Petit Tea, Masala Chai Latte

Picture Credit: petittea.com

Petit Tea Description:
This remarkably assertive tea is a blend of robust Indian black teas, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves & other spices that make the Chai Latte  "America’s favourite".

Ingredients:
Indian Black Tea, Cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, spices

Sample provided by Petit Tea

My Review:
Today we look at another of Petit Tea Infuser. These are single serve rectangular aluminum sticks packed with whole leaf tea. They come 12 in a box and each contains 2.5 g of tea. The infuser has a series of punched holes to allow the water to flow through the infuser. The infuser itself is large enough to allow the leaf inside to expand freely.

I have been fairly impressed with all the Petit teas I have tried so far. Up for review this time is a Masala Chai.

I recently did a little reading of my past chai reviews. Most all of them go something like this: I don't hate chai but I never crave it either, however I like this one.  I promise to try and not say the same thing again here.

That promise is made easier by the scent I catch as I open the plastic outer wrap. This smells so good. It is the typical spices one expects with chai and yet the aroma is more pleasant to me. It is soft and sweet cinnamon. The clove and cardamon meld together very well without overwhelming.

I used 200 F water and nearly a 4 minute steep in my mug. As you can see it results in a rich caramel color. The scent is still delighting me.

The taste is lighter than I expected. I am used to being pelted (ok often assualted) with spice. My wife says it tastes like it smells, but that is not exactly what I tasted. This, to me, has almost a light rose note along with the gentle spices.

Next I added some sweetener as authentic chai is generally served very sweet. I chose to use some restraint on my additions. I think I made the right choice. This is really good. Along with the spice I caught before, I notice a pepper note. It was less developed sans additions.

Last but not least, I added a splash of milk. It is my understanding authentic chai is cooked on the stove using milk instead of water. I'm using a shortcut. The result is tasty. I turned around and noticed the cup was completely empty. Chai never disappears that fast when I drink it.

My recommendation is add the sweetener and the milk for a wonderfully tasty cup. Just be prepared to make a second cup soon after.

You can find Petit Tea Masala Chai Latte here.