Vanilla Chai

I bought this tea because my nephew Brennan said it was good and he thought I would like it. I was eager to cup this despite it being at least partially artificially flavored.

In my first cup I added a little skim milk. To be honest, even the small amount of milk seemed to hide flavors, although I thought I tasted vanilla and other Chai spices. My second cup was steeped without milk, per info below. I did taste a decent black tea base, vanilla & cinnamon, and perhaps cardamon in the background.

It was a decent cup of tea, but I did taste the artificial flavoring in this blend and it really distracted me, & disappointed me-even though I was expecting it. :// Hopefully, this tea will be better cold brewed.

Cupped & Reviewed: Thursday, July 19, 2012.

The third bagged tea of the day yesterday. My dad and I had teas while my mom was at a finance meeting in the evening (she’s the office manager/accountant at her workplace). He boiled the water, started a cup for himself, then asked me if I wanted anything while the water was hot. Yay for tea with dad!

So I picked this to have with milk and a touch of honey because for some odd reason honey vanilla chai sounded good then. I knew I was going to add milk to it so I steeped it the maximum recommended time. I got a mug of creamy honey spiced black tea. All of those things vaguely. But sweet and desserty so I enjoyed sipping while studying. He watched investment/finance channel shows then a vintage/older (think 80s)/sports cars auction show. Dads lol.

I’m not rating this tea right now because I made it with milk and honey and did not get a true sense of what the tea itself tasted like. But it would have definitely fallen within the nice bagged tea range this way.

I took a bag of this from the Travelling Teabox to have with breakfast this morning. The smell as it’s brewing is sweet and very vanilla-y – it actually reminded me of that Oregon Chai mix. Actually it tasted a fair bit like it too, though without all the sugary sweetness that made me dislike Oregan Chai’s stuff. I didn’t add anything other than some skim milk and really this tea doesn’t need it.

All in all I found it quite nice – and I may just grab all the remaining bags of vanilla chai from the teabox for myself. ;)

Being a pretty diehard fan of anything chai, I was disappointed by this offering. I found it to be weak, and the spiciness that I love so much was not all that prevalent in this one. I normally like Bigelow pretty well, though, so I’m not too put off. Maybe next time I’ll try a longer steep or less water. We’ll see!

I had this yesterday at work after I had found in the break room. It’s pretty good, but almost too sweet of a vanilla? Perhaps I wont put as much sugar and see if that would mellow the sweetness out a bit? All in all this was pretty yummy!

A review of Vanilla Chai by Bigelow Tea

Company: Bigelow Tea
Tea Name: Vanilla Chai
Tea Type/Varietal: Chai
Region:
Steeping Vessel/Amt. Leaf: cup/ tea bag
Plucking Season:
Liquor Color: dark amber
Leaf Characteristics:

1. Steepings

1st Steeping:
Water temperature: 195 Fahrenheit
Time: 4 minutes

This is another delightful tea by Bigelow. Their Vanilla Chai tea is exquisitely sweet and naturally smooth. This tea is warmed and hitting all the right spot since I feel so very cold. I am enjoying this cup of warmth, the color is darken amber, tea’s aroma is filled with spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg mingles in the air and as I sip this tea I imagine the exotic lands where these spices derives from…far away places with many distant lands.

I did not add anything to the tea. I find I like it best plain. It is full bodied tea with robust, malt and spicy notes.

I was given a packet of this tea from a friend at work. I made cup of chai and she insisted I try it.
It literally smells exactly how it tastes. Smooth and light. The spice isn’t very present, cinnamon yes. Little bit of clove. Vanilla, yes.
It’s not bad, but I wouldn’t buy it.

I probably should have drank this without cream. The tea simply couldn’t stand up to it. I tend to expect my chai to be strong, but this one is not. All I can taste is a fakey vanilla flavor and the cream. Sort of reminds me of a vanilla-scented candle. There are a few hints at other spices, but they’re indistinct. I don’t like it at all.

