Kashmir Chai

This is another tea that I received as a sample with a recent order… Chi of Tea is certainly very generous with their free samples when you place an order! I like that!

This chai is much more finely ground than the picture would suggest. It has quite a strong black tea base, in fact, I didn’t really notice the mint notes until about mid-cup, because the black tea dominates. But now, with all the flavors present, this is an incredibly refreshing chai – I love this one as a latte. Smooth and rich, warmly spiced but not too overwhelmingly spicy. The mint is a lovely addition to this one.

Very nice.

Nice solid black tea and the ginger is the spice I picked up on it’s own but the spices – overall – are done well. There was a hint of mint that was a nice addition but very subtle. Thanks LiberTEAS

The first thing I noticed was that the leaves are in very small pieces. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting a whole leaf tea or anything, but with the pieces so small you get more of the tannins leeching into the tea and a very strong black tea flavour. Which wouldn’t be as big an issue if the spices were stronger, but apart from the mint they’re pretty tame and get overwhelmed by the rest of the tea. Mind you, the mint was a nice addition, it wasn’t too strong, just a hint that lingers on the tongue.

Taken as a whole though, I’d only consider this chai to be okay rather than great. They’ve got a good thing going with the mint, but they need to work on the rest of the tea.

I was a little worried that this would taste overwhelmingly of mint, because dry, mint is all I can really smell. I made this as a chai tea latte and suprisingly the mint wasn’t dominant! The spices are warming, but the mint (which appears right on the back of the sip) is cooling. It is a strange sensation! Suprisingly good!