Caramel Vanilla Chai

ChOTD….Thank you Jenn!

This is good, but it pretty much just tastes like chai. I do get the very faintest hint of caramel. I am thinking I can do better on preparing this one. This chai, and the other one I have from 52teas is more ground up than other chais I have. I imagine this is more traditional. I forget that for chais that are not full leaf, I can use about half the amount of leaf. Yeild was about two cups and I used 2 perfect teaspoons of leaf. I think it will be much better if I cut it. I will rate it the next time around, because I think it will improve greatly. Plus, that means more servings!!!!!!

I now have this lovely tea in my cupboard thanks to threewhales.

I was a bit stingy on the steeping time because the CTC leaves concerned me a bit. However, I think 3 minutes is too little. What I have now is a very mild chai and I’m not getting the caramel or vanilla as I expected. I think this tea would really shine with a traditional stovetop preparation so perhaps I’ll try that tomorrow morning.

I too thought this was the Extra Bold Masala Chai when I first opened the packet. Upon brewing, I taste lots of that delicious chai flavor with just a small hint of vanilla. I don’t taste any caramel at all, but seeing as fresh caramel causes me pain in an allergic reaction, that’s fine with me. ;)

This is very good, but the name isn’t entirely accurate. Vanilla Chai would be better – but who am I to judge?

I didn’t add any sugar to the chai (shocker, I know) and normally I do. Perhaps that would help round out the sharp edges of this spicy tea. I never add milk to chai because I’m allergic, but I also enjoy spicier teas.

Overall, this was a great one to try, but I’m not sure if I would buy it separately. I’m so very picky (OK, snobby) about my chais so that’s nothing new!

Thanks be to the wonderful Erin and her gracious sample!

I wanted a chai night tonight, so I added a bag of chai tea to my rice when it was cooking, and a splash of chai concentrate to my simmering Butter Shrimp (Like Butter Chicken but with.. well, shrimp!). Oh! And this tea! :)

The caramel/vanilla notes were a bit muted, but well blended with the other spices, I thought. It’s still a pretty strong chai (I’m not sure if I’m a fan of the tea base 52teas uses a lot, but it depends on the tea so I’ll just shut up and drink because I have no idea what I’m talking about haha!)

So I probably wouldn’t purchase this one, but I really appreciate the chance to try it! Frothed milk with a bit of vanilla syrup. Yummeh.

gosh I love tea!

You know, I am really surprised at what a low rating this tea has. Though it’s not one of my favorites, it’s a far cry from a bad tea. In both the aroma and taste I am getting more of a maple syrup and brown sugar vibe than carmel and vanilla. It does come off little bitter but still a soothing mild chai.

This is another one I was hoping would be in the box. Caramel! Vanilla! Those are words to get me interested in many things indeed. But then the chai bit… I’m not a chai fan. Actually I’m beginning to wonder if it’s starting to look like I don’t like anything at all. I do like plenty of stuff, I swear! It just seems like I have a tendency to dislike many things that others like.

So yeah, chai. Not a huge fan of that, but due to the whole caramel or vanilla business, I was dithering about giving it a go anyway. As is quite normal for me, by the time I decided I was brave enough, it was gone.

Second chance, though. Now to see if I’m missing out hugely or if I had a lucky escape.

The leaves were teensy tiny. The pot will be easy to clean out because most of them landed in the strainer anyway and can be tipped straight in the bin.

As it is a chai, I thought it would be suitable to serve it with milk, and because it was harder than expected to pour equal amounts of milk in the two cups (sharing this with the boyfriend), it turned into rather a lot of milk. Since it’s chai, though, and these often seem to get steeped in warm milk, I didn’t think it mattered.

It smells sweet, but spicy. Very ginger-y to my nose. We’ve been around the ginger-issue before, haven’t we? Apart from some generic sweetness, I can’t really tell whether it’s caramel or vanilla or both or neither. It’s just sweet and it’s not sugar.

Due to the milk, it’s quite lukewarm, and I have to say that the primary flavour I’m getting here is that prickly ginger again. Oh and milk. It may be because I used too much milk and it got too cold really, but I can’t really find much of other flavours. A bit of cinnamon at the bottom maybe, but I’m unable to spot anything else.

As chais go, though, I’ve definitely had worse. I don’t find it super-spicy-offensive, apart from the ginger, which I could have lived without, but it’s drinkable. I wonder if the fact that I can’t find very many spice flavours in it is actually to my advantage.

Yeah, now that I’ve tried it, it’s probably for the best that I took so long to gather up the courage.

made a strong half cup and added about 3 oz of Odwalla Vanilla Protein Monster to make a sweet but protein-packed latte. Mmmm. Next time will try it cold/iced.

I was surprised by how small and broken-up the tea leaves were – it looked like something more suited to being inside of a tea bag. At the risk of sounding snobbish, if I have to pay $9 for 4oz of tea I’d really like for it to be good-quality whole-leaf stuff. And of course this was one of the pouches that hadn’t been sealed properly so I ended up with half of it on the counter and the floor. >.<

Appearance aside, it has a nice blend of chai spices but I’m not really getting as much vanilla or caramel as I expected. I’ve had vanilla chais that were much creamier and richer than this one (Metropolitan Tea’s Vanilla Chai comes to mind) so it was a bit of a let down. That isn’t to say it’s a bad-tasting tea or anything – as a plain chai blend it would have been fine. It’s just a bit disappointing because I know Frank is capable of making better.

So I opened my Christmas presents tonight since I’ll be away from my family on Christmas. I had no idea my mom got me the 12 Teas of Christmas, and she had wanted to give it to me at the proper time but that wasn’t going to work. At least I hadn’t looked on Steepster beforehand today so a quarter will be surprises! Although by now I don’t think I really remember what was when so I can still be surprised.

I made this as a latte because I don’t like chai too much by itself and I have the s’mores chai and I figured this too would be too peppery for my liking if I didn’t. I have no idea if there’s some sort of more proper way to do it but I put enough tea for 8oz in but pour only 4oz of water in, then whisk 4 oz of milk on the stove, and once the tea is made, add it to the milk, make sure it’s all nice and hot then put it in my mug. Works for me, I taste everything so I’m sticking with it!

This is pretty good, I don’t know if I would drink it again after this because I have enough chais for the rare times I want it. I do like that it’s sweeter than most though, thanks to the caramel vanilla part.

Also the set of tsacs is going to save my life while staying in a hotel for 5 nights next week. I was trying so desperately to find a way to still have MY tea despite us staying really close to an Argo Tea.

Nope, this is not the chai for me. I don’t taste any of the caramel and vanilla flavor I was so excited about in this blend, and the pepper notes are so over powering for me that I’m unable to taste much else. I’m a huge 52teas fan but I couldn’t even finish my cup.

I feel a bit like the only kid that doesn’t get the punchline to the joke here after reading all of the positive reviews for this tea. BUT truth is truth, and truth be told this tea is not for me.