometime this week, maybe with cooled double-strength Vanilla Chai mixed with milk/sugar…but my fridge needs some non-expired milk for that!
