Chai (Full-Leaf Tea)

I bought this tea because I like the tin.

But I am happy I did, because I really like this tea. It has a very pleasing level of spice to it. Smooth with a peppery kick at the end, and an underlying tone of licorice. Delicious!!!

I was excited to see this tin at my local Starbucks. I misinterpreted “full-leaf” tea to mean “loose-leaf” tea, though. There are 15 “sachets” (another word for bag!) per tin, and the sachets are made of nylon. Non-biodegradable nylon, and the price point is considerably higher than the previous line of Tazo teas. The taste isn’t even much better. It took quite a bit of searching for me to find out what material the bags were made of, but knowing that they’re non-biodegradable, I won’t be getting this again. (One FAQ said that users could open the bags to dump the leaves into a compost, but if I’m going to that much trouble, I’ll just use loose tea to begin with.) I can get more loose chai for less money at any of the fancy tea stores in town, and theirs tastes better. At least the tin is pretty.

This is one of those teas that lists ‘natural flavoring’ as one of the ingredients. I hate that. At least tell me what it is! Even better, use actual spices! .. I’ve had this tea in my cupboard for a long time. I used to work at Starbucks and by the end of my three years there I was almost completely switched over to tea. Instead of getting a free lb of coffee every week I got a tin of tea. That coffee smell is amazing at first, but after you get home and even your hair soaked up that smell, it’s actually pretty gross. Anyway, this tea is okay. I remember being blown away when I first tried it but now it just seems ‘meh’. Not a whole lot of body, or flavor. And now I can taste the ‘natural flavor’. Makes it taste a bit chemical.
I think the reason this was always so good is because I always drank it in latte form, with piles of whole milk foam and a little vanilla syrup. With whole milk and raw sugar it just isn’t the same. You can make lots of mediocre things taste incredible with some perfectly steamed foam. :D Can you tell making foam was my favorite thing to make and eat at Starbucks? it’s pretty much the only thing I miss.

Man, I cannot WAIT to get my tea shipment. Lacking a tea/pot delivery on my stoop, the day was tea-free till late. Swooped through Starbonx on the way to class to get a perk infusion and wound up with one of these weird nylon bags of chai. It looks like mulch, so it must be good. (That IS how it works, right?)

Aaaanyway. It tastes like chai! Shocking. I removed the sachet after brewing and kept it for another soak. The second try was weaker but also kind of…sparkly. Almost carbonated. Spice was nice with a little kick. Way more expensive than the Numi stuff they have at the other place, though. My internal skinflint says, “hurry home, little teapot!”

And I had such high expectations for this tea today!
I chose it specifically because it’s cold out. I put it in a fancy new mug that my dad gave to me that looks like something a Hobbit would use. I splashed in a little whole milk and stirred in my usual lemon honey.
But when I sipped it, I was entirely uninspired.
Usually this is my favourite chai. But today it’s like faintly spiced water.
SO SAD!
No body at all. It’s got a weight less than water.
Hardly any smell.
Almost zero spiciness…
Well, poop.
I’ll drink it, but I won’t love it this time.

I usually never drink this tea by itself. One way I love to prepare this tea is opening the sachets and boiling the loose leaves by themselves with some ginger, sugar, and clove, followed by adding milk to the boiling brew. It always comes out fantastic.