558 Tasting Notes
Didn’t know exactly how to steep this as it was a green and black tea blend, so held the temperature around 175 for 2.5 minutes for the full sample bag. I would definitely order this tea, I like the way the vanilla calms down the mint and the black tea alerts you as the green tea soothes. It was just what I needed this afternoon as a refreshing tea. I’d love to try this one iced.
Preparation
Ahh…got it back to how I remember it. A nice light green color after 2 minutes @ 175. Much more depth to the flavor, light indescribable to me at the moment, but not the hay taste I’ve been getting from other greens (like cocomint green). This is one smooth tea. I will have to sample more greens to start improving my vocabulary.
This was a good tea to drink after a good size lunch, not too rich to make me feel full, just light and enough flavor to enjoy a good cuppa.
Preparation
Much better than my previous chai of the evening. Brewed up 16oz with two full leaf bags. Added a splash of half and half and 1 packet of splenda and this is heavenly compared to my previous attempt at stove brewing Masala Chai by Teavana. This tea is a bit heavy on the anise for my tastebuds, but I like the blend of spices more than most I’ve tried. This is one I keep coming back to.
Funny… I’m ubber sensitive to anise and can’t taste it at all.
This is the full leaf tin, and it does list star anise in the ingredients. Not sure if it’s in the concentrate or paper bagged versions, but definitely in this one!
It’s in the bagged version and concentrate as well. Not sure why it wouldn’t be since it’s the same product.
I wasn’t sure if that was anise herb or the oil. It sure is strong.
I don’t taste it as much in the concentrate when made as a latte as when I make the bagged as a tea, that’s shy I thought it may not be in there.
Epic Chai Fail tonight. Tried using 4tsp tea to 3 cups water, boiled together for 10 minutes, added 1 cup milk and simmered for 10 minutes and then strained. Something just is missing from this mix. I thought it was awful when I made it with the Soy milk, but I think it is the chai base. I’ll have to try this one as a regular tea next, other wise it will be passed on to a better home.
Maybe you’re doing too much boiling and simmering?
From the infamous takgoti chai recipe (for one serving):
1 cup of water, 1 cup of milk/milk equivalent, 1 tbsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of chai.
Boil water and sugar together in a saucepan until sugar dissolves into water.
Add the chai, then simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the milk, simmering and stirring.
Bring it to a boil (don’t let it boil over), turn the heat off and let it sit for a long time. Like 7-10 minutes long. I let it sit for around 8-9 or so.
Strain and serve.
Hope this helps! If not, then maybe it’s not good chai. :(
@teaplz – thanks for the (in)famous takgoti chai recipe. A week or so back, I had a monumental failure of chais – nothing I did tasted right. I am going to save this recipe and try again.
Giving this a higher rating as I tried it iced today and the raspberry baked sweetness really made this tea a tasty iced beverage. Great to sip on while waiting for my Masala Chai to steep on the stove. (we finally got milk in the house)! I hope Teavana’s blend is good. If not I’ll try mixing it with Tazo’s as those are the two I have in my stash right now.
Multi tasking teas- love it:) And jealous- I’m so not that talented.
I guess I wasn’t that talented…the Chai was an epic fail. I left it on the stove simmering for 45 minutes…a bit too long, and just doesn’t taste good. Think I need this Chai as just a tea, not a tea latte.
I enjoy this blend. It ha a strong black base with a slight hint of rooibos. The flavors seem to meld together into a flavor of their own. I don’t know how to really describe this one. Too much going on in my brain after a stressful workday to really tear it apart. Just trying to enjoy the relaxation a cuppa tea brings. Maybe green tea would have been a better choice for me right now.
I steeped 2 bags of this tea for 14oz water @170F for 4 minutes. This tea is a beautiful light lime green color with an aroma of coconut plus something savory/spicy that I’ve never smelled before in a green tea.
This tea tastes light and buttery with an aftertaste of coconut and a bit of the ginger zip to it. I found this refreshing hot and am curious as to how it would be iced? Maybe the second steep I will try iced if I get any flavor out of it.
The leaves in these pyramid bags get almost too big for the bag, they certainly expand beautifully. May have to cut the bag open next time and experiment!
I’m quite surprised at how much I like this tea. Full leaf loose green teas still scare me a bit (the hay aroma), but this one brewed up quite nice. I brewed 1.5 tsp @ 170F for 2.5 minutes and got a beautiful pale greenish yellow liquor. This tea smells like champagne with a hint of spearmint. I was surprised at how well the tea matches the taste of a light bubbly champagne, the mojito minty ness is there, and I love it. I like this much better than a fresh mojito, something about mojitos just weren’t my thing, but this sure is my thing. Will brew more when I have more time to enjoy it and more time to do something other than ramble!
Preparation
I had high hopes for this tea, which this tea didn’t quite hold up to. I brewed it as a cup of tea (no milk or sugar). Maybe it needs to be used as a chai tea latte, but it’s not quite strong enough of an apple flavor to be called apple chai, and not quite enough spices to be a spiced chai. I think if I added some other tea/spices to this it may be better, but before giving it a rating I will try it as a traditional chai with milk on the stovetop and see how that pans out. Darn, was really hoping for a good apple cider flavor.
