Thank you sTEAp Shoppe for this sample for Virtual tea tasting #2!
Yesterday I received the samples to review for the second Virtual tea tasting scheduled for Oct.28th. I’m all for tea companies getting feedback from consumers on what we think about the tea blends they create. We want great tea and I think all of us want tea companies to be successful.
Both the tea’s I have are CHOCOLATE! (It was a no brainer for me!)
One was sTEAp Shoppe’s choice and one was mine.
This morning I brewed up a small pot of the Chocolate Chai before heading out to the downtown Farmers Market.
The suggest steep time of 3-4 minutes wasn’t long enough. The tea was way too weak for Chai. I added 2 minutes which was the correct Chai strength without adding any bitterness.
The flavor was spicy from cinnamon and fruity from the Oolong tea base. I looked for the chocolate taste but never could find it because of the dominant fruit and spice from fennel, cardamom and ginger (with the cinnamon). I couldn’t detect nutmeg until the tea cooled. It might not be necessary, not sure. The ginger was handled beautifully.
Adding honey was delicious, and blended with the spices in the way you want most from Chai. Adding cream wasn’t as successful. My feeling on the milk was that the Chai would have been better steeped in milk and honey instead of water if you wanted a traditional Chai.
Getting back to the lack of chocolate flavor, either there needs to be more cocoa nibs or possible a blend of malty Black Tea with the Oolong.
This is my opinion.
If the word chocolate had been removed, I’d say this is a nice spicy Chai. Very balanced and not too peppery.
Increase the steeping time though!
