Decaffeinated Chai

Ok… this is getting a major rating boost. Made it the way I normally have my chai 1 cup each water and Fat Free Smart Balance milk and added a min of steeping time. No sweetener. This is the best non chocolate chai I’ve EVER had… and I’m shocked it’s a decaf bag. The spices aren’t strong, they’re very smooth… I’m not sure why, but I swear this even has a different texture than my Mayan Chocolate Chai. This has a lot of similar qualities to the authentic Indian chai I had at a restaurant once only it’s actually drinkable lol. I’m thinking the milk in that chai just had scorched milk… I dunno. Anyway REALLY good. I suggest making it w/ chocolate milk.

Ugh, I am so spoiled by loose leaf. I picked up a box of this because I like having chai at night, and it was on sale, so it was worth a try.

I steeped it for 20 minutes and it still tastes weak and watery. If you like ginger, though, you might like it just fine. The spice blend completely overwhelms any black tea flavor, and is dominated by ginger. Some cinnamon and clove are detectable, but I couldn’t find the cardamom. I’ll probably finish the box; it’s not bad just unremarkable and kind of artificially sweet from the ginger flavoring.

One of the best decaf teas I’ve tried; it’s very true to the Chai flavor without that “off” decaf flavoring. A little cinnamony, cardomomy, nice.

Head fuzzies this morning. Hoping it’s not the onset of a migraine, although it feels that way. Advil and tea is how I choose to stave this off, whatever it is (the result of too much craft beer and Spanish wine this weekend, probably).

As far as bagged options go, Twinings is hard to argue with. This chai is well-balanced, tastes exactly how you’d want and expect it to, is low-maintenance, and takes milk and honey well. Twinings’s decaf black tea base is also done very well with this blend; it doesn’t have that horrible flat chemical aftertaste that so many other grocery store decaf options do. I’m sure it’s the wonderful, warming spices that are helping hide it, but whatever gets the job done is fine.

Drank 1/14/22
A Christmas gift from my friend Caleb! I have several boxes of the Twinings Chai in the pantry, but I had never tried the decaf version before. I’m not a huge fan of decaf in general as it tastes flat and empty… like someone added notebook paper to the cup. This one, however, isn’t that bad! The spices overpowered that decaf taste and made a nice cup of tea. I would probably not buy it myself, but I would drink it again if it came my way.
I don’t think it would work well with milk as it was rather weak.

It smells amazing but the taste is entirely weak unless you add milk

Meh. Pretty standard, pleasant cinnamon-flavored tea.

Earlier this month was the first time I’d ever had chai. I bought a small box of concentrated decaf chai latte made by Tazo. I had nothing to compare it to, but it was wonderful. When buying this box of chai tea, I thought I’d have a similar experience, especially considering that most Twinings teas are pretty good.

I tried not to expect much, because it is a decaffeinated tea after all, which can be pretty hit or miss, but despite this, I was still a little disappointed. Upon steeping, the smell was that of an overpowering artificial cinnamon. It reminded me a lot of Red Hots candy. To prepare it, I added 2 teaspoons of sugar and a dash of milk.

The taste with my additions was still much like Red Hots. There was also an artificial sweetness in the background as well. I couldn’t really taste the tea or any other flavors, save for a hint of cloves. I wasn’t so bothered that I couldn’t finish my cup, but I don’t think I will be buying this again once I’ve finished the box. I’m sure there are better decaf chai teas out there. Sadly, this one wasn’t as wonderful as I had hoped it’d be.

I’ve grown tired of drinking this one as it’s not my favorite so I decided today to use the rest of my box in a batch of chai ice cream. Dirty chai, actually, which I just learned is chai with a shot of espresso mixed in. I followed this recipe:

http://belinder.co/2015/03/31/dirty-chai-ice-cream-recipe/

I tweaked it a little based on what I had in the kitchen (no ginger, cloves, or orange zest) and it turned out amazing! It’s spicy and creamy with a bold punch from the coffee. I don’t plan on purchasing another box of this tea, but I will be trying this recipe again in the future. It’s wonderful!

Not my favorite caffeine-free chai. The cinnamon is very strong, almost Red Hots-style. I can taste some ginger and (less) clove, but there’s something excessively sweet and slightly artificial going on. There’s not much to say about the tea base—it doesn’t stand up to the spice flavors at all, but I realize you can’t expect too much from decaffeinated tea so I’m trying not to judge too harshly on that point. It’s better with some (soy)milk, but then most chais are. I much prefer Celestial Seasonings’ decaf chai, as far as accessible teabag options go—or, even better, Organic India’s Red Chai Masala for something a little bit different.