Description: “This will warm you up on a cold night. Broken leaf assam is used, which steeps quickly and gives a full body.” – via Amoda Monthly Box
Review: I tend to avoid chai teas because they normally contain cinnamon, but luckily, this one didn’t! The dry blend smelled great – spiced and warm, just as I would expect from a chai. The infused wet blend had a milder aroma.
I found, however, that initially, the liquor didn’t have the same spicy aroma or taste as the dry blend and was more roasted and toasted. After letting the liquor cool, I could smell and taste the spices better. The blend mostly tasted malty with cardamon and anise and it ended off with a fair bit of astringency.
To me, the black tea base took over and dominated the other flavours. I suspect that it may be because the blend uses CTC black tea (Cut, Tear, Curl) which means there is more contact between the water and the tea (because it is in small pieces) than with a blend that uses the full tea leaves.
The recommendations did mention trying it with some milk, so I added some. I added enough milk to get a nice unified tan colour. This definitely helped bring out the spices. Overall, this is more a mild chai (with respect to tasting the spices) and it might be for someone who isn’t looking for a huge spicy kick (3/5 rating).
- Type: Black tea
- Origin: Unknown
- Caffeine: High caffeine
- Ingredients: Assam black tea, cardamom, ginger, black pepper, anise, lavender, jasmine and rose petals
- Company: The Monarch Tea Co.
