El Dorado Chai

Oversteeped it just a touch, but I think this is a lovely tea nonetheless. Rich, a tiny bit sweet, some smoke that isn’t lapsang souchong -y, more like smoked salmon or something along those lines. Smoked chestnuts? There’s a lot of complex layers to this one, and I’m loving all of them in different ways.

Overboard TTB #15

I was so excited when I saw the sample of this in the TTB! I haven’t tried a lot from Whispering Pines yet, but I love Golden Snail and a chai with that base definitely sounded like a winner to me. And it is! Smooth and malty with the perfect balance of spicy and sweet and just a hint of vanilla in the aftertaste. I enjoyed it both plain and with milk this morning and will be savoring the remainder of the sample (and probably re-ordering at some point once it’s gone.)

This was a surprise sample in my swap with Tealizzy! She kindly included two extra teas that were on my wishlist. It’s been a while since I last had the Golden Snail base, but I do remember liking it (and really, it’s a Yunnan, what’s not to like?), so I’m happy to try this one even though I’m not a big chai fan. There are a lot of crushed spices mixed in with the base tea, though I don’t actually see any pieces of vanilla bean. Dry scent is very strong on the cardamon and ginger, which is not a good sign for me.

Happily, the steeped tea smells much milder and sweeter, and I can smell the vanilla and cinnamon now. Oof, the cardamon is strong with this one! A little too strong for me, as I don’t add sugar or milk to my teas. The clove is fairly strong here too, though I don’t mind that as much. I can taste perhaps a tiny bit of vanilla? And it’s a shame, the strong spicing is drowning out the base tea for me, which I know to be quite tasty. Oh well.

I think I messed up my parameters on this one. I was really excited to try it as I love a good chai. The dry leaf smelled like vanilla chai. Yum! I steeped it for 3 minutes and added a little sugar and a splash of almond milk. Unfortunately, I think the milk muted the base tea. So, I did a second steep without milk and found it tasted more balanced, but I still think I under leafed it. Hmmm. Soooo, next time, I’m going to add more leaf and skip the milk. The spices are delicious, though. Very spicy and nicely balanced. I just want that base tea to come through more. I also got a buttery taste which was interesting. I’ll reserve final judgement until next time!

I snagged this one from the last round of the ’Here’s Hoping’ teabox. I had pumpkin pie for breakfast and I really think CHAI goes with pumpkin pie. This particular blend contains the golden snails that I tried before: a light sweet potato flavor. Not the deepest darkest chai, but sometimes it’s nice for a change. I love the mix of spices in this one and it’s the perfect balance. Sweet potato base with just the right spices. I like that this one has the vanilla beans (the occasional crunch in my teeth) and also the holy basil to give it a little bit of a vegetal flavor. The second steep was just as spicy. This one is very good… it would be my choice for a lighter base chai, but I think I’d usually go for a brisk chai.
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // couple minutes after boiling // 3 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4-5min

I’m cold. I’m not a huge fan of winter. I like Autumn. When I get cold, I want chai. I don’t want bad chai. MOST chai is bad chai. I usually make my own. Fortunately for me, now I don’t have to as the HaikuHobbit has me covered.

The base of this spectacular chai is my beloved Wee Snaily Yums. Anything that starts with Snaily is pretty much gonna have to be great. And it is. Perfectly spiced, smooth and creamy dreamy.

Review and the song on my blog at: https://atasteofmzpriss.wordpress.com/2014/11/14/el-dorado-chai-whispering-pines-tea-company/

My tasting notes are all out of order this morning and a little bit random. This is a tasty tea. I think my only complaint is that there’s just a bit too many cloves going on. I really like the vanilla, malt and smoothness happening going on. i’ll have to play with this one a bit more – maybe try it with milk and a bit of honey.

Ahhh, I have had this tea before but I haven’t written a review yet, time to fix that! I was craving this at work yesterday but instead had my standard Cold 911 for my lungs/allergies lol, so on this dreary, gray Saturday morning, I am cozying up with my cup of this chai.

The dry smell is very spicy, lots of pepper, some cardamom, ginger, a very lovely spiced chai smell. It opens the sinuses and invigorates. I followed WP’s steeping directions, at around 205 degrees for 3 minutes. The resulting liquor is a reddish brown in color, and the vanilla that Brenden does so well is present in the aroma, along with the mingling of spices, smoothed by the vanilla and the base. I have never had the Golden Snails Yunnan by itself (or fondly known as Snaily Yums on here I think lol), but I should try it out, as I love Yunnan black teas.

As for the flavor…mmm, this is quite a good chai. The flavors meld seamlessly – The spices at the forefront, the honeyed/malty base in the middle blending into a rich vanilla aftertaste, with the spices still kicking around. I can’t really pick out specific spices, which I find to be the mark of a great chai, not one overpowers the other. They instead blend into a spicy and warming concoction. The vanilla really adds the final touch, with it’s sweetness, it just smooths out the sip and leaves you wanting to have another drink, and another…yeah, it’s pretty good. The flavor profile, if my memory serves me correctly, reminds me of Verdant’s Laoshan Village Chai, but instead of a chocolatey base, this one has a more honeyed flavor from the Snails, and the vanilla is richer and more prominent here I think.

Overall, this is a delicious cup of yuminess, and I like that it is different from the other chais I have in my cupboard (enter Yu Lu Yan Chai haha). It is a more mellow chai, for cozy fall days, and I might keep it in my cupboard to contrast with the bold Yu Lu Yan Chai, which still might hold my heart for favorite chai, but we will see, this one is not too far behind! Another wonderful tea blend from Whispering Pines! Lol, under the flavors tab, I wish there was one for ‘awesome’, as that’s the best way I can describe this tea lol.

I’m not a really big fan of chai tea but that’s not to say I don’t like them. This one seemed intriguing, Bi-Luo Chun Black with vanilla beans and chai spices? I love green bi-luo chun and love vanilla and was curious to try this out. As everyone has said the spices in this tea are done perfectly. A wonderful chai spice mixed with the creaminess an sweetness of the tea. Then there’s the vanilla adding a sweetness too. Yummy! However, this has now got me curious. I wonder how plain bi-luo chun black tastes?

Oh My, So smooth and creamy almost buttery even,mmmmm.
Very nice and bold with malty, cocoa notes and honey notes with smooth floral vanilla and just the right amount of spice.
The spice level on this one is just perfect.

I can’t believe how smooth and creamy this one is, it needs no milk or sweetener at all because it is perfect on its own.
I did decide to add a little maple syrup to it just because and it was omg so delicious BUT a bit much for me at first because I used a bit too much the first time. After using less maple the second time around it was perfection.

The maple made it very sweet and even more creamy somehow, the maple sweetness brought about a chocolatey note that is different than the dark chocolatey notes of some of brendens teas and it totally enhanced the Vanilla and made it stand out much more.
The chocolatey notes of this one with sweetener is like a milk chocolate donut or something, omg so good.
Milk chocolate donut with chai spice on top, mmmmmmm so good.

The perfect balance of the ginger and other spices toned down by the vanilla make this a perfect chai on its own and allow it to be subtly sweetened without being too bold like some chais, Some sweet chais give my a slight belly ache from the sweet spicy combo, Not this one!

Totally Awesome on it’s own but if ya sweeten it do try some Maple Syrup, oh my so good.

Thanks BOYCHIK for mentioning Maple Syrup in your review! Great Idea!!!