White Ayurvedic Chai

The strangest thing happened to me this afternoon-I had a huge craving for a chai tea! I’m not normally the hugest fan of chais, but for some reason I had a craving for one and so I decided to brew this one up. I steeped this one for the recommended two minutes and it literally tasted like water, so I threw it back in for 5 more minutes. That’s how I usually steep whites, and this one isn’t really a particularly high quality white OR a straight white OR a straight white blend-along with the host of other ingredients there’s some green tea in this!

Regardless from my “Teavana overblends their teas” rant, this one is actually really good! I’m bumping up my rating a little, mostly due to my craving. This one is slightly sweet and has a good spicy bite lurking behind it. This is really yummy!

I’m going to a VERY large mall this weekend (the King of Prussia mall right outside of Philadelphia-it’s the largest mall in America in terms of retail size), and they have not one but two Teavana’s there, so I’m definitely planning on picking up some stuff. I’m hoping that they’ll have some stuff on sale in the store because that would be very nice on the wallet! I’m definitely planning on picking up a tiny Yixing because they’re relatively inexpensive and I would like one just to try. I’m also planning on getting some more of the Cha Yen Thai tea (it’s soooo good, so thanks to The DJBooth for turning me on to that one!), some tins, and a scoop. I’m also THINKING about picking up some of the Body + Mind tea and some of the Samurai Chai blend with this one in it. What are your opinions? Likes or dislikes? Thanks! :)

Redhots.

That’s the first thing that you need to know about this particular chai: it tastes like redhots, those little pebble-shaped candies that are cinnamon and sweetness and altogether too easy to eat in mass quantities. If you like redhots, you’re going to probably find it difficult to dislike this chai. I love redhots, myself, so all’s well, but I still find that I prefer to take this tea blended with something else. While I wouldn’t call it one-dimensional, necessarily, I would say that the flavors in this one aren’t so complex that it makes a muddy mess of other chais when added to them (or even just other teas), so it seems pretty ideal for that purpose. Alone, the cup is not quite enough to keep me interested, and I think that eventually the sweet red-hot taste does get a little bit overpowering. As with everything, your mileage may vary! Sometime soon, I’ll have to give this a try without milk to see if I can’t pick out the fruit and herbal flavors they mention, as most of the time I think the milk crushes them utterly.

Andrea sent me this and I can see why she likes it. It is sweet with a fragrance redolent of cinnamon, cloves, and apple. I can barely taste the white tea base, but it is there and adds its own note. It was a nice calming drink for a difficult afternoon meeting. Thanks, Andrea!

another one bites the dust… this I am not too sad to see go, it’s okay but a little sweet for me

Well…everyone might have expected(well obviously) that passing by a Teavana would be a crime if a sample was not taken or a stroll in the store for a browse. Surely enough, this beauty of tea makes me want to believe in Teavana even more and buy more! Just one sip of this tea you can taste the grandness of India and the Artistry of china! The white tea brew brought out every pureness of flavor that tea embodies, a light, crisp, a bit sharp taste of green beans or snow peas! its natural vegetal flavor along with fruity accents of pineapple really shows best when blended with a Chai-type spices! The cloves, ginger, and pepper gives it a medicinal feel that comforts you in knowing that its all healthy despite the fruitiness while cinnamon, lemongrass, coconut, and the pineapple bits beckons to let loose a bit and drink some more! The “German” rock sugar really gave off grassy notes about a tiny bit, and somewhat of a starchy flavor to it which reminds me a bit of Assamy-ness to it. Its really Beyond above average, the tea was well brewed and came out a bit hot, the sugar did not have much interference but imparted natural tastes, and the spices were balanced and welcoming! Suffice to say, I come out of the store feeling more happier than I was and profoundly “fixed”..yes a good way to describe my feeling. Got to love Teavana!

This one just makes me swoon from its perfection.

I’ve been savoring every cup from the 2oz I bought a few weeks ago and the last week has been torture as I rationed out the last small amount. I’m not joking when I write that if I could strap the tin to my head like a feedbag just to breathe it in, I would. This morning I caved and ordered 8oz to be here by the weekend, so in celebration of that purchase I just brewed some up from the last remaining.

Man, this is sublime. I brewed 16oz using 3tsp of tea and 1tsp of rock sugar, steeping for about two minutes at around 175 degrees. That went into mugs with rice milk—2/3 tea, 1/3 rice milk. Perfection.

Thanks to a toddler in the house, I drink almost exclusively out of travel tumblers. This is one grand exception: it smells so wonderful and is such a pleasure that I want the full experience of my most treasured stoneware mug to warm my hands and thrill all my senses.

This is my desert island tea, no question.

(So many reviews mention blending this one, and maybe I’ve just not yet developed a sophisticated enough tea-palate to get it, but there’s nothing I’d change in this one.)

This reminds me a lot of Feisty Jade, a green chai from teas.com.au. This is a light tea that has a really spicy sort of buzz to it, and leaves a quite complex aftertaste behind.

