Chai Town

I don’t like chai. But I am trying. Adagio sent me this tin on accident and I gave a bunch of it to my mom but I still have some left. I think she had asked for the whole thing but I knew she wasn’t going to get through 4 oz of chai in this lifetime, plus these tins are so gorgeous, I had to keep it.

I decided I was going to do the stovetop method with milk and water. I started out not measuring the liquid, realized I didn’t want to do that, and poured what was in the pot into a measuring cup…it was exactly 8 ounces. Patted myself on the back for that one.

So I heated it up and simmered the 2 tsp of tea in it for 4 minutes, then strained it.

This chai has whole dried cloves in it, that’s most notable. It has pink peppercorns too but I think they just make it look pretty. So I was expecting something where clove was strongest, and that’s what I got.

I love cloves. I remember sticking cloves into oranges in grade school and having to do it again at home because I loved it so much.

This stuff tastes like clove cigarettes. I just looked them up because I forgot their Indonesian name and I am amazed the US actually banned them. Oh wait sorry, big tobacco had them banned because they’re a bunch of losers afraid of competition. I don’t even smoke but that’s a total joke (yay I rhymed). Well I guess if you’re missing them you could get this tea.

It’s almost entirely clove, although it’s got a bit of smokiness to it. There’s some hints of other spices, maybe cinnamon, but they’re pretty hidden under clove.

I actually could drink this though. But only because I love cloves so much. I think it might be awesome to mix in an orange flavored black tea too.

This came in the big box of samples I got from momo a while back.

I’ve been having digestion issues, so I decided to brew up something with ginger. And what better thing to brew up than a chai, right? Adagio does a terrible job of providing a description for this tea. It doesn’t have it’s own page and they don’t list the ingredients anywhere. I wasn’t even sure if ginger was in here. But, one of the reviews mentioned ginger, so it HAS to be, right? ;)

This is actually not bad. It’s got a little more bite than other chais but it’s not SO overpowering. I might have also used more water than I was supposed to, which helped mellow it out. It definitely has a kick, but not too much of one. I think it’s a nice balance.

It’s a shame you can’t buy this tea separately.

So I have never been a huge fan of Chai tea, since I just don’t like the scatchy feel of the spices. This being the case, I still felt compelled to buy this since I wanted to try all 3 of the Chicago teas. I mean I live there so I might as well know what it tastes like right?

I had this first a few weeks ago and it was fine. There was the typical scratch of the spices and with this one there is a quite a bit of taste of clover to it. I liked it though for the most part but couldn’t help but think I would like it more it I had some sort of cold or other illness.

Today I got to prove myself right. I have felt under the weather for about 2 days now, probably due to lack of sleep. I decided this morning when I got home that I would brew up a cup or two and see how it made me feel. I have to say that I feel freaking amazing now. My throat feels better and my nose has cleared up, so I guess I got what I wanted.

Gotta love Adagio representing my hometown! I got this at one of the Adagio brick and mortar locations in Chicago using some loyalty points. I am not the biggest fan of chai, but I actually really enjoy this. It is very spicy from the ginger and cloves, with cardamom in the background. Clove is definitely the strongest flavor in this tea, and it actually holds up pretty well to 2 infusions. I’m not sure what black tea they use as a base, but its a nice strong tea that gives this chai a nice full bodied infusion.