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Trudy Ann’s Bombay Masala Chai

Bombay Masala Chai by Trudy Ann’s
Black Tea / Flavoured
$11.99 for 40g (16 cups)

First Impressions

I first met Trudy Ann at the 2017 Vancouver Tea Festival, which is also where I made my first purchase of her Bombay Masala Chai. She’s a complete sweetheart, if you ever have the chance to interact with her at one of the shows or markets that she sells at. Now, onto the tea!

Bombay Masala Chai is made up of: black tea, cardamom, true cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and peppers. Inside of the kraft paper bag, you find black tea and a small pouch of ground spices. The instructions on the back of the packaging tell you to store the spices in a separate jar. The aroma of the spices is really inviting, I can definitely smell the cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon – those are the stronger aromatics so they’re the most obvious. The black tea smells like an assam (which, according to the product page on Trudy Ann’s website, it is).

Preparation

Trudy Ann includes directions for steeping this tea in a cup, on the stove top, iced, and how to resteep it. I’ll discuss the directions for steeping in a cup since that’s what I did.

Trudy Ann recommends adding 1 tsp tea and ¼ tsp chai masala (spices) to 1 cup of boiling (100°C/212°F) water, and to steep for 5 minutes prior to straining. Then, you can add cream and sweetener to tastes. For this review, I followed the steeping instructions and tried it plain.

First Taste

Bombay Masala Chai steeps to a beautiful golden orange and has a lovely aroma that comes up from the tea. You can definitely smell the cardamom and ginger, and I love those aromatics. The tea itself has a nice sweetness to it, and the combination of spice to black tea is well balanced. I enjoy the fact that it’s not too spicy – if you’ve ever had some chai blends, you might know what I’m talking about when the spices overwhelm the black tea base or when one spice just covers up the rest of them. Bombay Masala Chai has a nice balance though, I can taste the black tea, as well as the different spices.

A Second Cup?

Trudy Ann’s recommendations for a second steep is to double the steep time (from 5 minutes to 10 minutes). I found that at 10 minutes, the first resteep is fairly similar to the initial steep. It’s not as sweet as the initial steep, but that’s something that can be easily remedied with a bit of sugar or honey.

My Overall Impression

I loved Trudy Ann’s Bombay Masala Chai. If you’re a fan of chai but struggle to get the spice to tea balance right (like me!), I would recommend giving this blend a try. I love that the spices are right there and you can control how much you put in. You can smell the ingredients, there’s clear instructions for making the tea whatever way you want, and the flavours are just so well balanced against each other that it’s enjoyable and there’s not just one spice that’s overwhelming the rest.

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

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Lemon Lily’s Rose Petal Chai

Rose Petal Chai by Lemon Lily
Black Tea / Flavoured
$9.00 for 50g

Lemon Lily’s Rose Petal Chai came to me as part of a subscription box from The Sugared Teacup.

First Impressions

As a fan of black tea blends, I’m a sucker for a good chai. There’s just something soothing about a black with with a whole bunch of spices… and sometimes I’ll add some honey or sugar and some frothed milk and make it into a tea latte. I was happy to see Rose Petal Chai in the box that I received from The Sugared Teacup, because while I love a good chai, I don’t always have all the ingredients on hand to blend it on my own, so having it blended for me helps a lot!

Rose Petal Chai came to me in a resealable bag, the aroma of the dry leaf is primarily that of cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon – yum! Lemon Lily’s Rose Petal Chai consists of: black tea, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, rose petal, rosehip, and vanilla bean – all certified organic.

Preparation

Lemon Lily recommends steeping Rose Petal Chai in 212°F (100°C) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Rose Petal Chai steeps to a deep reddish-brown, and has a beautiful aroma that is mostly that of cardamom and ginger. It’s a very relaxing aroma if you breathe it in deep! I found that the flavour of the tea is well reflected by the ingredients list. I can taste the cardamom, there’s some gentle heat from the ginger, and I can taste the cinnamon for sure. I found that there’s just a hint of floral sweetness, which I attribute to the rose petal and rosehip. I can’t make out the vanilla bean, unfortunately, but the overall flavour profile definitely makes me think of a nice chai.

