Petit Tea, Om Tea, Traditional Chai Latte

Petit Tea Description:
A delicately balanced blend of a firm body natural tea and refreshing natural cardamom, cinnamon & cloves with a lasting hint of mace & star anise. Packed in silken mesh hand crafted pyramid sachets and packed in 95% bio-degradable box.

Ingredients:
Natural Black tea, Cardamom, Clove, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Ginger, Star Anise, Mace.

Sample provided by Petit Tea

My Review:
I remember when I first started The Everyday Tea Blog reading a lot of articles abut blogging. One of the rules that was advised against was apologizing for not posting regularly. I realize I do upload several posts a month but it still seems like a long while since my last. Life gets hectic.

When you get too busy for tea you're too busy.

Fortunately we have options. Some of them are even good options, like the Om series pyramid sachets from Petit Tea. They currently list price for $5.95/15 sachets. That calculates to $0.40/cup with a resteep in cuts that in half. So they are reasonably priced. Easy to prepare. And so far they have been pretty tasty.

This one smells delightful after removing the outer plastic wrap. The scent is slightly peppery and a nice blend of cardamom and clove. The hand crafted pyramid sachet contains black tea from India. This is not dust. It is a good step above typical grocery store fair.

I normally prepare chai without additions first, then add sweetener, and later milk. I chose instead to prepare today's cup per the fast preparation method recommended by Petit, The fast method and the traditional method are clearly printed on the box. Both require sweetener and milk.

In the traditional method you boil the water, add the tea and sweetener, continue boiling for one minute. Then add milk and boil another minute. I am not set up with a stove top in my den. The fast method steeps the sachet and sweetener in freshly boiled water for two minutes, then adds hot milk and steeps for another two minutes.

I used Splenda and milk heated in the microwave to near boiling.

I am really enjoying the washing of different flavors over my tongue. The ginger and the cinnamon pop in and out quickly. Same with the pepper. Each of them are taking turns. The driving flavors are cardamom and to a lesser extent clove. While I did catch anise in the scent, I can't really say I taste it in the cup. I really like anise. Maybe if it was a taste I did not like, it would jump out at me.

I had to research mace as I am unfamiliar with it. I am detecting something almost spicy floral. After reading up on mace I learned it is described as similar to nutmeg. After some thought, I do believe that more accurately describes what I taste in the cup. Possibly it is a mix of anise and mace.

This is a very nice cup. I enjoyed it just as much once it was cold. Petit's winning streak continues with this one.

You can find Petit Tea, Om, Traditional Chai latte here

Petit Tea, Om Cashmere Saffron

Petit Tea Description:
This blend of green tea, natural saffron, natural green cardamom and cinnamon elevates tea to a gourmet luxury. Garnish your steep with slivered almonds and natural honey for a must have tea experience.

Origin:
India

Ingredients:
Green tea, natural saffron, natural cardamom, cinnamon & other natural flavours

Sample provided by Petit Tea

My Review:
Your eyes do not deceive you. I have reviewed a Cashmere Saffron recently from Petit Tea. The first was an infuser stick from their Opulence line. This one is a pyramid sachet from the Om series of teas. I was curious myself to see how nearly identical are these two teas.

The infuser lists the ingredients simply as a unique blend of green tea, natural cardamom and cinnamon. The moment the outer wrap is removed it is obvious there is more going on.

The Om tea list ingredients as: Green tea, natural saffron, natural cardamom, cinnamon & other natural flavours.

The two have nearly an identical dry aroma, so I believe the ingredients are pretty much the same, though the ratio may be slightly different. Both are listed as containing 2.5 g of leaf.

The pyramid sachet is made from hand crafted silken mesh. One note here, if you use a mug, hold on to the tag when adding water as it is a little on the short side. The box uses non-toxic soy ink and is completely biodegradable.

I heated the water to 175 F. The label doesn't give a temperature that I noticed, so I went with my gut. Although this is stated as being from India so possibly boiling would work. The steep time was two minutes.

The website calls this a greenish liquor. It reminded me more of sunflowers but I used a clear mug and they used a white ceramic bowl.

The brewed cup has the same floral slightly spicy aroma as the dry. I have never encountered saffron before. To me, the scent is almost lavender talc with notes of cardamom.

Tasting, this is as similar as it is different from the Opulence mug. The infuser hit first with cinnamon, moving into cardamom, before trailing into a grassy green tea bite, all surrounded by the aroma of floral saffron.

The sachet hits solidly up front with the saffron. It is sweet and mildly spicy floral. It isn't perfumey. The cardamom supports under the saffron. The trailing green tea appears at the end but not as heavy a bite or as pronounced.

The first few sips leave me unsure what I think as it is so different from my usual fair. The more I sip, the more I get it, and I start to really enjoy this cup. I was going to add honey but my little bear has turned to concrete. I added Splenda instead. It took it well but seemed a little unnecessary to me.

The Opulence and the Om cups are quite different while being equally similar. Which did I prefer? This one.... that one... this... that... I can't decide.

You can find Om Cashmere Saffron on Amazon or direct from Petit Tea.