Pure Chai

This tea was a pleasant surprise. I am not usually one for chais. For some reason, spicy teas usually make me nauseous. And I dislike ginger, cardamom, and pepper in tea. With this one, I get to bypass the ginger, cardamom, and pepper, while enjoying a few tea spices that I actually enjoy!

Dry, the tea smells like cinnamon. And steeped, it tastes very cinnamony. It doesn’t have the punch-in-the-face cinnamon of David’s Cinnamon Heart, but it’s up there. The rest of the spices mellow it out a bit. I really like this both straight and as a latte. It also delights me that it’s free of flavoring, natural or otherwise. Sometimes, it’s just nice to have something pure and simple. And this is both.

This one is only ok. It is not as peppery or spicy as I like. I much prefer the chai oolong from teavana.. it tastes more true to chai, and is much more spicy. This one is quite weak.. not the worst.. but definitely not the best.

Still working my way through the Chai Collection. Had this as I usually have my chai, with milk and a little honey.

It’s… well, boring, for a chai. This is the kind of chai my mother would like. If you think chais are too spicy you’ll like this one.

I like my chais more complicated with lots of spice and flavors. This is just black tea with cinnamon, clove and nutmeg, I taste cinnamon and a hint of clove. It’s not a bad tea but a dull chai. Think I’ll mix in some cardamom pods and some other spices next time or maybe use it as a base for my Sunday night chocolate chai by adding vanilla and some cocoa.

Didn’t expect to dislike a chai, but there you go. I found this one to smell amazing dry, all the spices jumping out and bidding my senses hello. I was excited to taste it, and expecting to love it I added my milk and a tiny bit of sugar.

I’m going to have to try it without and black, because how I prepared it, what a let down. The cinnamon became more cinnamon heart and less pure spice, which just always seems fake to me. More disappointing though was that after the first jolt of flavour, each sip became practically tasteless. Big swallows or small sips, it was always the same. Bam, flavour, and then poof, nothing. I’d never heard of tea having its own chaser before, but there it was, with no followup!

I’m going to give this one another chance, because, well, I did go straight to the milk and sugar. But I really do think that the other chais are going to stay my favourites.

Had this prepared as a drink in DavidsTea today. :) Definitely glad I tried it in store and didn’t bring any home, because while it was enjoyable enough to drink the cup it’s not anything I feel the need for at home.

It doesn’t really taste like a chai, it just tastes like cinnamon tea. Very good cinnamon tea mind you, but it wasn’t what I wanted. If in the future I feel a hankering for cinnamon tea, this is what I’ll get.

No steep or temp information, ’cause I have no idea. xD

Too weak for me to really like it. It’s a pretty decent black with a bit of cinnamon, but as a chai it fails to really impress. Doesn’t seem to hold up well to milk. There are other chais that I much prefer.

A pleasant little chai. The dry leaves smell only of cinnamon. I like that I can actually taste the black tea when this is brewed. It’s easy for chai spices to overtake the taste of the tea itself, but because this only has cinnamon and “natural flavor,” there’s no risk of that. This would be perfect for someone who finds strong chai overwhelming or has an aversion to pepper or cardamom. It’s a bit weak for my taste, though.

I can’t wait to steep this in simmering milk. I find that really concentrates the spicy flavor. I might also try blending it with David’s Pumpkin Chai, which I thought really lacked any sort of spice.

This tea cranks the cinnamon into overdrive and the flavour deepens with every passing minute. I love me some strong, spicy, delectable chai, and this tea falls into such a craving category. Steep it long, steep it hot, sip it slow, make it last = recipe for chai perfection. I once used this in a vegan bread recipe, instead of plain ol’ water I used the water from steeped pure chai, turned out wonderfully!

There is no bad way to have this tea! Straight, with milk, sweetened, soy milk…. any combination I’ve tried, it’s wonderful.

One must be careful to make it strong enough, it’s very easy to make a too-weak brew, which is the only thing keeping me from giving it a perfect score. Still, it is probably my favourite of David’s chais, if not my favourite chai overall, and VERY delicious.

I simmered a sample of this (two teaspoons) in two cups of almond milk (unsweetened vanilla) on the stove.

It was tasty and very soothing! I think I will purchase a small amount at some point as it was a very relaxing drink. The tea is indeed very fine and a tiny amount escaped my fairly fine strainer, but it didn’t really bother me. I used almond milk for its low carb content so I can’t speak for it in actual milk, and I haven’t brewed it in water. But I was quite happy with this as my past chai experiences have been touch-and-go.

When you open up the tea canister (or bag), the fragrant spices jump at you. The flavors really come out when you brew it as well. It’s not a black tea with mind flavoring, the cinnamon and nutmeg really come out.
I’d recommend a fine mesh infuser or tea bags, because there are small bits of spice that can sneak out.

OH MY GOD. For the past few days I’ve been sampling multiple kinds of tea, and was becoming disapointed in my search for REALLY good teas.

Upon tasting this, my eyes widened and I frantically began to look for my baggy because I wanted to verify the name. If it wasn’t 10:09 pm, I’d run into a David’s tea and buy their entire ‘pure chai.’ YUMMMMMMM.

PS- it has a slight chocolatey taste which i assume is the nutmeg but the cinnamon is definitely in there too, SO GOOD.

i love chai tea and this one is pretty good. Similar to something I was once served when visiting a lovely elder Indian woman in a foreign country. She made the tea blends herself with fresh spices and served it with loads of sugar. This tea is pretty good, probably better than the Tazo chai they serve at starbucks had before. It is very spicy, however there is a certain…mustyness? woody-ness? to it. i’m not sure how to describe it exactly, but it leaves a flat taste on your tongue. I think this is from the fresh cinnamon bark. I like to drink it with a bit of milk and a lot of sweetener (either sugar or agave nectar- whatever is available) i would recommend this to anyone looking for an authentic chai tea experience. :)

I love chai so I am always up for trying new ones but unfortunately this one will not make it back on my to buy list. I want my Chais to have complex flavours of all the different spices but this one just tastes of Cinnamon and frankly that makes it a little boring.

This taste just like black tea with cinnamon. I don’t get how we call it Chai if there is no Cardamon???

Ick.
I love chais. I love spice. I love cinnamon. I did not love this chai.

Another reviewer accurately pointed out that the problem with the cinnamon in this tea is that it tastes like cinnamon heart. To me, that’s gross. If I wanted cinnamon heart tea, I would ask for cinnamon heart tea. And I love cinnamon heart candies!
I tried it black and then tried it with milk and two teaspoons of sugar (generally how I take Earl Greys and English Breakfasts). It was passable. I could finish the cup without dumping it. Will not purchase again, but I’ll use up my sample.

Should have steeped longer, personally not big into Chai but this Pure Chai is pretty good.

I loved this one as a latte! Steeped in half a cup of hot water, warm frothy milk added (and topped with whip cream, because why not). It’s rather weak, which works for me since I’m not a huge fan of strong chai blends. But it’s even weaker, too weak, straight. The latte version brings the flavours out I guess. Perfect compliment to Coco Chai Rooibos since I find that one better straight than as a latte.

I won’t rate this one, as I’m not a fan of black tea. I do, however, love all chai spices, so I thought I’d give it a try.

With the addition of lots of sugar and almond milk it was palatable, but reinforced my lack of desire to drink black tea.

There’s something missing in this tea and I can’t quite place it. Maybe there isn’t enough spice for my liking, or maybe I’ve had so many Chai Tea Lattes from Starbucks lately that my tastebuds are out of whack, but there you have it. This isn’t a bad tea, per se, it’s just not what I was looking for. I think I’ll try the Saigon Chai next time.