I did try Rose Petal Chai with a touch of honey and some frothed milk to make it into a tea latte and I was not disappointed! If you like chai lattes, I would definitely recommend trying this chai as a tea latte.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Rose Petal Chai twice. The first resteep was fairly similar to the initial steep in terms of flavour and strength of all the ingredients. The second resteep was missing the floral sweetness and the ginger was more lost. I would say that Rose Petal Chai is good for one more steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked Lemon Lily’s Rose Petal Chai. I found the blend of ingredients to be incredibly pleasant, and made for a very nice lightly floral cup of chai. The gentle heat of the ginger and the presence of cardamom make for a very nice cup of tea – made all the better when I turned it into a tea latte! I do wish the vanilla bean was more a present flavour, since I love the flavour of vanilla bean. I think this blend could do with some more rose petals, just to impart a stronger rose flavour into the tea.

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

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Wize Monkey’s Original

Original by Wize Monkey
Herbal Infusion / Straight
$10.49USD for 35g (15 sachets)

Wize Monkey has provided me with Original for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

If you haven’t heard of Wize Monkey yet, it’s a Canadian company that does tea that is produced with coffee leaves (so it doesn’t actually contain any tea, so it’s a tisane). Coffee leaves aren’t usually part of the plant that gets utilized, since most coffee producers are focused on the bean. Part of what I received from Wize Monkey is a 15 day sampler pack which consists of five different flavours of their coffee leaf tea: Original, Jasmine, Mango Party, Minty Marvel, and Earl Grey – so be on the look out for future reviews of the other flavours.

Each sachet is a tea pyramid, and it was pretty easy for me to rip open to get a closer look at the coffee leaves. I was half expecting it to actually smell like coffee, which I’m very happy to say that it does not smell like coffee. If you know anything about me, I don’t like the smell of coffee. The smell of Original reminds me a lot of a mix of a green tea and a black tea, and also there’s just something about it that reminds me of the aroma of yerba mate, it has a bit of a roasted aroma to it. Original consists of “hand-picked single-original premium arabica leaves”.

And as an aside, I just want to say how much I love Wize Monkey’s logo. Between the coffee leaf eyes and the tea cup mouth and the fact that it’s a monkey?! So cute.

Preparation

Wize Monkey recommends steeping in 95°C (203°F) water and actually says that it can be steeped for as long as you want. One of the claims about steeping coffee leaves is that it doesn’t get bitter, so of course I had to put that to the test. I steeped it for 8 minutes in 93°C (200°F) water.

First Taste

The aroma of the steeped Original is interesting to me because I just can’t quite pinpoint what it reminds me of. There’s some mild grassy notes that I liken to green tea, and there’s a slight malty flavour that reminds me of a black tea, and then there’s some roasted nutty flavours in this coffee leaf tisane that are lingering in the background. The overall flavour is nice, there’s a smoothness to it that’s pleasant, and it lacks of the pow that comes from coffee itself Despite steeping it for 8 minutes, there’s no bitterness and no astringency, so it’s kind of nice that it doesn’t get bitter or astringent with over steeping like traditional teas do.

A Second Cup?

I attempted two resteeps with Original. I found that the flavours were fairly similar for the first resteep, but it was quite watery for the second. I would say Original is good for one more steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked Wize Monkey’s Original. I think it’s really neat that Wize Monkey is making a product from part of the coffee plant that generally isn’t used by most producers. The fact that you can toss a sachet into a cup and step away for a while and come back to a cup of herbal tea that hasn’t gone off is really appealing, especially if you’re the type who forgets about your tea after a while. I like the flavour of Original, I think it makes for a good tisane base and I’m looking forward to trying the other samples that they sent me.

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