Organic Chai

I had a wonderful gig tonight. I dressed up in fancy black & hauled my Harp out to the Peabody Opera House to play for a private party, which turned out to be a group of 25 people visiting St. Louis. They were served cocktails, then a really fancy schmancy dinner (the kind where every course looks like a work of art, & hopefully tastes amazing), then dessert, then they went on a tour of the building, which originally opened in 1034 as the Kiel Opera House. They renovated & renamed it a year ago, & it’s beautiful. Some of the tunes I played: ‘The Swan’ by Saint Saenz, ‘Footprints’ by Wayne Shorter,‘Do it Again’ by Steely Dan, ‘Misty’ by Errol Garner, along with other tunes by Coltrane, Led Zepplin, Jobim, & many more. 2.5 hours worth, & I loved every moment of it! I worked up an appetite!

I got home in time to see the final inning of the baseball game, cardinals won 3 – 1. YEAH! Then I wanted a snack, & I wanted pancakes!
I don’t eat things like that often, so I surfed the internet, visiting some of my favorite paleo/gluten free sights, & came across “Paleo Vanilla Chai Pancakes”, so there it was. Step one was to steep 2 chai teabags in almond milk. I didn’t have the vanilla chai bags, so Tazo was my go-to, & was probably a more flavorful choice anyway. I’m not a huge fan of most of their teas, but when it comes to Chai, Tazo knows what they’re doing! Their spice ratio is right on, as far as I’m concerned. In fact, when I’m out driving around & I see a starbucks I have to argue with little Terri about whether we should get a chai or not.

I went ahead & steeped extra milk & tea, so that I could drink some with my late night breakfast. I had the pancakes with artisana coconut butter melted on them, topped with fried apples (I don’t know what’s with me lately, I just can’t get enough of fried apples!) & a drizzle of real maple syrup (grade B, the really good stuff). This isn’t the absolute best paleo pancakes I’ve made, (the best ones were an accident that included hazelnut flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc, & they were out of this world!), but they were pretty good, & they hit the spot.

For those other gluten free people in the crowd (or anyone else), this recipe, along with many other wonderful recipes that are gluten & dairy free, is on the against all grain website. Enjoy!

http://www.againstallgrain.com/2012/10/17/guest-post-paleo-vanilla-chai-pancakes/

just made some creamy oatmeal with this! I’d actually never put tea in oatmeal before. Quite yummy. I found an extra box of this hiding in the back of the cupboard so I’m finding ways to use it.

So today I found out I’m actually farther along in my pregnancy than I thought. I had my first ultrasound and found out my due date is probably closer to June 9th then June 23rd. Wow!

And it’s most likely a girl! Which is what me, my husband and mom all had a feeling about. Sounds like little Lily’s gonna be a gemini!

You work with what the Universe gives you. I was stuck in an auto service waiting room and needed a caffeine fix. Luckily, since I have a MINI and they’re very “British” there, they had quite a bit of tea available. It was all in traditional bags however.

I picked this one because I thought it would have the most flavor even if the bag was stale or the water wasn’t quite hot enough. It was a good choice. The tea brewed very dark and the chai spices were very pungent. I wish the tea base was a little stronger but, given the minimal room available in a traditional tea bag, it wasn’t too bad.

Fortunately, they finished my car early (love MINI service!) so I didn’t have to move on to the Earl Grey. (I like EG but didn’t want to be disappointed by a bag.)

First of all, I agree with some comments posted here on Steepster that overall, Tazo is a disappointment, and seems to be concerned with marketing more than quality tea. However, this is what I think of, when I think of Chai. The spices are all in place, but not too much of any. Just the right amount of pepper, and the black tea comes through as well. I have tried this without milk and honey but it just isn’t the same. With those, it is almost perfect.
The concentrate is very good as well, but adds more carbs than I want or need.
I don’t have many loose leaf chai teas under my belt, and I am sure I will find some I like, but for now, I know I can always get at least one tea I love at the grocery.

Just got this today, Perfect cup of spicy chai! Wonderfully exotic taste, cardamon & cinnamon bark really shine through ♥

O.K. Steepster friends, it’s time to review my first Chai Tea (not first tasted, of course). After many years of drinking Chai, I felt that I needed something a little spicier. I was in the grocery store Summer 2005, I believe; and I thought I’d never find a Chai with black pepper. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found TAZO Organic Chai! Honestly, all my Chai teas I tasted were in tea bag form back then. I just grew tired of Chai tea… UNTIL I tried Tazo’s brand.

Yes the cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom were all there, and well represented too; but, it was the black pepper that kicked it up a notch. BAMM!! It was just the right kick of added spice I needed, AND I’m so glad this tea lived up to my expectations! For me the black pepper was the star here, but not too overpowering. Every ingredient is tasted here…my taste buds were jumping for joy!

This is the best tea bag Chai I’ve tasted, and bought it several times. I gave it an 85 because there are a couple of loose leaf Chai’s I like better. If you feel the need for Chai tea, and tea bags are your only option, this more than satisfies.

Tea bags aside, this is a really good Chai tea, worthy of any tea cupboard. As you can tell I really enjoyed it! Steep on……………………….

I think I may have stumbled upon a chai obsession, thanks to the previous one I tried by Arbor Teas. I just had to have more chai and my mom had this lying around in her kitchen.

However, this is pale in comparison. A little disappointing. Sure, all the spices are there, but even after 6 minutes, it’s a little too mild for me after a splash of milk. But it would be good in a pinch if I really, really wanted chai and needed something cheap. I would maybe brew it a bit longer, or maybe with 2 bags.

It’s good, but not great.

