Caramel Vanilla Chai

I haven’t really been in the mood for a chai lately, but was actually craving one during my break today. I was very excited to have this as the first day of the 52teas Christmas box. It’s a nicely balanced chai with some vanilla notes. I don’t get caramel so much, but it was a really wonderful chai nonetheless.

It’s the first day of Christmas and my best friend gave to me… a 52Teas Twelve Days of Christmas Advent Calendar! I’ve been a bit inactive around Steepster lately since everyone is swimming in advents and I chose not to buy any this year, but a few weeks ago this box mysteriously showed up at my house, and there was only one person I could think of that not only knows I love tea, but that I’m a fan of 52Teas. Thank you so much to Todd for the generous holiday gift, and thank you so much to Anne for going the extra mile to make sure that for the first year ever I can actually drink all twelve of the teas in the box! (Because of a very particular, strong food aversion to a certain flavor that gets used a lot in the 52Teas advent I’ve always had to re-gift certain packets, but Anne was kind enough to make a substitution for me this year and that really means a lot to me!)

It’s Saturday, it’s my day off, and I’ve brewed up Day #1 this morning. It feels like ages that I’ve drunk a tea that is fresh and new rather than two to three years old, hahaha! I love the spice smell from the packet, but it really pops on the brewed cup — it’s a lovely red shade and somehow the cardamom aroma is coming off slightly piney to my nose. There is also a heavy clove aroma wafting from the cup, and a sweetness that is reading a bit like a gingersnap cookie. The flavor is hitting me with a strong impression of clove, with a touch of cardamom, and a bit of a heated ginger/pepper flavor that sits on my tongue in the aftertaste. It’s a very warming cup, and I am getting a bit of that pine note from the spices, too. The sweetness isn’t coming out as strongly in the flavor as it did in the aroma, because the clove is coming off a bit overpowering; a dollop of honey helped round it out a bit. I think I’ll prepare my next cup with vanilla almond milk and see how it takes as a latte, I suspect it will hold up well as the spice has a bit of a kick in this one!

On The First Day of Christmas . . . of the teas that won enough votes to make it into the 12 Teas of Christmas box, this tea received the fewest votes – just enough to earn its way into the box. It actually tied with one other black tea – the Mayan Chocolate Chai blend which ended up being the featured reblend for this past November. Because I wasn’t sure which I should feature in the holiday box and which I should blend as a featured reblend, I just reblended both at the same time and told myself that I’d let my tastebuds decide when it comes time to do the taste test.

And in a sense, that’s exactly what happened. When it came time to do the taste test for each tea, this one was ready to roll – and the Mayan Chocolate Chai needed a bit more tweaking before I was ready to release it.

I really like this chai. I find it’s a different tasting chai depending upon the temperature of the tea. When it’s still quite hot, you get a nice hit of spices and some vanilla. Some caramel too, but the caramel isn’t as strong as it is as the tea cools. The more the tea cools, the stronger the caramel (and vanilla) become.

Either hot or cold, it’s really quite nice and comforting.

PS: You might notice on my blog I refer to this blend as “Caramel Vanilla Chai v.2” – the “v.2” is because this is bit different than the original. Specifically, the original version of this tea (Frank’s version) was a fairly fine ground chai. This also utilizes a CTC blend of black teas, but the leaf size is definitely larger than I recall the ground leaves were in the original. But, I didn’t label this tea as a v.2. And, I figured in an effort to eliminate confusion, I wouldn’t add a whole new listing with the v.2.

#adventageddon Day Thirteen – 6/6

A little bummed to see that the first tea from 52Teas’ 12 Days sampler this year is a Chai, especially on a day filled with many other spiced teas, but I have to admit that this was pretty nice. It tasted like a pretty standard mix of Chai spices, but a little more ginger heavy while still having a rich and sweet finish. Not really caramel at all in my opinion, but I definitely get the vanilla coming through quite clearly. It’s a nice, pleasant finish to the warming chai spice mix. I like how balanced this one comes across!

Trying this (I think) for the first time. Well, there’s something bitter in this (even though I only steeped it for two minutes), although I do get caramel and vanilla out of it. It’s definitely a 52Teas blend – I can tell from the base. I know it’s far from a must-have tea in the future, however I’m still very grateful to khamilton611 for sending some of this my way!

Wow, I haven’t posted in 15 days! Seems like forever. I got sick a week ago and felt like crap, so there wasn’t much tea drinking going on. Turns out, I drank more herbals, which is usually my least favorite tea. Overall, though, I didn’t really have the energy or the desire to make tea much. I’m back and feeling better, although it’s taking longer to recover than I expected. I had like a mild flu, which is annoying since I had the flu shot. Oh well.

So, I got this tea before I got sick, and decided to wait until I was better to post about it. This chai kind of confuses me. The dry leaf smells heavenly, like a sweet caramel-y chai. The brewed tea, however, is not as sweet. Actually, some days are better than others, but most of the time, there is a really strong spice overpowering the tea. I think it’s the cardamom. I usually like cardamom in chai, but this one is hitting me wrong.

Today, I’m having some friends over for tea! Woohoo! So excited! And this time, I only have to make the scones! :)