Yay! I’ve graduated from bags and sachets and steeped my very first cup (er, two cups) of loose tea! Of course my first cup of loose tea would have to be something that flummoxes me, because that’s my luck. The directions for white tea are different from the directions for green tea, and this has both in it! Gah. I was a bit wary, anyway, since this tea’s got red and black pepper in it (um… whut?) and I can’t have spicy-hot stuff.

You know how some people will add salt ‘n’ pepper ‘n’ other seasoning to their food without even tasting it first? Ya, that bugs me. Generally I will have a cup of tea without any fixin’s, just to see what it’s like.

So, cup 1: 2tsps of tea steeped in 185° water for five minutes. It was mostly okay. It didn’t taste as strong as I expected it to taste, and I figured I’d got the directions wrong since I was steeping in one of those travel mugs that hold way more than 8oz. My heart sank when I saw that there’s cinnamon in this tea. Cinnamon irritates me because it overpowers everything else. I was hoping for nuances, layers of complexity, and what I got was loads of cinnamon and the bite of pepper. Not the greatest of first impressions.

Cup 2: 2 tsps of tea steeped in sweetened, 185° water for, um, probably about 20 minutes. Oh, don’t look at me like that, it was an accident. I left it for 5-7 minutes (remember, I didn’t think 5 minutes was long enough for cup 1) and promptly forgot about it. Good things come to those who wait, even those who only waited accidentally. =) This cup is yummy. My mug is awesome, so the tea, instead of being cold and undrinkable (the mug was uncovered the whole time), is actually still a little too hot to drink comfortably. The tea itself is greatly improved this time around. It’s still too cinnamon-y, but I like it much better sweetened.

Dear Teavana,
Normally I don’t think much of your tea blends. And I think far less of your customer service and store ambiance. But this chai blend is pretty okay. It truly does taste like warm red-hots, but I also taste lemongrass and pepper. I like that it’s not like any other chai I own… but of course now I own $40 worth because you bagged up a ton more than I asked for, and I stupidly paid for it because I felt badly about getting tricked.

Anyway, a pretty unique chai blend, but you must really love cinnamon tea. And I’m really only ambivalent about cinnamon.

I’ve had this tea for a few months (kept in a Teavana canister) as my aunt got it for me for my birthday, and I didn’t rush to try it since I’m usually not too fond of chai teas. Today, I thought I might as well give it a try.

The scent of the dry leaves is very spicy and you will notice the cinnamon right away. The scent almost made me not want to try it, since (as mentioned above) I usually only like flat green or white teas, but I did, and I must say, it wasn’t too bad!

I don’t think I steeped it long enough, because my cup doesn’t taste as strong as others on here have mentioned, but it DOES remind me of Redhot candies as someone else stated, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I love white teas and I think it took away some of the harshness that comes with black chai teas (but, then again, the only black chai teas I have tasted were bagged teas, not loose-leaf). Overall I enjoyed this cup, it was light yet had a warm little kick to it, and I’m looking forward to brewing a second cup and experimenting with the time/heat/etc. :)

This a yummy tea. It is spicy but not overwhelming. It also blended really well with the honeybush vanilla tea – and it seems like it will be very versatile with other teas as well.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this tea. This was one of the first teas from Teavana I tried, and I was worried the spices would simply overpower the tea. The brew was light yellow and had a very mild taste with subtle spices. Surprising indeed, considering how much “stuff” is in the tea itself.

I normally prepare this with the Samuari Chai Mate (to be honest, I have yet to have it by itself – I tried the blend originally as a sampler at a local Teavana store and instantly became addicted), resulting in that yummy blend of spices (think almost a cinnamon gum, only in tea form) that helps keep me up when I’m working past midnight. This has about the same amount of caffeine as coffee, so if you need a pick-me-up in the morning, and you’re not as much of a darker brew type of person, this is definitely a pleasant alternative! I find I don’t even need any milk or sweeteners to bring about the various flavors of this tea. This is the tea that I can not be without in my tea cupboard, and often find myself depressed when I get to the bottom of the tin. All of my friends who have tried a sip of this tea keeping begging for me to lend them more!

Making some more this afternoon, might try it with some german rock cane sugar just to see what it tastes like, since I think that’s how they prepare it at Teavana, but I could be wrong.

So far my favorite Teavana tea. I remember when I first came in asking for their finest Chais. I smelt this tea and instantly put it on a pedestal. Unfortunately I left with another tea because the price seemed a bit too “steep.” Then come Christmas I bought it in bulk and have been drinking it almost daily.

Other notes are right to compare it to big red as there is a very strong cinnamon flavor, but the taste is more complicated then that. If I were you and found myself in a Teavana store, I would ask to have a whiff. It tastes like it smells, and it is Amazing.

I normally don’t put anything in it, and stick to the directions on the tin. It also tastes good with a little bit of sugar, and since it’s a white tea I’m not so paranoid of it staining my teeth.

Right before my auditions, a nice bronchodilator and a tasty low-caffine white tea.