Kashmiri Chai

#ProjectTeaWall

A green chai!? Well, after my delightful Green Rooibos latte I figured I better get something I wasn’t looking forward to out of the way on the Project Tea Wall list…

I’m never going to be the world’s biggest Chai fan, but honestly this wasn’t awful. I’ve certainly tried worse green teas since starting Project Tea Wall, that’s for sure. Part of why I think this didn’t completely flop for me was that it’s not actually that ginger heavy, and the vanilla does a wonderful job keeping this sweet and balancing out the spices. Also, the green base does a nice job keeping this lighter feeling too. Though, there was definitely some astringency going on.

Friendly reminder that I’m not currently numerically rating DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently seasonally employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

This was a really good tea. A very nice chai flavor.

Finally a Kashmiri Chai from DAVIDsTEA. I’ve been obsessed with the stuff ever since taking my first sip of Remedy Cafe’s nearly seven years ago. Steeps’, another local company, loose leaf version didn’t quite cut the mustard but going from the scent of the dry leaf alone, this seems a little more promising.

I’ve had this a few times now, with coconut milk and sugar, without anything, with some half and half, and of course, I’m liking it the best with a touch of half and half and sugar. I purposely made the last cup the strongest, using the last 12g (although I was expecting more like 8g to be leftover in my bag so for me, this is really being luxurious) in my Nordic mug and let it steep for approximately six minutes.

The two most prominent spices are the cinnamon and cardamom, followed by the clove, and maybe a hint of ginger, but I get no nutmeg. The first two are quite powerful, constantly struggling to claim first place and the clove is at a distant third.

This is good but I’m not sure if I’d keep it stocked in my cupboard. Maybe I should get more though and experiment more with steeping parameters. Perhaps with the right parameters, and ratios of milk and sweetener, this could be wonderful. If I do get more, I should pick up some star anise to add to this since Remedy’s version is heavy on the anise, which I love.

A very valiant attempt, DT.

When I saw that David’s Tea was coming out with two new chais, I didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, I was quite excited, as I love chai teas. but on the other hand, I did not want to get my hopes up too high, as I usually don’t like the chai teas at David’s Tea. I first tried the Chai & Mighty as a hot latte to go…and I found it to be quite underwhelming. I will probably give that one another go at some point in the future. But I purchased some of the Kashmiri Chai to make at home. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really like this one! I’m surprised! I tried it as a hot latte with some rock sugar and it was really good. I will definitely be picking up some more of this one. Yum yum!

I nearly lost my mind when I saw David’s had a green Kashmiri Chai. Years ago Zhi Tea had a green Kashmiri Chai that I adored and very sadly was discontinued. I have searched for an equivalent for ages. I never wrote a tasting note for it, so I’m going on memory of what it was like… strong, lots of cardamon and delicious. David’s version comes pretty close.

I can smell a lot of clove and get a good mix of clove and cardamon in the sip. The spice level is pretty good and intense, but it isn’t a pepper sort of spice which I think would be really nice. It has good mid and top notes, but is missing lower base notes that would really round it out for me. It makes me want to steep it longer to give it more depth, but I don’t think that is really the answer. I tried adding cream, but that doesn’t really do it either. I would like to try it both cold steeped and steeped in warm milk like traditional chai. I’m holding this tea up to the impossible memory of another tea I considered damn near perfect, which is a pretty high bar, but it is the closest thing I have found and it does a pretty good job at meeting my tastes. Now I have to figure out how long David’s is going to keep this around and hoard it appropriately.

A chai that has green tea as the base? I was a little wary going in, but I was quite pleasantly surprised at how much i liked this one. Spicy, yet a little sweet and lighter than other chais I’ve had. Out of all the chais I’ve tried, this is probably the first one I’d actively seek out more of.

Yes. Yes to everything about this tea. THIS is how I want my chai. My expectations were actually pretty low, because the girl at the store said it mostly tasted like cardamom, but it is so much more than just cardamom!

Sure, it does start pretty heavy on the cardamom with some ginger mixed in. But then it transforms into something sweet, that reminds me of marzipan. Which is weird, because there’s no reason for it. Then there’s some cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg thrown in there. My god mother used to make something called speculaas, which was a tart spiced with cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg with a marzipan fill—this tea is that in a cup with some ginger and cardamom thrown in for good measure and it really makes me want to bake some. I also love how light it is; the green base is just so refreshing. I will absolutely pick up some of this! It’s probably the best chai I’ve ever had.

Dry leaf: Cardamom, clove and nutmeg aromas.

Liqueur: Light orange.

Flavour: Nice blend of spices that’s not too overwhelming. The green tea adds a fragrant, light body. Cardamom and nutmeg linger.