I just had to buy some of this one recently. I usually don’t have chai in the hot weather, but it was raining today and I was in with the air conditioning. Not only does the blend just LOOK gorgeous with the green and the red of the pepper slices, but the ingredients are amazing too: Black tea, ginger bits, cloves, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon bits, chili bits, anise, vanilla bits. I love when a tea has those big slices of vanilla and I’ve never seen a tea that has actual slices of pepper before. There are a ton of spices here, a lot more than the black tea itself. Upon brewing, the tea itself is a very light brown, which I was afraid of. I really love a deep chai, and this ain’t it. But it’s spicy. Just not as spicy as I would expect from actual pepper slices. So I don’t think anyone has to be afraid of this one. Sadly I wasn’t tasting much vanilla either but I like that it’s in there anyway. Maybe the other spices overpower the vanilla. And if the black tea is too light, I can always add a half teaspoon of another black tea to toughen it up.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep
This is You :-D
Profile
Bio
Hi! I love tea and trying new ones – it adds a bit of variety to my day! Books, music, TV & movies are my thing… and tea, of course.
Some of my favorite tea shops (still operating):
birdandblendtea.com
teavivre.com
52teas.com
svtea.com
whisperingpinestea.com
justea.com
harney.com
Dammann Freres
fusionteas.com
Javateaco.com
Lupicia
Octaviatea.com
Davidstea
eco-cha.com
what-cha.com
singleoriginteas.com
teasenz.com
tealyra.com
Mandala
verdanttea.com
Favorite tea shops (RIP):
butikiteas.com
steapshoppe.com
steepcityteas.com
aquartertotea.com
dellaterrateas.com
zentealife.com
angrytearoom.com
theteamerchant.net
joysteaspoon.com
tealiciousllc.com
Rivertea
Specialteas
My icon photo is Richard Mayhew from the graphic novel ‘Neverwhere’ by Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey & Glenn Fabry.
Most of the teas listed in my cupboard are actually sample sizes. I don’t really have 2,000 ounces of tea around here! Many of my teas have only one teaspoon left… maybe two. But I like keeping them in my cupboard list for reference to what I could be sipping. Usually, I write tasting notes once for each tea. I’m still drinking them, just not writing tasting notes each time!
I’m always in search of: Hattialli, Qu Hao black, Jin Jun Mei, teas using marshmallow root.
My dislikes: hibiscus, ginger (unless in chai), turmeric, bee pollen, charcoal type flavors
My ratings:
95-100 – Super awesome deliciousness favorites – cupboard essential
80-95 – Also pretty delicious
65-80 – Pretty good
50-65 – Okay
1-50 – Probably won’t want to sip it again
I’m planning on being a Steepsterer as long as there IS a Steepster, so if you’re not hearing from me, that means something happened to my health… if you know what I mean. (Or as evidenced by the great computer hiatus of 2019, something happened to my computer… I have a dumb phone so can’t access internet on that. As of 12/20/21 my wifi might start getting unreliable.)
Happy sipping!
Location
USA
