Dirty Chai

Sipdown! Blehhh, this tea smells really odd. Spicy but… not in a pleasant way. Perhaps I’m smelling orange, cloves, and cinnamon but there’s also something else offputting in here. ACK! First sip and this is ridiculously, unnervingly sweet! I can taste the coffee now, and the flavor, aside from the SWEET, is not as bad as the aroma indicates, but…. Blargh, this is not my cup of tea. I’m surprised you used up as much as you did, Sil! Thanks for sharing with me – at least I have one tea to permanently cross off my list. Perhaps this would be better tempered with milk, but I’m really not a fan of pre-sweetened teas… and this is just sickly sweet. I’m afraid this one’s headed for the drain; after the two delicious chiffon teas and two delicious chocolate teas I just drank, and the huge number of other delicious things in my cupboard… yeah, I can’t.

Had enough for one cup of this in the tea box, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Typically I am not a fan of these coffee in your tea blends but I sniffed this and it didn’t smell too bad so I figured it’d be ok.

I expected to have to add milk to it, but I perfectly understeeped it I think. It’s still got the orange and spice, and just enough espresso to not be gross. Still tastes like tea too. Not something I think I’d drink again, but I’m glad I got a chance to try it.

Finally got a chance to try this tonight.

So first off the smell is overly cinnamon! The coffee is more of an undertone to the scent and i could barely smell the cloves.

I’m not sure how long i steeped this..it got away from me. Steeped…i really can’t taste the coffee..instead this totally smells and tastes like red hot cinnamon hearts. I kind of think this would be good if steeped in alcohol…or made into a cocktail :)

Alphakitty included this in the traveling tea box… thanks! This is another chai that has mostly black tea leaves. I feel like there should be a different name for chai that is only spices and then chai that is also mixed with black tea. After steeping a few minutes, the first sip that I tried had that flavor that I think is associated with…. and I could be wrong… there is like a flavor that comes from preserving the fruit in the Della Terra teas. I’ve noticed that in a couple of their apple blends, but not all of their apple blends. This one might be because that flavor is from the orange. But after the first sip that flavor is gone. I don’t think it’s terrible after that. A nice mix of orange, sweet cinnamon, and coffee beans. If I’m right though (and I really have no idea) Della Terra should really get rid of that preservative flavor. I know they can because it seems like half their apple teas have it and half do not. I’m not sure with the other teas. I’m up for trying any tea though, so I was happy to try this one.

This is one of those teas I knew I wouldn’t like, but had to at least try.

The dry notes smell like a chai flavoured coffee, as opposed to q coffee flavoured chai. Hmmm not quote what I expected
The steeped notes smells mainly the same.

It has a rather hot tamales candy flavour to it (in the US I do believe they’re called red hots). It’s interesting , it has a slight coffee tastes, it kind of good (I hate coffee). As it cools the coffee flavours come out way more and then I can’t drink it.

If you like coffee, you’ll like this. If you’re a coffee hater you probably won’t like it. Definetly not a tea for me.

I’m thankful I put in all the work and made this on the stove with milk and honey as otherwise I don’t think I would like it at all. The rating is compared to other chais prepared in similar methods as after all the work, the tea was quite yummy. But how can something not be delicious when it contains milk and loads of honey? This tea though smelled strongly of coffee which is okay, I like coffee. But as it brewed I smelled a burnt taste and this was reflected in the tea. I suppose that is how dirty chai is supposed to taste? But this wasn’t for me.

Let me start off by saying, my favorite coffee shop drink is chai, and when I need energy I usuallly get it this way. The place I go even calls it Dirty Chai so thats what drew me to it. Smell in the bag didn’t smell like much other then coffee and I don’t like black coffee in the least, so I was expecting to have to make it into a latte to make it drinkable. But I wanted to see if I liked it pure first. The smell in the cup is still overwhelmingly coffee-esque. A slight spicyness is there, but not the way I’m used too from the coffee house.

Upon drinking it I found that the chai itself had sweetened the flavor. This is seriously one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth. I am truely in love. Just the right amount of spice and the right amount of dark. It reminds me of what you’d get if you found the just perfect blend of a super spicy chai and a super heavy black tea. All the things I love in one happy little mouthful. This will be first on my list to buy more of, since I only bought a sample. So brilliant!