Maharaja Chai/Samurai Chai Tea Blend

I got the free sample version of this tea. It is already sweetened with the rock sugar. This tea has a nice cinnamon flavor in it. I think It would taste better without the sugar.

The directions on this say to make it in 16oz of water. I made it in 32 and its bearably sweet. That should tell you something. But its still delicious. If I thought the rock sugar was worth buying, I’d buy a ton of the stuff. But I really don’t sweeten my tea much. If I’m in the mood for sweet I drink something from Della Terra with sprinkles or something in it. This is one of the teas that started me down my path into tea-dom so I can’t hate it no matter how much they oversugar it.

I’d forgotten i had this.
Either my tastes have changed a bit since the last time I made this, or I prepared it differently. This time it just tastes way too sweet for me. That’s odd since I have the “normal” version of this without the German rock sugar (as apposed to those sample packs they give out with it).

Anyway, I never use additives to my tea but finding this a bit too sweet for my tastes. I’m dropping it a few points from my last ranking. Still love the smell (fruity and spicy) but this may be a better iced tea in the summer.

Yeah, no…

I don’t know if it is because I’ve been on a white tea binge for the last couple of days or what, but seriously I’m drinking a Christmas candle. Not in a good way (if it can ever be good).

Cinnamon is amped up on this tea, but it’s so jam packed with strong, conflicting flavors it’s almost confusing. I can hardly pick any of them out. It’s complex, but I say that to mean that this tea doesn’t seem to know if it’s an Oolong, Mate, Chai (in increasing order of likeness) or something in between. Chai comes out on top if I concentrate, but it’s not spicy like a traditional Chai (cinnamon, being the perpetrator, I presume), and thus, resembles the artificial scent of a Glade Plugin. I taste no Oolong or even any Mate, save for maybe the fruit in the Samurai Blend.

Also, as other people have already ranted on, the sample comes pre-packed with their rock sugar. Hey, Teavana, what if I prefer honey? What then? The sugar left a really odd aftertaste too… very chemical tasting, it was like Splenda. If I wanted that aftertaste I would drink a diet soda. I’m not. I’m drinking tea.

I feel defiled.

Also, also:
To add insult to injury, I guess Teavana was trying to get rid of these sample packets because I got two of them… I’ll make a nice potpourri with the other, I suppose.

Fantastic blend of teas. I usually have my reservations about Chai because it’s usually to “spicy”. This one was an unbelievably pleasant surprise when I tried it in Teavana for the first time. I bought their german rock sugar just to ensure I’d get the exact same taste. I was impressed…

Hmm. When I think of chai, I think of chai with a black tea base. To me, this doesn’t really make me think of chai but of hot, sugary cinnamon water with a hint of pepper and maybe a slight aftertaste of some fruitiness (perhaps the pineapple). I don’t really taste the tea or much else for that matter.

That being said, I really like hot & sugary cinnamon water.

Pro’s:
—Tastes like red hots, yum!
—No worries about steeping time: I just leave a bag of this in my cup and let it continue steeping until I’m done drinking. No bitterness ensues.
—All the spiciness really helps clear my head in the morning!

Con’s:
—I don’t taste tea so I keep thinking this is just herbal and I’m tempted to drink it any old time. In fact, it tastes so good, of course I want to drink it at night, in bed, with a good book. This may lead to insomnia. We’ll see.

There are probably other good cinnamon teas or tisanes out there, but this one is mighty tasty so I’ll probably restock. I wonder what this is like cold brewed or iced. I will have to try that soon.

Yum!At first I wasn’t sure what to make of this blend being that I didn’t like the Samurai Chai Mate & White Ayurvedic Chai blen. But thankfully this one surprised me. It doesn’t really taste like a Chai to me. More like a rich cinnamon tea. It smells really spicy just like it tastes. I’ll be enjoying this blend! I used 1 tsp of each with about 12 oz of water.

Sad that this is already gone! I did get about 80 oz of tea out of a sample that they said would only make 16 oz. The trick, to me, of making this tea taste good was re-steeping. I used two Perfect Tea spoons worth of mix for the first steep (using an IngenuiTea). Then, I simply added 1-2 Perfect Tea spoons worth of new mix to the old, then re-steeped for the same time and temperature. The tea tasted better with every brew – possibly the fact that the tea was coming closer to the correct balance of spices to sugar – the last steep had my IngenuiTea over 1/4 full of spices and tea leaves, and only a few pieces of sugar were in that steep. Speaking of which, rock sugar is the first ingredient in the tea, and there is also candied fruit – those watching their sugar intake should be aware.

I think I’d order this tea again if I could get a rock sugar optional blend of it – the sugar seems unnecessary, and its hard to justify Teavana’s high price tag per 2oz just to be given a tiny bit of tea and a big container of rock candy – especially for those of us with blood sugar issues.

Sipdown!

I finally used my last bit of leaf to make a pot of this. And I’ve finally accepted that this tea does not resteep well, so once this pot is gone, that’s it.

It’s sweet and cinammon-y, but I think my tastes are maturing, so I won’t restock on this. The question is, should I still try to keep some sort of mate blend around for days when I need a caffeine hit?

I got a sample of this in my recent order from Teavana (yay, 75% off sale!). The sample had some of their German rock sugar in it.

The first brew of this tea is wonderful with the added sugar — sweet but still hot/spicy from the ginger. I absolutely love it. It doesn’t really stand up to a resteep, however. I left my infuser in the cup for almost 10 minutes before I got anywhere near the color of the first infusion. Without the sugar, it’s lacking tastewise.

Might be a good breakfast tea, but I feel guilty buying tea I won’t get multiple steeps out of.