Author: Michelle

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President’s Choice’s Chocolatey Chai

Chocolatey Chai by President’s Choice
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$2.97 for 44g (20 tea bags)

First Impressions

I picked up Chocolatey Chai on a whim when I was grocery shopping and there’s a few reasons why this purchase is out of character for me. I haven’t purchased a bagged grocery store tea in a while and I tend not to like chocolate flavoured teas so I bought it, not sure why sometimes – but here we are!

Chocolatey Chai came in a cardstock box, the individually wrapped tea bags come in paper packaging. The aroma of the tisane is quite chocolatey with spices – which definitely make me think that the name is accurate. I ripped the tea bags open to take a look inside. Very tiny pieces all around. Chocolatey Chai consists of: roasted chicory root, carob pod, spices, cocoa shells, natural flavour, ginger root, licorice root, and cocoa.

Preparation

President’s Choice recommends boiling water (100°C/212°F) water, allowing the water to rest for 1 minute, and then steeping Chocolatey Chai for 3 to 5 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions and did a steep for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Chocolatey Chai steeps to a deep brown, with a slight oil slick on top. The flavour is a mix of slightly bitter, sweet, and spicy. I definitely get a ‘chai’ feel from this tisane blend – there was a pleasant warming sensation from the ginger and the other non-described spices. I think there is some cinnamon in there, and perhaps cloves? The image on the packaging seems to suggest this, and I do think I might be tasting that. I didn’t find the taste of the chocolate to be very strong, a heavier hand with the cocoa might be needed to have a strong chocolate flavour.

I did try Chocolatey Chai with some milk and found that it really made it creamier and reminded me more of a spiced hot chocolate.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Chocolatey Chai and found that the flavour was quite weak compared to the initial steep. I would recommend steeping Chocolatey Chai just the one time.

My Overall Impression

I thought that President’s Choice’s Chocolatey Chai was just okay. I think that the aroma of the dry leaf was more enticing than the steeped tisane. The spices came through nicely, but the taste of chocolate wasn’t strong enough for my liking – and I do like chocolate! I think that the tisane works much better with a bit of milk to make it more of a latte. I do wish the chocolate came through more, because it seemed present in the dry leaf and it’s one of the features of the tisane that I wanted to experience the most.

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Masters Teas’s Da Fo Long Jing

Da Fo Long Jing by Masters Teas
Green Tea / Straight
$18.00USD for 1.5oz

Masters Teas has provided me with Da Fo Long Jing for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Da Fo Long Jing came in a sealed, printed, resealable pouch. I love the fact that Masters Teas includes so much information about each of their teas on the packaging, as well as on their product pages. For instance, I know that the other name for this tea is Big Buddha Dragon Well. This Chinese green tea is from Zhejiang, China, farmed by Liu Yi Qian and grown at an elevation of 750m above sea level. Oh, and this tea is a spring harvest from April 2019.

The leaves themselves are bright green, long and flat – which is a characteristic I’ve come to appreciate and love about dragon well teas. Da Fo Long Jing has light grassy and floral aromas from the dry leaf, which makes me curious about it. The leaves are quite pretty to look at.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Da Fo Long Jing in 170°F (77°C) water for 3 minutes. My Breville IQ Kettle‘s lowest temperature setting is 175°F (79°C), so I heated my water to that temperature and then allowed it to cool.

First Taste

Da Fo Long Jing steeps to a very pale yellow. I found the aroma of the steeped tea matched the dry leaf very well – grassy and floral notes. I found the tea to be smooth and pleasant – there’s no bitterness, or astringency. I didn’t get a lot of the chestnut notes that Masters Teas mentioned, but I liked the floral and grassy notes that I was able to find. There’s a light sweetness that mingles well with the grassy flavours.

A Second Cup?

Masters Teas suggests that Da Fo Long Jing can be steeped seven times. I opted to resteep the tea seven times (eight steeps total) – adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The tea got more golden yellow with subsequent steeps. The grassy flavours got stronger, while the floral notes stayed fairly similar. I found that the sweetness lessened with each steep, but the tea stayed palatable.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’s Da Fo Long Jing. I found that the tea to be a delight for the taste buds. The floral and grassy notes were delicious, and I enjoyed how well this green tea resteeped and held up to being resteeped so many times. I found the sweetness to be nice, and I think it would have been more pronounced if you cold steeped the leaves instead of steeping with heated water. But I would recommend that you resteep this tea multiple times to enjoy the subtle changes of the flavor with each steep.

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Ahista Tea’s Roadside Chai

Roadside Chai by Ahista Tea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$14.99 for 100g

Ahista Tea has provided me with Roadside Chai for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Ahista Tea’s Roadside Chai came in a resealable bag – but not sealed. The tea came in prepackaged sachets, but the tea has a very strong lemongrass and mint aroma, which is interesting because I do spy some black tea in the blend – but I can’t smell it.

Roadside Chai consists of black tea, ginger, lemongrass, and field mint. So I wasn’t off about the lemongrass and mint – although the visible lemongrass is a giveaway. I don’t really smell the black tea or the ginger, but I think that’s because both lemongrass and mint are both such strong aromatic ingredients. Because of the mint, I don’t really get a ‘chai’ spice feeling from the blend.

Preparation

Ahista Tea recommends steeping Roadside Chai in 90-100°C (194-212°F) water for 3 to 5 minutes. My initial steep was with 91°C (195°F) for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Roadside Chai steeps to a golden brown with orange undertones. The aroma is very strongly of lemongrass with mint in the background, which is not overly surprising given the ingredients in this blend and how the dry leaf smelled. I found the tea to be lightly sweet, with strong lemongrass and mint flavours. I don’t really taste the ginger – it’s lacking that warming quality that ginger usually has.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Roadside Chai once, adding an additional 30 seconds. I found the flavour to be quite similar to the initial steep – lemongrass and mint.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Ahista Tea’s Roadside Chai was just okay. The lemongrass and mint was strong compared to the black tea base – I find both lemongrass and mint to be very strong ingredients and they overpowered both the black tea base and the ginger. I do think the tea is missing some of those spicy notes that I enjoy in a chai, which isn’t helped with the strong lemongrass and the lack of warmth from the ginger. I think the flavour would have been better if the ginger was stronger.

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