Tea: Organic Masala Chai Black Tea
Type: Black Tea
Packaging: Loose Leaf
Company: Arbor Teas
Purchase: Here
Description: This organic, Fair Trade Certified Masala Chai Black Tea blend has a medium-body with exceptionally spicy flavor and aroma. This formula is based on traditional South Indian blending methods and ingredients, using a CTC leaf grade (i.e. very small), as well as green cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and black pepper. Despite the CTC grade leaf, this tea has surprisingly little astringency. The clove and ginger really come through, with a wonderful cardamom finish. We recommend steeping a triple-strength cup of our Masala Chai Black Tea and serving it with honey and steamed milk.
Ingredients: organic black tea, organic green cardamom, organic cinnamon, organic ginger, organic clove, and organic black pepper.
Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp
Water: boiling, 12oz
Tool: kati loose tea system (my Review here.)
Steep Time: a little over 2 minutes (http://steep.it
Served: Hot
Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: Cardamom, clove, POW!
Steeped Tea Smell: cinnamon, peppercorn
Flavor: bake-y, cinnamon, cardamom
Body: Full
Aftertaste: ginger
Liquor: barely translucent dark brown
You can see all the spices, whole cardamom pods, whole cloves, it looks lovely.
I wish I had soy milk at work to make a latte with this.
When I received this with some other packages for review it came with a handwritten note. I love that i got a hand written note! It makes me smile when people include notes in packages. The note gave a little information on the Arbor Teas commitment to the environment - including information about their 100% backyard compostable packaging. The note was printed with vegetable-based ink on FSC-certified paper containing 100% post-consumer waste and processed chlorine-free.
This tea is organic and Fair Trade Certified. That would be worthless if the tea was not good, but this tea is delicious so it's an added bonus for everyone. It is a lovely tea and only missed out on a 100% rating because it's not something I MUST keep stocked at all times.
Post-Steep Additives: +2 honey sticks
Cha/chai is/means tea to most of the world, so I'll say spiced teas are my favorite, I have one at Starbucks every day
Rating: 3/4 leaves
Leaf system:
1=Bleh! not again if it were free
2=Acceptable, if it were free or there were limited other tea options
3=I might purchase this tea from time to time, or select it while out
4=A staple in our cupboard from now on, I will purchase and keep purchasing
I received this product for free in return for writing a review. The review is as unbiased as possible despite the free product. I received no other compensation.
I received this product for free in return for writing a review. All my reviews are as unbiased as possible, whether I buy or receive free product. I accept no other compensation other than free product.
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