Rooibos Chai

This is the tea bag prairie ink restaurant inside Mcnally Robinson uses for their chai lattes! I had one yesterday to go but when you get it to go they add some kind of syrup to it and that made me quite ill. I’m feeling better now and I know now to make sure they don’t add the syrup next time :D Without the syrup this is a nice spicy chai latte :D

This rooibos chai was okay, but it lacked depth. The rooibos couldn’t stand up to the overpowering spices, especially the cloves. I added some sugar, but this made it cloyingly sweet, though the addition of some cream helped tame the sweetness. I am not a great fan of chais, but I prefer them with black tea to rooibos.

Having a bit with milk

This is by far my favourite bagged tea. I get it every time I go to my local Coffee Culture (as the name would suggest, they sell mostly coffee and thus not loose leaf). I am not a huge chai person normally but this chai blend is excellent, very fragrant and flavourful without being overwhelming. Blended with the roobios makes an excellent combo. I double-steeped the bag and got largely the same flavour on the second steep. If you are looking for a bagged tea, this one is a must try!

Having this as my after-lunch sweet. I put in non-dairy creamer (I’m at work and it’s all I had) and that was a mistake. I would have been better off without. The tea is pleasantly spicy and much of it is lost with the creamer. I think I will avoid milk in the future with chai-spiced rooibos. With chai-spiced black tea, skim milk or hempmilk is perfect.

P.S. It’s been too long, Steepster.

I recently purchased Numi’s Collection, a sampler of bagged organic teas. Of all the teas in this collection, the Rooibos Chai is the one I was most excited about. I only recently tried rooibos for the first time while on vacation. (I am very, very new to the world of tea.) I absolutely loved it—although that might have had something to do with the fact that it was also my first experience with loose leaf tea. So I was eager to see how the sweetness of rooibos paired with the spicy deliciousness of chai.

This tea smells AMAZING. It smells like the perfect lazy morning tea: warm, earthy, and a little exotic. The vanilla note is sweet and subtle (but certainly not lost!) among the blend of spices. Unfortunately, I can’t really taste the vanilla, and I miss that bit of sweetness. The flavor is much like other chais I’ve tried, but a bit more full. It’s rich and bright and spicy, with a very smooth mouthfeel. The spices are a bit tingly, which I like. I’d like to try it with almond milk, to see if that might bring out some more of the vanilla flavor that’s eluding me, but unfortunately I’m out. (Next time, though!)

Overall, this is definitely one of the best bagged teas I’ve tried, and my favorite Numi tea I’ve tried so far. It’s comforting but far from bland, and I imagine it would be equally suitable for late at night as it is for the morning.