Author: Michelle

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Trader Joe’s Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix

Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix by Trader Joe’s
Black Tea / Flavoured
$3.99USD for 10oz (284g)

First Impressions

Big ol’ tin of chai latte mix for $4USD? Don’t mind if it I do! It work out to be about $5.25CAD, which isn’t terrible, especially when I consider how much a comparable product might cost me in Canada! I picked up this tin of Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix during my cross-border (mostly tea) shopping trip back in September. The tin has a plastic lid and a foil seal that I had to peel open to get to the powder inside. The powder itself is a light brown with a very mild chai spice aroma to it.

FUN FACT! Chai is another word for tea, so when someone says “chai tea”, they’re really saying “tea tea”! However, we’ve come to expect “chai” to describe spiced teas, usually like a masala chai.

There is a scoop inside of the tin! I found it when I was using a tablespoon to scoop out the powder for my first drink. Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix consists of: sugar, non-fat milk, non-dairy creamer, tea powder blend (with black tea), honey granules, spice blend (cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, anise, ginger), silicon dioxide, natural flavours, carrageenan and guar gum, and bourbon vanilla extract. Silicon dioxide is used to prevent clumping, carragenan is a thickening additive (from seaweed), and guar gum is another thickening agent (from beans).

Preparation

Trader Joe’s provides instructions for both making a hot or cold chai latte with the Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix. For hot, it’s 1 scoop (3 tablespoons) with 6oz hot water. For cold, it’s 1 scoop (3 tablespoons) with 2 oz hot water, poured over 8oz of ice and topped with 2oz of cold water or milk. I followed the directions for a cup of hot chai latte.

Since each serving consists of 3 tablespoons (40g) of latte mix, it results in 27g of sugar per serving (if you’re mixing with water). On a side note, you do get 15% of your daily intake of calcium, 2% of vitamin C and 2% of iron per serving. Given that it’s 40g per serving, it is approximately 7 servings per tin.

First Taste

The aroma of the Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix when made hot is really quite fragrant – I can smell the spicy mix, but it also does smell sweet. The colour is darker than the pale brown powder that I started off with. The flavour is primarily sweet, although I can also taste the blend of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and anise. It’s not as spicy as I was expecting, considering the name, but it isn’t bad either. I do think it is quite sweet (after all, it has sugar and honey granules in it!).

A Second Cup?

Since it is a drink mix, all of the powder dissolved with the initial drink so there were no resteeps!

My Overall Impression

I liked Trader Joe’s Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix. I did find it really sweet for me, which was a bit of a surprise since I’m usually quite fond of sweets. I think a full scoop is a bit much, considering how sugary the powdery mix is. I did try it again with double the recommended volume, but in milk (so 12oz milk plus the 1 scoop of powder) and it was quite delicious – a lot creamier, just a tad less sweet – it’ll also help make the tin last a lot longer.

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Yunomi’s Hojicha Gold Roast

Hojicha Gold Roast by Yunomi
Green Tea / Straight
$13.00USD for 50g

Yunomi has provided me with Hojicha Gold Roast for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Hojicha Gold Roast from Yunomi is from the Obubu Tea Farms in Kyoto. I’ve mentioned it before on One More Steep, but I really do like the packaging and labeling that Yunomi uses for their packaging – it’s resealable and the label has all the information that one could ever want about the tea. Hojicha Gold Roast is a Japanese green tea that was harvested in the spring time.

Hojicha Gold Roast is a straight green tea. The leaves are dark brown with many short pieces throughout. This hojicha has some nice deep roasted/toasted notes ot it. It has a slightly smokey and nutty aroma to it.

Preparation

Yunomi recommends steeping Hojicha Gold Roast in 90C (195F) water for 60 seconds. My initial steep followed the steeping recommendations.

First Taste

Hojicha Gold Roast steeps to a light golden yellow. I noted that a lot of the fine particles of tea weren’t contained by with stainless steel infuser that I used in my tea pot, so if that bothers you, I would recommend using a filter bag instead. The tea itself has a nice toasted aroma to it. I found the tea to be very smooth when steeped for 60 seconds, with a nice strong nutty flavour. I found some sweetness to the tail end of each steep that reminded me a lot of caramel.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Hojicha Gold Roast a total of four times, because that’s what Yunomi suggested it could do. I added an extra 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the flavours deepened in the first resteep, and became a deeper golden yellow colour. After that, the flavours got a bit weaker with each steep, I found that the nutty flavour gave way to the sweet caramel flavours that I got.

My Overall Impression

I loved Yunomi’s Hojicha Gold Roast. I really enjoyed this tea, because it’s not like other green teas out there. If you’re not a fan of the salty flavours or vegetal notes in most green teas, hojicha is a nice change of pace because it’s been roasted and it just has a different type of flavour profile to it. I really enjoyed the sweet caramel notes in this tea, along with the nutty flavours – which makes this tea quite savoury. I would easily pair this with a meal as it’ll be more sweet by the time you get to dessert.

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Tea Side’s Ruan Zhi Oolong, Premium Myanmar

Ruan Zhi Oolong, Premium Myanmar by Tea Side
Oolong Tea / Straight
$15.00USD for 50g

Tea Side has provided me with Ruan Zhi Oolong, Premium Myanmar for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Consider my interest piqued when I read the label on this tea from Tea Side – to my knowledge I’ve never had a tea from Myanmar (Burma) before. I learned from their website that this tea was harvested at 2000m above sealevel during the spring of 2016. The dry leaf is beautiful to look at – there are various shades of dark green to brown with a lovely aroma. There’s a mix of floral and fruity notes.

Ruan Zhi Oolong, Premium Myanmar is a straight oolong tea.

Preparation

There weren’t any steeping instructions listed for Ruan Zhi Oolong. I used my usual oolong steeping times and used 90°C (195°F) water for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Ruan Zhi Oolong steeps to a beautiful light, yellow colour. The aroma is primarily that of floral notes, with a gentle touch of fruity notes that reminds me a lot of berries. There’s a nice natural sweetness to this oolong tea that I easily enjoyed. 2 minutes for an initial steep was a good idea, given that the tea has a smooth texture and goes down easy.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Ruan Zhi Oolong a total of eight times, adding an extra 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found the flavours of floral and berries started to get weaker with each steep, but a creamy buttery quality started to come out each each steep. By the last (eighth) resteep, Ruan Zhi Oolong primarily had a buttery flavour to it and the berries and floral flavours were all but gone.

My Overall Impression

I loved Tea Side’s Ruan Zhi Oolong, Premium Myanmar. I really enjoyed the floral and berry notes, this oolong resteeps so well and I greatly enjoyed experiencing each steep on its own because there was just some really nice shifts in flavour each each resteep from the very same leaves. If you’ve never resteeped your oolong tea before, you really should – and this tea is an excellent reason to learn to resteep your tea. It’s not an inexpensive tea, but it has a great quality to it that allows it to be resteeped so many times.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.