Creme Brulee Chai

I just finished off my sample bag of this and this one really grew on me. It was pretty good the first time I had it, but after this last cup I really wanted more and my sample was gone, so I guess that means I’ll have to reorder it some day! For now I’m using a variety of teas I have a ton of and making something similar, but it’s not as good. But not bad… (fyi.. I’m mixing upton’s creme caramel and american tea room’s masala chai – both of which I bought in an absurd quantity before I knew any better)

This smells identically to a creme brulee sitting next to a fragrant chai. Stunning, and surprising.

There’s something even more surprising in here, something I can’t quite find. Nutmeg, perhaps? Something spiced, deep, full bodied. I only had one sip before I made it into a chai (Truvia, coconut milk), and didn’t taste any of that. Once as a chai though? Holy moly. This spice, whatever it is, is unique and wonderful. There’s a hint of sweetness to it that comes at the very end and after the sip, sort of like egg custard tha’s been sweetened or even burnt slightly – in a good way. There’s something smoky in there too, with zero heat, yet spice.

Truly delicious blend. Dexter3657, I’ve already put some in the box headed your way next week.

One of the teas I picked up at the Toronto Tea Festival! :D It smelled divine, so I had to have it. And I do not regret my decision. Even with an epic oversteep of 7 minutes and 45 seconds (I get distracted too easily), it’s pretty darn tasty. The spicing is perfect – not too chai-like to overpower the creamy deliciousness of the creme brulee. It’s a bit astringent, but 100% I’d chalk that up to my oversteep. I expect with a 3-4 minutes infusion, it would be amazing. I’d like to try it with milk, but I have a feeling that the creaminess would be masked, and the spicing may not be strong enough to handle it…. and really, it’s delicious without, so I probably won’t. I’ll save the super strong spice blends for milk.

ETA: Second steep was quite delicious. Third steep, not particularly flavourful, but certainly better than plain water! I’m quite pleased, overall.

Wow, this is a really unique chai! You can see I’m going a little nuts trying all my new teas. Will have to stop soon, or the caffeine is going to make me nuts! Haha! This is really good. The spices in here are wonderful. They blend together well. I think the uniqueness has to do with either the cardamom, black pepper, or may I say nutmeg? The latter isn’t on the ingredients list, but it might be in there. It sounded like another reviewer found that spice as well. This is also a sweet custard-like tea, although it’s not particularly thick in mouthfeel. I think it would be great using the stovetop method…next time! Mmmm. :)

Ugh I’ve continued to be super busy and have a feeling that won’t let up until husband goes back to work on the 7th…don’t really mean to complain; I’m having a ball hanging with friends I don’t get nearly enough time with normally, but it does mean I’ve been enjoying a ton of new teas but haven’t had the chance to log them properly or at all, alas. The ones that REALLY stand out I’m going to backlog whenever I have 5 seconds free time though, just to note they’re awesome so I remember, and this is one of them. Likely my favorite chai now, not too hot spicy or metallic-ly clove-y. Big fan.

Intense aroma! Very nice combo! Smells JUST LIKE Creme Brulee & Chai! The taste is a bit more Chai than Creme Brulee. It does offer an interesting and pleasing flavor experience all-around tho! This is bold, spicy, creamy, caramelly, and coconutty! Neat!

Another one from MissB! thanks again! Another one I was dying to try! If I try ALL the teas, then I know what I like, right? I accidently added the whole sample to my infuser.. it looked like around one teaspoon to me, but ended up being closer to two teaspoons. Whoops! (Just boiled // 3 min) Isn’t bad anyway… though I have no idea what makes this more than a typical chai… it tastes like the usual – nice black tea and nice spices. It actually seems HOT spicy somehow, maybe the black pepper? It has that chai raisiny flavor that some of them have. The second cup was just as nice. This is a really nice chai as a plain chai, but as ‘crème brulee’ it fails.

Using almost teaspoons only made it a tiny bit astringent, but I needed that this morning anyway. I will actually have access to SEVEN of the Tournament of Books books this year (themorningnews.org)! Usually I’m only able to read one-two books in time for the ToB so I have some speed reading to do!

I’m really not a fan of the Herbal Infusions base tea. To counteract the ick-ness, I steeped for 2 minutes at 185F. For a black tea. Yeah.

Thankfully that, and overleafing, allows the flavourings to overpower the base to make a tasty cup.

Sweet, sugary, pretty mild chai. More like cinnamon bun, really. It does smell good, and it’s not bad this way, but I’d rather buy teas with bases I like so I probably won’t be getting this again.

I was a bit hesitant to buy this because I loathe ginger, but the thought of creme brulee won me over. And I can definitely taste creme brulee in this tea. It’s obviously a chai, but a creamy version. And happily, I can’t really taste the ginger.

Though I am still not a huge chai fan, and probably won’t buy this again. I can see chai lovers loving this, though.

My first cup of this was pretty delicious. My second cup, I accidentally left in my car for 8 hours, so I didn’t have it at its best, but it was still decent. I certainly wouldn’t call this chai, but there was definitely something desserty in there that wasn’t bad at all. Now it’s gone forever unfortunately.