I received a lovely little sample package from TeaIndia a few days ago. I noticed their Facebook page in the week, and they offer some teas that I have never tried before so I requested the samples which have now arrived.  I know that you should never judge anything by the cover, but we all do, don’t we?  Well, the TeaIndia packaging is beautiful and just my cup of tea, sorry couldn’t resist the pun (I know I can hear you groaning!)

I decided to try some Vanilla Chai first…

I have never tried anything quite like this before and have to say, I have been missing out on something!

The Chai comes in a tea bag and is a mix of black tea, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla flavouring, ginger and black pepper.  The smell from the teabag is so inviting, think Christmas, mince pies and apple pies.  You let the teabag infuse in boiling water for between 3-5 minutes, then add milk (and sugar if you so wish).  I was half tempted to drink it black, and in fact, I’m going to try that next time.

I really relished every sip of this Vanilla Chai, to me it was almost like eating a lovely moist creamy sponge cake.  How can a cup of tea taste like a cake I hear you ask?  It’s just the best description I can think of, and it left me wanting more. I know I can buy this in my local supermarket and it will be on next week’s shopping list!  I think they should go into a sideline of potpourri as the aroma is just so lovely.

As I enjoyed the Vanilla Chai so much, later in the day I decided I would try the Masala Chai, you can see that these samples are not going to last the weekend 🙂

I decided to drink my Masala Chai black, again the Chai comes in a tea bag and is a mix of black tea, ginger root, cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, cloves and star anise.  Again as soon as I smelt the aroma from the teabag I was eager for my first taste experience. I let the teabag infuse in boiling water for 3 minutes and then.  Again the aroma and taste reminded me of Christmas, the cloves were immediately apparent and took me back to Christmas decorations we made as children – oranges decorated with sticks of cloves.  It was another wonderful drinking sensation.

That brings me to today, my new experience is Cardamom Chai, I’m going for a splash of milk with this one.

I have to say, that although I liked this Cardamom Chai, it was probably my least favourite of the three blends.  It didn’t grab me instantly, I can imagine having a cup of this Chai after a curry, but not sure it’s for me.

I wasn’t sent these tea’s for the purpose of review, I just really liked them and wanted to share my new discovery with you, my readers. Enjoy 🙂