Wanderlust from September. This one is not fully a masala chai, but the nutmeg and cinnamon give it a chai character. The flavor is pretty strong, but not overly as cakey as I’d imagine. It’s more bready than anything else underneath a healthy serving of floral tannin and light astringency of sweet spices. The black tea and green tea make it medium bodied like an oolong, but has the touch of malt and green astringency to make it more on the medium side, or first flush side. Shorter brew times makes the green tea more apparent, and the longer steeps makes the black tea more apparent.
I’m not sure how the cardamom was added, but it’s one of the biggest spices leading the overall flavor with the nutmeg and rose underneath. I can’t really taste the jasmine as strongly, but it adds a little bit of dryness to it. I personally like the spice combo and love the smell. There are certain things about this tea that are honestly muddled, but the basic part of me really enjoys it. I like it on its own after about 2-3 minutes western, and it takes sugar well. It can also handle cream, but the cream can overpower other parts of the tea and make it a little bit thinner. The sugar highlights the florals and off puts the slight astringency and dryness.
I liked this one because it was different from most other blends, and I honestly liked it better than some, but not all of the pumpkin spice blends. Definitely a good fall option. My girlfriend loooooves it, and some of my students that saw it at work were really into the smell. I personally would still add sugar to sweeten it to make it more palatable, which is the big thing against this tea for my preferences other than the astringency. It is also more pastry/candle bordering than potpouri like the other blends. If you really like rose and cardamom though, you might really like this.
Flavors: Astringent, Bread, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Floral, Nutmeg, Pastries, Rose, Spicy, Sweet, Tannic
