S’mores Chai

Last time I said I couldn’t really taste the chai side of this tea, I am really tasting it now…. haha or maybe I’m learning what “chai spices” are from all this tea drinking! Im still in love with this one… I started my second summertime job today and I wanted something that would be delicious the whole day…. so I steeped s’mores chai in one mug, and I steeped white chocolate chai in my other mug that stays hot all day! I guess it’s a chai kind of day today!

Received this as part of a sampler.

It smells…indulgent. I’m very curious to see how pu-erh will function as a chai base – I’ve had black and oolong (both were quite satisfactory), but this will be a first.

On a side note, I’ve been experimenting with making low-carb blueberry muffins…and (objectively speaking) they’re really quite terrible. I don’t know why I’m this bad at muffins – I can make biscuits for days, but my muffins are always just sweet biscuits with blueberries in. Sweet, gritty biscuits. :/

As to the tea? I’m not sure I enjoy pu erh as a base for sweetness; it just comes across as slightly discordant. There was mild chocolate and graham, but the chai was a quiet backnote…which wasn’t what I was expecting at all.

I have enough for one more brew, so I’m going to try it again with different expectations later.

Tea flavour comes through nicely. The flavouring is a bit muddled in the sweetness-mostly tastes like sweetened light pu’er tea. I’m not detecting a distinctly “s’mores” profile. Hint of toastiness.

Stopped into DTs after I remembered that I forgot to pick up my birthday free cup of tea. Well, my Bday was a month and two or three days ago so I missed the one month cutoff. My server was kind enough to offer me the tea of the day which was this one. Could be worse, right? Well, this tea had clearly been sitting around and boo in general in flavour: over steeped, stale, with none of the good stuff and way too much of the spice bad stuff.. Too bad, DTs. Yet another fail at winning me back; birthday treat becomes a birthday boo followed by a yuck.

I actually nabbed a couple teaspoons of this one from the Discovery Teabox. I really wanted to try it. And it’s a hit for me. This is definitely S’mores! There are more goodies here than actual pu-erh tea leaves, but all the goodies are spot on S’mores. I love S’mores. Occasionally, I might have them for breakfast. I’m tasting sweetness, marshmallow, chocolate. Very very good. If I wanted a darker base, there ain’t no hurt in adding some plain dark pu-erh with a teaspoon of this. Doing that might also make my sample of this last longer. The brew of the mug is a light brown, so I will definitely try it with a good teaspoon of pu-erh at some point. But I definitely don’t fault this tea for less pu-erh leaves if the other ingredients are so tasty and perfectly s’mores. With the second steep, I added mini marshmallows, enough so after they melted it looked just like a beer with foam on the top (the mug was clear). Before adding the marshmallows, I took some sips to taste and it seemed like the goodies went to the background and more of the pu-erh flavor was noticeable. The third steep (again with marshmallows) was also much less flavored than that first perfect cup of liquefied s’mores. I probably don’t need three steeps next time unless I add a plain pu-erh. I also think ‘chai’ should be removed from the name.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 8 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // 3 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 8+ minute steep

Another from Cameron B.! Thank you! I’ve been wanting to try this one for ages!

The loose leaf smells of gingerbread and chocolate. Christmas-y in a way. I’m delighted at the sight of little marshmallows and hazelnut brittle mixed in, but very unimpressed by the ingredients list. Artificial flavors, gelatin, artificial color, and sodium hexametaphosphate? Maybe other tea companies aren’t as honest about this and I’ve been drinking this stuff a lot, but I am a little put off. I just want leaf water and spices. You don’t have to make it weird.

After a splash of 2%, it looks like coffee with cream. To my slight disappointment, the marshmallows did not melt. The flavor is malty and chocolatey. The spices are a little weak for my taste, with hardly any showing through besides cinnamon. However, vanilla is very strong in the aftertaste. Creamy French vanilla. I do like that. But all around, I am not feeling it, like many of you weren’t.

It tastes like a Yankee Candle smells.

I can’t really decide if I like this one or not. It isn’t overly sweet to me, nor do I get any chocolate flavor – so it’s not “s’mores” to me. (I do get a chocolate scent, just very, very little flavor.) There is definitely a toastiness from a graham cracker note, and I do get marshmallow. I really find I have to overleaf this one pretty dramatically, so I haven’t tried it with milk yet as that requires it to be that much stronger. It would probably be good if you just flat out brewed it in hot milk, though. I like it at the level of sweetness it has, but if I wanted to truly emulate a s’mores flavor, I’d add a bit more sugar and definitely more chocolate. It’s still warm and comfy and dessert-y, just not s’mores. Given how much tea I have to use to make it, it’s pretty expensive for a tea that is just OK.

Generally, I love anything that tastes like s’mores. This tea was just OK. Definitely better hot. I didn’t really get a lot of the chocolate flavor, I mostly taste cinnamon first, with marshmallow & a little graham cracker. The pu’erh flavor is there, but it’s faint… you can discern it in the teas aroma, as well as a little… musty-ness, for lack of a better descriptor.
I like this best as a latte! I brewed up one perfect spoonful in about 10oz of water (it’s really hard to oversteep this tea, in my opinion…) and add a teensy splash of vanilla while it’s brewing up. I’ll add some frothed (or not frothed, depending on how lazy I’m feeling) half & half and it’s pretty tasty.
I have a couple of gripes about this tea… #1, The David’s Tea website doesn’t mention anywhere about the type of pu’erh in this blend; not how long it’s aged, or where it’s from… nothing to clue you in on the pungency of this tea that is traditionally a strong & acquired taste… all pretty important things for someone who is familiar (or unfamiliar) with an aged/fermented product. #2, this is not a chai to me. The cinnamon flavor is there, but it’s not spicy enough for me to place the flavor profile of this tea alongside others that I reach for when I’m craving a chai…
I don’t know if I will repurchase this one, but I will definitely finish what I have. If you like s’mores flavors, this could be a good way to ease into the world of pu’erh. A beginners pu’erh, if you will.

This smelled pretty good in the store, like a nice blend of spices. The scent when brewed is mildly cinnamon and a little chocolate. There is a spice flavour, but I don’t really get anything s’mores. Not bad, but a little disappointing.

Latte Sipdown (348)

I finally drank one of two (I think) pu’erh teas in my cupboard. I bought this because I love s’mores. I haven’t drank this for over a year because I hate pu’erh. I decided to make it tonight because I did a whole lot of cooking and wanted to treat myself with a latte topped with a whole bunch of whipped cream. Yay for groceries and for breakfast (veggie breakfast sandwiches) and dinner (sweet potato green curry quinoa casserole) already made for the week!

Drinking it now…I don’t hate it. I don’t really like it either. It’s an okay latte that tastes a bit like carmalized sugar by a campfire…so sort of s’mores but not s’mores.