Rooibos Chai from Jennifer’s Tea Garden

Tisane Information:

Leaf Type:  Rooibos

Where to Buy:  Jennifer’s Tea Garden

Tisane Description:

Based in organic rooibos, this blend with an invigorating aroma and luxurious spices makes a full-flavored treat! Best with steamed milk. Naturally caffeine free.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review: 

My favorite winter-y tea is chai.  Not chai as in tea but chai as in the warm blend of spices combined with tea (or in this case, rooibos and honeybush!)  Nothing warms me up better than a delicious chai.

And this one is quite yummy!  The “usual” spices are all there:  cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and ginger.  In this blend, there are a couple of other spices too:  anise seed and fennel.  These two spices are not as noticeable in the flavor as they are in the aroma, but, they do add just a hint of licorice-y flavor to the cup which is really quite lovely.

One thing that is also a little unusual about this particular blend is that the ginger has a softer flavor than I’m used to with chai.  Yes, I can taste that peppery heat from the ginger, but it is more of a mild, gentle kind of heat.  It doesn’t have that prickly, peppery effect on the tongue that ginger sometimes has.

The biggest effect that the lighter ginger flavor has on this cup – at least, in my opinion – is that the flavor of the cloves and cardamom are really coming through very distinctly.  Especially the cardamom!  Citrus-y and exotic, and pleasantly soothing.

I’ve said before that I really like the combination of rooibos and honeybush together.  I find that the honeybush helps to curb some of the funkier flavors of the rooibos.  The result is a nutty flavor that is honey-sweet, and that’s what I’m tasting here.  It compliments the spice tones of this blend quite well.

Overall, a nicely balanced chai that is not too spicy or sweet, but, somewhere in between.  I brewed mine extra strong and then added a bit of steamed, frothed milk and it became a dessert-like treat.  Sweet and delicious, it didn’t even need honey!

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