Spice bomb alert! Ginger, pepper, and star anise, with barely a hint of the tea base or even the cinnamon. I admittedly have a bias against chai and spicy things in general, but I imagine even fans of it would prefer something that reminds them tea, not of sniffing pepper.

I don’t think I brewed this one long enough. I was kinda spacey during dinner and all I cared about was getting some sort of tea again. I’m not going to rate this one until I have had it again, because it was pretty boring and meh this time.

I was pleasantly surprised by the nice medium body brew that I got out of this Tazo teabag. It was a little out of my usual taste preferences, but made for a nice refreshing cup of tea. Then again, there really is very little tea flavor that you can taste through the spices. This blend seems to have been created to be a good middle of the road chai, able to please the most people by being neither too spicy, or too weak, but having a nice bit of zip. Nice to taste a hint of Peppercorn, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Ginger, Cloves, and Star Anise. I am really pleased that I gave this one a try.

Two bags of this with 7 oz water in my travel mug. I have no idea what temp the water is, as I still haven’t invested in a thermometer let alone any tea gadgets beyond a tea ball. So sad. Anyways, I add a splash of Silk French Vanilla coffee creamer and drink in the awesomeness. I love chai. I want to try many more chais, but I plan on keeping this one unless something that DOESN’T take half my paycheck turns out to taste better and knocks the Tazo off it’s high horse. It’s not as good as the local coffee shop’s Chai, but I’m PRETTY sure it’s about a million calories less too, so I’ll take it.

Blech. This is by far THE most underwhelming Chai that I have ever tasted. All I tasted was a slight hint of stale cinnamon and hot water. I love Chai’s! They have some of the strongest flavors of tea…this one mearly tasted of water. I was not happy at all. I was excited in the cold of working with no power to have a nice hot cup of chai (a nearby dunkin donuts was nice enough to provide the patients with hot water and coffee since we have no power at work). I was disappointed. Oh well, I still have ones I love…won’t be buying this again.

This tea gives me heartburn when I drink it without milk or honey/sugar — and for good reason. I’m a desi tea purist, and desi teas need at least milk.

I actually made this on the stove in a saucepan with two Rituals Orange Pekoe and Pekoe Cut Black teabags for a few absolutely wonderful ladies who are also stuck in the hospital here in Anchorage. I intentionally watered it down a bit with milk and let them sweeten it themselves, and it was amazing, especially with our homemade naan and curries. I like how versatile this tea is — and I want to make tea cupcakes with it. Once I get out of Alaska, that’s going to be my first baking project.

Very good quality chai. I’ve tried and smelled other bagged chai’s and none come close to the wonderful aroma and taste of this tea. Not very peppery for those who love pepper. I don’t. Very interesting blend of spices and tea.

Definitely my new favorite tea.

Not going to lie but I had about 3 cups of Chai just today. This may or may not be the start of a lovely relationship with my tea…

You can choke it down. It tastes more bitter than spicy. This is a victim of natural flavour, which is not the same as real natural ingredients. Don’t expect to get a full mug out of one bag.

This is still my favourite chai. Maybe because it was my first? Who knows. But every time I make myself a cup of this I am surprised at how dark and rich and spicy and warm it is. No other chai has quite compared, as far as I’m concerned. I love how you can taste all of the spices, rather than just cinnamon, and the black pepper gives it a nice tingly bite. I always add a bit of sugar and plenty of milk and it is obviously the most delicious this way, all creamy and comforting.
I also love the tazo chai concentrate that you can get at the grocery store. I give it a whiz in my trusty magic bullet with some vanilla frozen yogurt and milk and it makes the BEST frosty drink. Yum.

The morning cuppa.

Wow, didn’t realize this site would create an “empty” log for me if I even clicked on the log link. Well then.

So this is the second Tazo tea I’ve tried at school after the Darjeeling. I finished off the Yunnan I brought from home this morning (turns out my work travel mug does only a minimalist job at keeping liquids hot…or contained in the mug), and wasn’t in the mood for the flavoured black in my backpack, so I went to Starbucks again. I decided on this one because I’ve always been a fan of chai masala, so I figured this one was an even safer bet than the Darjeeling.

(While I was in line, I noticed that SBUX apparently sells a white Tazo tea. SBUX and white tea, really? What a predictable disaster.)

I have to say, first of all, that this one smells absolutely wonderful. It may be that my nose isn’t especially sophisticated, but it smells like what I know to be chai masala. I can pick out the cinnamon and cloves, the anise, a bit of cardamon if I concentrate…very nice. Warm and comforting.

The taste, initially, left a lot to be desired. The spices were fairly strong but indistinct, and the tea base was far too weak, resulting in that rather distinctive bad-chai “toasted water” taste. Yuck. And on top of that, it was quite astringent (do I detect a pattern with Tazo?) which left me with the overall impression of drinking unbuttered toast dipped in black pepper…not quite as awful as I’ve made it sound, but certainly not very pleasant, either. I had to think that I liked the Darjeeling better!

About half-way though the cup, however, I added a bit more raw sugar, and this somehow transformed it. It seemed to bring out the spices in a more balanced way, and the prominent notes became the cinnamon and cloves rather than pepper and toast. Much nicer, which resulted in my mentally bumping up the rating by 10. I still think the base is too weak, though.

Not bad, certainly drinkable if you have enough sugar on hand. I pretty much no longer take tea with milk, but I can see milk mellowing this one into something very pleasant for a quick cup.

(I will have to fix steep time/temperature later, because Steepster apparently hates my aunt’s laptop touchpad mouse, but it’s probably around 82 degrees…and this time I actually saw when the bag hit the water, so 3 and a half minutes.)

Backlogging for the conference I attended last week. They had a sampler box of most of the Tazo teas, and I tried a few of them. This is a decent bagged chai. It was a nice pick-me-up in the afternoon.