Good Earth, Wild Chaild

Good Earth Description:
It doesn’t matter if it’s Monday morning or Thursday night, it’s okay to bring out the Wild Chaild™. With tantalizing chai spices and smooth caramel flavor, this curiously exotic tea gives you the sweet you need with just the right amount of spice to make whatever you’re doing more interesting.

Ingredients:
Black tea, cinnamon, cardamom, natural caramel flavor with other natural flavors, natural banana flavor with other natural flavors, natural flavor, ginger root, Chinese star anise, nutmeg, chicory root, cloves, black pepper, steviol glycosides (stevia).

Sample provided by Good Earth

My Review:
I recently scanned many of my chai reviews. They are often very similar. I start out by saying I never crave chai, and generally I go on to report that I did in fact enjoy the cup. I do wish I could put my finger on why I react to chai this way. I have no horrible experience or memory associated with chai. I love all the ingredients. Hmmm. I may never know.

This is a tea bag version. Each bag contains a healthy 2.3g of leaf. Yeah! This is enough to make a hearty cup of tea. Each bag comes in its own protective envelop. Yeah! Nothing worse than stale tea before you are halfway through the box.

Wild Chaild? Why is this called Wild Chaild? Opening the envelop, I am hit with a heavy dose of cardamom and other similar spices. Yeah, this could be a wild ride, let's see.

I heated the water to 200F. Rarely do I ever use full on boiling water anymore. For my tastes just off boil generally makes a pleasantly smooth black tea.

The string is plenty long, however, even a long string won't keep the tag out of the cup if you pour too quickly and don't pay attention. Fortunately, I had a spoon nearby and I had the good sense to use it rather than my fingers.

The steep was 4 minutes. As you can see, the cup is a deep orange/reddish brown. It smells pleasantly of cinnamon, clove, and cardamon.

Tasting, I first notice the sweetness. This does have stevia added. That said it isn't over sweet, especially for chai. Compared to the dry scent, the cup aroma and taste are more subdued and balanced. There is a hint of flavor that takes the normal chai profile right off the beaten path. What is it? According to the ingredient list, this has natural banana flavor. Now, it isn't a banana tea. It is just a hint, but it is a cool twist. So you start out cardamon and clove, then turn momentarily toward banana without really getting there, before straightening back into a warm cinnamon, pepper, and ginger finish. I do catch brief hints of banana in the aftertaste. As the cup cooled way down, I could catch notes of star anise that are not present when the cup is hot.

I did not add milk as chai is usually steeped with milk. Maybe I will try it that way later. Even without it it this is pretty tasty. If I were to change anything, I would leave out the stevia. Most of us have our own preferences on whether and what type of sweetener to use. Second, its chai, so I don't really expect to taste the black tea, but that may well be why chai and I aren't as attracted to each other as I might like. See, I want to taste the black tea. I know totally unrealistic.

As a chai tea this is a nice twist. The cup was empty before I was ready.

You can find Good Earth at your local Walmart and Kroger stores, or online at Amazon. You can also order direct from Good Earth.