Masala Chai

Skipping the milk and sugar and going straight for spicy goodness, this morning.

Sipdown #2 of the day, & of the Extravaganza!

I made this one stovetop, steeping the tea first in a bit of simmering water, & then adding some Almond Milk & letting the whole thing come up to heat. Quite honestly, I’m not a huge fan of almond milk in tea, although combined with some canned coconut milk it is greatly improved, but I’m too lazy/busy to open a can, so it was straight almond milk today. I also added a little Maple syrup.

This is a nice spicy chai, which is what I like! Thanks to TeaBrat for this generous sample!!

Good afternoon Steepster… I hope everyone is enjoying the day. I had a nice morning because my sweetie made me breakfast and then I went to go get a massage which was very relaxing and almost made up for the fact that I didn’t sleep much again last night.

I felt like I wanted something warm and soothing & almost ended up with a straight black tea but decided to drink this instead. Prepared with 8 oz. tea and 8 oz. soymilk in a really big mug with some organic cane sugar. This isn’t the best chai I’ve ever had but since I have a whole tin of it, it’s good enough for the time being. I would still like to find a good decaf chai someday. I am enjoying this though, and getting a nice calcium boost.

I got a sudden craving for chai tonight, so I made myself an iced cup.

This kinda another dud by Peet’s as far as I’m concerned. I was happy to see the cinnamon bark and ginger pieces when I made it, but their flavors are weak. The coarse black tea they used overpowers it. When I go for chai, I go for something heavy on the spices and complex. This will do for now, but it’s making me really miss Adagio’s Thai Chai.

Thought this sample bag from Spencer might be strong enough to overcome the unfamiliar water issue—and it does. The little bit of coffee residue from a shared Kuerig even blends in pretty nicely. Looking forward to a pure, unadulterated, familiar cuppa of anything very soon.

Notes to myself. A bit more mild than what I had expected after reading about chai teas. 5 min and not much flavor other than clove. A pinch of sugar increases the flavors.

Okay, I’ll admit it. I don’t really like chai. I bought an entire tin of this to try it out, and I don’t think I’ll finish this even if I had 2 years. It’s the peppercorn and ginger, I’m not used to having that in drinks at all. The tea itself isn’t that bad, but the flavorings just make it seem like something I’d cook with, not drink. I’m not going to give this too low of a rating though, since it’s certainly not that bad for most people if you add warm milk in a 1:1 ratio to tea and dump at least two teaspoons of sugar (the directions actually say to do this, except 1 tsp sugar). But if you think pepper and ginger is weird in a drink, then you might want to stay away from this.

If I’m in an area where Peet’s is as prevalent as Starbucks, I’ll always choose this first. Steeped to perfection, not made from a concentrate: excellent on-the-go chai is hard to come by!

Not the best chai I’ve ever had, but not the worst either. Little overboard on the cardamom, making it almost bitter. Possibly overbrewed; not sure. Had this at the shop, so I didn’t brew it myself.

For 4/25 I drank 3 cups for breakfast.