This is my first Chai tea. Upon opening the packaging, I was welcomed by a pleasant vanilla aroma which felt quite promising. Steeped it for about 4 minutes and added some milk and sugar to it, and I now had a typical Chai tea in front of me. Not surprisingly, the vanilla taste came first, which I was quite familiar of from past flavoured coffee experiences probably. The spiciness came after that, which was not at all strong but actually quite mild for almost any tea drinker to enjoy. The spice did have a slightly toasty side to it as well. Although this is my first and only Chai, I am sure that this is nowhere close to the authentic one brewed from loose leaves with actual Cardamom and spices in it, but this tea was enjoyable for what it is.

I have trouble with this tea, but, mostly cause it’s so popular and I was drawn into the trap of reading what other people had to say.

I like it. I don’t know if it’s because my palate is unrefined and incapable of detecting certain things, or perhaps I simply taste something different when I drink this tea. I love the smell of the tea and it tastes lightly sweet because of the vanilla flavoring. Sipping and slurping the tea in almost leaves a slightly salty flavor on the tongue for just a second before being washed away by vanilla and tea.

Meh, not inpressed. It was week, even after steeping 10 min. it couldn’t hold up to a little milk,the flavors was hidden. I’m sorry, if you cant handle a little milk and sugar you can’t be called Chai! If I tried to drink it plain the black tea just wasn’t strong enough. I will use this for the kids – they’ll drink anything!

Made with milk and sugar, this is by far my favorite chai to date. I am asked to make this regularly for people I know- I’m not sure if it’s a prepper thing, or a tea thing though. It’s karha isn’t to normal standards… it’s very vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, and clove heavy imo (I like this). As far as the tea itself, I think it’s really great for a grocery aisle tea.

So I wanted to try a less complicated chai after trying the spiced apple chai. This tea bag smelled like a carrot cake. One of the really nice ones with lots of yummy spices. I put one tea bag in a cup and microwaved for two minutes then steeped for three.

The taste was more bitter than spicy. Milk definitely made it better, but when I added honey, it was kind of like drinking spice cake.

This smells delicious. Like spiced shortbread.

It’s a very mild chai with a hint of vanilla sweetness. I think it would go very well with milk, although I didn’t add any this time around. I picked this up on my search for Stash’s Christmas Morning. I decided I might as well check a tea off my Steepster Shopping List, and this one has been on there longer than any other.

Mmm.

I always love this tea for late night studying. The spicyness is great for keeping me up and alert. I’ve never tried it with milk, I usually just put some honey in it. But will be sure to try it later.

Backlogging… Wednesday 6/30:

This was surprisingly yummy! I don’t know if I have ever had this chai before. It was quite good sweet and just a little bit spicy. It kind of tastes like fresh baked goods!! Overall a hit!

I had this one yesterday. It was graciously given to me as I was waiting outside of a venue in the freezing cold. Even though I wouldn’t normally go for something like this… well as you can see I was in a desperate situation.

It was alright I suppose. It wasn’t undrinkable, but what seemed to be artificial vanilla was the most noticeable of the flavors and it was cloyingly sweet. The spices were weak. It made me think I was drinking a slightly spiced vanilla drink instead of a chai.

The only good thing about it was how hot it was, but I suppose a cupful of hot water would’ve done the job just as well.

I’m just glad I didn’t have to buy it…

I’m a big fan of chai teas, almost all sorts. I was surprised at this one. My friend brought it over and I was hesitant because of the “vanilla.” I liked it much more than I figured I would. It’s pretty calming, you can certainly find the chai in there. The aroma is a little off-putting.

I haven’t tasted a variety of brands of chai tea, but I love this one. I sometimes drink it instead of coffee in the morning, adding cream and sweetener. I have tried preparing it the traditional way (with the directions on the label), but It seems to come out bland each time.

I made this tea in a saucepan (1 Vanilla chai teabag, 2 Rituals Orange Pekoe and Pekoe Cut Black teabags) for some ladies I’ve been living with in Alaska during a little naan and curry-making time we had the day before yesterday (this is totally a backlog). I added a good amount of milk to make sure the spice was watered down enough to be able to enjoy. The taste was smooth and sweet, even without sugar. I prefer preparing my own spice tea, but this is such a good dessert tea. I <3 it.