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Wewt! I just got in my 52teas memorial day order. (My teafrog order has yet to get here though ;_;) I decided for the first try of this to make it using the stovetop method. I used vanilla almond milk instead of regular milk though, so I think that’s affecting the taste a bit. Clearly need to get some normal milk.

Now, my experiences with my other 52teas teas have been overwhelmingly positive but this is, if you look at it, a highly intriguing tea. I mean, cheesecake tea sure fine. But cheesecake chai? THAT is a lot less straightforward. It requires the marriage of two extremely distinctive flavors – moreover, flavors that, I would argue, (pardon me if I’m a little verbose by the way, I’m kind of in end of year research paper mode right now) are highly opposing in nature. Cheesecake after all, has a mildness about it that is generally at odds with the spiciness of chai. Of course, when making chai, one usually mellows it out with the application of milk BUT in this operation the milk is subsumed into the taste of the chai. (that’s actually the topic of my dissertation)

So yes, cheesecake chai. VERY interesting to see how it works. When I opened the tin, I was immediately overwhelmed by ginger, also some other spices, but mostly ginger. This, I felt, was not a good sign, but I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Once I dropped the tea into the water, the fragrance began to shift becoming…well, mouthwatering. Then when I added the milk, I would start licking the spoon each time I gave it a stir, and at one point I was all like “Whazzat? Zat’s CHEESECAKE!” So yes, by the time it was finished I was super duper excited and really did not want to actually wait a couple of minutes for the chai to settle a bit.

I should mention at this point that cheesecake is my favorite kind of cake/pie type thing on grounds that it is super delicious. So I when I say “super duper excited” I am not exaggerating.

Anyway so on to trying it. OMG NOM NOM NOM this is sooooo good. There’s this lovely cream cheesiness about it and I just love how the spices interact with it – especially the ginger, which I feel is a great foil to keep the cheesecakeness (and the sweetness, since I used sweetened almond milk AND a bit of sugar) from becoming too overwhelming. It is still quite heavy, we’ll see how that changes with different (read: lazier) methods of preparation. And with normal milk. Good times are ahead!

Verdict: This would be a great addition to any chaibrary
Secondary Verdict: The above sentence was basically just an excuse to use the word chaibrary.