Milk Oolong Chai

I love B&B’s milk oolong, though I don’t love this chai as much as some of their other teas using this base. Still, the chai is tasty, especially as I got toward the bottom of the bag. The spices are flavorful, but I prefer a bolder base.

Homemade Advent Calendar from AJRimmer – Day 10

Did I maybe brew this wrong? I’m getting creaminess and a bit of an underlying floral note, but not picking up on any spices at all. This is the kind of creamy where I’m pretty sure they added flavoring to amp it up. Maybe I didn’t get a good tea-to-additions ratio in my steeper? It’s a very easy drinker, I think I’m just confused by not getting any spiciness here.

Sipdown! (31 | 67)

This was a sample pouch from my recent order, just because it sounded interesting and I couldn’t recall whether I’d tried it before. Plus I’ve been liking chai more than usual lately.

Sadly, the chile kind of ruins it for me. I’m not the biggest fan of chile in tea in the first place, but this one has quite a lot. After the first cup, I dumped the rest of the leaf onto a plate and picked out the chile seeds because who puts the seeds in a tea?! To me, the heat just works against the lovely creamy notes of the oolong.

Too bad, I really liked everything else that was going on, especially those lovely cardamom notes.

2022 Bird & Blend Advent calendar Day #7

This is light and fragrant. I like the spiciness at the end. It’s just enough to warm the throat. I didn’t add anything to it. It has a creamy taste already so no need for additional milk. I get ginger and chili and possibly some cardamom.

295/365

Another of Bird & Blend’s autumn collection, and the one I was most excited to try. Partly because chai equals autumn, but also because it sounds like an interesting combination (and one I’m sure I’ve not come across much before…if ever, now I think about it!)
Most of the usual chai suspects are present and correct – ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, chili – with the addition of cocoa shells, and (of course!) the Taiwanese milk oolong base.

I brewed my first cup as per B&B’s recommendation, and it comes out pretty light and mild. It’s deliciously creamy, and I love how that works with the chai flavours. It’s pretty much a match made in heaven. In terms of spice, I can taste mostly ginger and cardamom, plus a touch of chocolate. Nothing much else comes through, but that’s a minor criticism given that it’s delicious anyway. The milk oolong is definitely the star here, and it deservedly so.

I’m tempted to fiddle around with leaf quantity or brew time a little with future cups, just to try and bring out the chai spices a little more. If this is as good as it gets, though, then I’m happy anyway.