Chai

Oh. My. God. This stuff is amazing. I say this after drinking three cups in rapid succession.

My experience with Chai is limited; I like Oregon Chai Concentrate very much, but when I sampled another chai at a coffee and tea stand I hated the spicy harshness of it. With that said, this is the best Chai I’ve ever experienced. I realize that’s not saying much, but seriously, it’s heaven in a cup.

Indian Spice is composed of a perfect blend of spices and black tea which is so well balanced that I can’t point to one note that overwhelms the others. It’s not spicy, it’s not flat, and it IS delicious. Harney has come up with a tea that is strong and full bodied without assaulting the palate. Indian Spice is everything I love about Oregon Chai and more.

Some other tasting notes call this tea mild, which is certainly not how I would describe it; it seems quite strong to me. My guess is that this is less spicy than many, which makes it the perfect brew for me. Individually, I dislike many of the spices used in Chai, and if they were overwhelming or if one could be tasted individually this would not be an enjoyable drinking experience.

I prepared this in an infuser with boiling water, then added Demarra sugar cubes (5 per large mug) and stevia (about 11 drops per mug). Evaporated milk was the milk component.

My brother recently studied abroad in India and brought back the best Chai tea I’ve ever had in my entire life. He ran out so I got him this. If made according to the traditional method, and not H&S’s brewing instructions, it’s perfect.

We do the following:
-2 cups water brought to a low boil
-add two table spoons of sugar or honey (I prefer honey or at least brown sugar)
-add Two round teaspoons of the tea
-boil it for 10 minutes (basically what you’re doing is making a syrup base with the tea flavor. You’ll notice that the tea leaves have uncurled after the 10 minutes)
- Add 2 cups of whole milk
-bring the mix back to a boil (WATCH or it will overflow/burn!)
-Turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes (If you can) : )
Makes 2ish mugs

This tea has a delicious aroma that immediately reminded me of pumpkin pie. The taste is mostly Assam with just a hint of spice. I’m actually surprised a how subtle the spice taste is. Sugar doesn’t seem to change much and actually brings out more of the dryness. A little cream helps the spices come out somewhat; it’s still very subtle but it is a good cup of tea. I’m not sure it’s spiced enough for those seeking a truly spiced tea, but for those seeking a tea with a hint of spice it seems ideal.

First thing I notice about this one is the CTC leaves – the dry tea looks like a bunch of tiny pellets. The tea itself brews up a nice dark red/brown, and certainly smells the way chai should: warm spices and black tea. A nice blend of spices too, not too much cinnamon. I find this too bitter to drink plain; honey helps a little, milk helps more. With both, it is tasty. A very solid chai choice – might buy again, but I’d rather find something that doesn’t absolutely require sweetener.

At $1 an ounce, not including the price of the tin, I doubted I would be disappointed here.   It’s chai. I love a big ol tin of comforting chai. I think there was one chai in my life that I DIDN’T like.  Visually, the base is a mixture of CTC and another black tea that has a slightly bigger leaf.  Specks of spices here and there — hardly any spices to the point that I wonder how it tastes spicy at all.  But it does, spicier than the dry blend LOOKS but that isn’t saying much.  The tea is robust with a flavor of raisins, mostly.  As I think about it, I think I’m appreciating the flavor here more as a plain black tea.  As a chai, it really is lacking in spices and doesn’t really work, so I’m a bit sad about that.  I wish the nutmeg and vanilla was more noticeable. But at least the black tea flavor is decent enough. Price couldn’t have been cheaper, anyway.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon // 23 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

Not a fan. Almost has a bit of a Star Anise taste to it but not listed in the ingredients. Mostly tea dust with little bits of spice. I do smell the cardamom. Mostly I make this with water but I think it might be better with milk. Just adding a bit of milk didn’t work for me, I had to switch to evaporated milk. There are better chai teas…I don’t like most of Vadham teas but their Assam Chai is amazing…would get that over this any day.

As a straight cup, it’s not great. I figured that this would’ve been less exciting than a lot of chai I’ve had before. The flavor is lightly grazed with cinnamon and a lingering bitterness. I had added a splash of soy milk, which seemed to cut the bitterness, however, the flavor dulls down a lot.

Intense chai, WNRP

Very weak flavor. Tried doubling the mix, changing brew times and duration to no avail.

Very little spice.

I love chai. This one is pretty good. Not as good as my fav from another brand but that was to be expected. I made it with my normal sugar and some milk. It kind of reminds me of a flavored coffee. I did a second steep with half the water and more milk to enjoy later iced and that was much better. It was steeped a little longer because i forgot it but had a different flavor profile to it almost. There was a more cinnamon flavor. Not sure if it was because it was a second steep or it was sterped longer or the milk ratio but it was much better. Though it’s no where near as a replacement for my masala chai from golden moon it’s good enough for me to enjoy the rest of my sample size, which because the tea is so small and has no big pieces was quite a bit. I think it was the most I’ve received I’m a harneys sample so far. If you like chai I would definitely give this a try.