45
drank White Ayurvedic Chai by Teavana
2036 tasting notes

Ever look at your teas and have a total blank in your mind where information about how you ended up with it should be? That’s this tea. I thought it might be a tea of the month acquisition, but I had two 2 oz packets of it and the tea of the month club I belonged to only sent 2 oz per flavor. Big mystery here.

In any case, this containing both white and green tea, I steeped it at a low temperature for a short time and I intentionally overleafed because it’s Teavana, and it has big hunks of stuff in among the leaves. Coconut, dried pineapple, red peppercorns are very visible as is the lemon grass with its attractive geometry. It smells a lot like cinnamon in the tin.

After steeping it smells a little like cinnamon, a little like clove and cardamom, and a lot of that weird lotion-y note that I so disliked in the Teavana Tulsi Dosha Chai. Which makes me think that I perhaps unfairly pinned that note on the tulsi rather than on some oddness inherent in Teavana non-black tea chai. The liquor is a lemon yellow color and rather cloudy.

Rather unfortunately, the taste is a sort of generic, watery, cinnamon-y, pepper-y spice, with the weird lotion-y note in the aftertaste. I don’t taste any of the fruit, and I taste very little of the tea. I will try overleafing more severely next time and perhaps bump up the steep time and temp a bit, but I fear overdoing those and ending up with a bitter mess. It’s not as bad as I remember the tulsi being in terms of aftertaste so I’m giving it a few more points there, but this is going into the sipdown immediately category. I may even try cold brewing it to get it over with faster.

And of course, this is among the flavors Teavana still offers. Why do I always like the ones they discontinue and with a few exceptions dislike the ones they continue? Another mystery…

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 30 sec 3 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML
__Morgana__

TF, I hope not! LOL

yyz

I have that problem often, Morgana. When I worked at the body shop they constantly discontinued my favourites, or the scents that worked best for me.

__Morgana__

So frustrating!

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Comments

__Morgana__

TF, I hope not! LOL

yyz

I have that problem often, Morgana. When I worked at the body shop they constantly discontinued my favourites, or the scents that worked best for me.

__Morgana__

So frustrating!

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Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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