African Chai

I made a timolino of this today, except that I didn’t really. I think I turned my kettle off after putting it on as this water is barely warm. So the tea is barely steeped.

:(

I’m still trying to get in the habit of getting to bed at a proper time for work, but the kiddo stays up until midnight and I keep ending up with 6 hours. My poor brain! Next week will ( easier bc she’ll be up earlier for daycare, while her dad is in class.

I will make real tea when I get to the office!

I have been waiting to try this one in part because I’m not a huge chai person, and I wanted to have it at home (as opposed to work) where I have the ability to add milk and sugar, which is how I usually drink chai if I drink it.

Working from home today, so I am hoping to get through a number of sipdowns and such. Unfortunately, I have just realized that I just used the last of milk on cereal this morning, so no milk. Ah well.

I tried it plain first, and I was pleased that it wasn’t an overly spicy or clovey chai. I mean, it is clovey, but not crazy clovey like some chais. The spice blend seems balanced. But as I have found with the other African teas, there is a bit of astringency. I put in a little sugar to smooth that out, and it seems to have worked. I think this would be a really lovely chai if brewed in a traditional chai fashion, even if it’s not a super traditional chai. I have enough of my sample to try that when I do get some milk, so perhaps this weekend.

Thanks again to JusTea for this sample, and as a reminder their crowdfunding campaign is on now at http://www.justea.com

Sipdown! since this is not the tea for me. While i do like the chai taste of this one, i can’t get past the floral notes that ruin the good thing i have going on with the spices. That being said, i would recommend this as an enjoyable chai for anyone who isn’t quite as florally sensitive as i am haha. It’s not overpowering at all, it’s just that for me, the subtle floral notes in the bottom just dont work for me :) still though, a lovely tea to try!

This tea reminds me of a slightly floral molasses gingerbread, which is odd as ginger is not listed in the ingredients in the description but nevertheless this is what the brewed tea and dried leaf smells like to me.

The first flavour on my tongue reminds me of Chinese five spice powder over a slightly earthy, malty flavour with a hint of citrus. The aftertaste has warm sweet note on roof of mouth and a warm buzzing on the tongue. The tea is quite sweet with fennel like sweet notes that become most apparent after the initial sip. The base is rich and deep and malty. This is a cloves dominant chai, but the coriander, fennel and licorice notes, work well to balance it. The rose and safflower notes are present as secondary notes in the flavour after the five spice note. The safflower adds a slightly fruity freshening note and the rose adds more depth to the flavour. I’m actually surprised at how much I like this as I usually dislike cloves dominated tea, A great tea for fall and the winter holidays.

Additional notes: This one worked much better this time, maybe even just because I used a teaspoon and a half rather than one teaspoon before. So spicy and such unique spices in this blend. The black tea tasted like raisins! Hits the chai craving, for sure. I haven’t sipped enough chai yet this autumn.

I have no idea if this is good chai. I rarely drink it. I don’t hate chai. I just don’t get it. That being said, the leaf is interesting to look at. The dry leaf is clove and pepper scented. Hot and no additives this tasted like spicy apple cider to me. I like that. As the cup cooled I added a splash of milk and now it tastes like chai.

Not a very good review but you got to work with what you got. I loved the earl grey and the black tea so I assume the quality level is the same.

Thank you Justea for the sample. By now you all know of their campaign to build a processing kitchen in Kenya. If somehow you missed it check them out on Facebook.

Thanks again, Nicole_Martin!

This is my kind of chai! It has a golden-tasting, malty base and balance of both light and dark spices. How can I turn down cloves or liquorice root, right? And rose leaves in a chai? I was suprised at how much I could actually makes them out. I though at first they would be drowned out by the spices, but it really works well here. Yum!

Backlog:

A really different chai. I really liked it!

This has a different set of spices than the usual chai. I taste the fennel and licorice notes right up front. The clove and coriander lend a nice warmth to the cup, but this isn’t a really hot or spicy chai. The rose adds a nice floral tone.

As I mention in my full-length review of this tea: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/10/22/african-chai-blend-from-justea/ This tea is more warm and spiced than it is spicy. But it is a deliciously cozy kind of tea, very nice for these cold days.

I really liked it because it is so different.

Preface: If you are wanting an Indian chai, this tea is not that.

It is, however, an exciting twist on conventional chai with new spices (not cardamom, ginger or cinnamon based) in different quantities than you are used to. The blend is a really great mix of spice to tea ratio, with no argument for dominance. The spices harmonize really well with the Kenyan black tea base flavour.

My second sample from this Kenyan tea this time in a chai version. Dry it looks very beautiful loads of color from the clove, the fennel seeds, and rose petals. This smells very great to, a very very spicy oder. U just want to try it when u open the package.

Because i really was surprised with the regular kenyan black tea i’m not going deeper into the base of this tea. If u want to read more about the base just go to the other tasting note i made.

Once brewed this Chai still smells good and the color is a bit different then the ruby red from the tea without the spices. Taste wise the malty flavors come true and then the warming spices kick in. This one does not go bitter even with a bit of over steeping and thats a wonderful aspect!

Overall a very warming malty tea with a smooth finish, its really soft in the mouth!

Only one left to try is the Earl Grey, this is coming soon in my tasting note’s.

I’m thinking that i really need to start looking to buy some big packs of this tea, its a surprise i didn’t expected it to be that good!