Masala Chai

I have a friend who doesn’t like tea, and I think I’m thisclose to getting her to give chai a go. THISCLOSE. Huzzah!

Yay!

I just ordered three different chai’s from Chado…we’ll see how that goes! I like how different they can be!

I had this one a while back and I thought it was quite tasty. Then again, I haven’t really had too many Chai’s!

I’ve been on a chai binge this weekend! First it was starbucks yesterday, which is Tazo’s Chai. Then I made the Cha Yen Thai from Teavana, which is basically a coconut chai. The today after I drank this Chai I had another chai at the gig, which I think is Numi’s, & it was tasty too! I love Chai, & once I drink a cup of it, it’s like I want more & more. Hot or iced, it is delicious!

I’m so sorry to hear that your cat is ill! I will be thinking good thoughts for her swift recovery! I’m glad you have comfort tea.

Hope your kitty gets better soon!

I hope your cat’s heath improves greatly. My pets are my kids.

I hope your kitty feels better soon. Like Lena, my cats are my kids so when one of them is not doing well, the whole world goes on hold.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. It’ll be a few days before we know if he’s going to pull through, and I’m exhausted from monitoring him with the IV last night (rather than keeping him at the hospital I brought him home). He’s back at the hospital today and I’m fretting.

My cats are my kids, too (we have 3). Here are some pictures of him:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denisen56/sets/72157607871897726/

my thoughts are with you!! i hope ur kitty gets better soon!! my cat is my fur child!

Aww, he’s lovely. I am hoping he is better soon.

Love that Container Store picture. One, because I love the Container Store. Two, because your cat[s] is[are] cute. Three, because the huge CONTAIN YOURSELF letters combined with the blasé expression made me giggle.

Oooh, I might need to try that wine glass thing. When you spend a lot of your days in pajama pants, you grab fanciness where you can get it.

Yeah. I’m still iffy about adding hot liquids to wine glasses but I googled around and the internet seems to say that it’s okay once the glasses don’t experience sudden temperature changes (really cold —> really hot). I’ve been doing it for the past none of my glasses have cracked yet…

Really? I find it really week, but then again I do like my chais to punch me in the face lol.

yeah. I haven’t tried it stove top though so it might be stronger when I do try it that way. I don’t like my chais too spicy lol

What chais are your favorite?

I like verdants, butiki and red blossoms the most but I also have had a huge number of others because I really only drink it in winter and I bough large quantities before I knew better :)

I’ve never tried any of those…I’ll have to add them to the shopping list! My favorites so far are Adagio’s Spiced Apple Chai and Starbucks’ concentrated Tazo Chai mix.

I can’t handle this one, I’m such a wuss it’s way to spicy.

kiaharii – heh maybe you need to milk and honey your chais? :)

Perhaps! I still have some of this left so I may try that. Do you brew it on the stove or just the normal way and then add the milk/honey?

You can do it either way. It’s usually tastier if you brew it on the stove, but that’s more work. When I brew on the stove, I brew it directly in the milk. When I brew normally, I brew in water and just add some milk.

i usually brew normally and then jsut add milk and honey since it’s easier. I have yet to make chai the “proper” way.

Hope you feel better soon!

Thank you!

My general opinion w/ chais, especially if you add milk/creamer is that they require a lot of leaf. If I’m drinking an unflavored or other flavored black, I use 2.25g/6oz, but w/ chais I measure them w/ a tsp…. a heaping tsp. (a heaping tsp of my Mayan Chocolate Chai weighs 4g, almost double my norm). I can do simple, light, delicate flavors, but I do agree that chais must be “go big or go home”… I will drink this, and enjoy it if that’s what I have in the house. This is my “CRAP! I’m completely out of chai, but I have no money to spend so I’ll use some points to get some” chai.

For many teas, I actually double or even triple the prescribed amount. I think that 1 tsp. is probably meant for one of those elegant little bone-china tea cups. With a larger mug, I always make adjustments. With the Adagio sample, I really did use about the equivalent of 3 tbsp. for one 8 ounce mug, But I certainly agree with your comment.

My last few bags of tea that I’ve ordered have almost all come with instructions for 1 tsp tea to 6 oz. I usually make 10-12 oz cups so I double it to 2 tsp by default.

3TB?!?!?! WOW! That’s a lot of tea! I can’t believe it was still mild and characterless…

Oh Doulton, I do think we would be great friends outside of the web. I love your posts and your ability to quote Walter Pater and then the Osbournes. lol…fantastic.

As for the chai, I agree that this one is a bit lacking. While I don’t like the throat burning chais, this Masala still manages to fall short. I’m still on the hunt for the perfect chai.

Yes Doulton does come up w/clever references/allusions….

Lena- have you tried Samovar’s ? I really liked that one…

Ditto the Samovar. Not a chai expert at all here, but I thought it was wonderful.

“a leeeettle tiny piping from a tiny piccolo.” — I love that! I understand perfectly! :)