Day 4: Chocolate Chai

This was a brand-new tea for me! Pin and Audrey went shopping tonight and came back with a Chocolate Chai from Whittard's. I've tried a few different chai teas before, but never one with chocolate in it. I'm just perusing the ingredients now as I sip it...cocoa, chickory root, cloves, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, coconut, pink pepper...it's like an Indian Christmas, if there is such a thing!

The bag says it's "best brewed fairly strong and served with milk"...I'm trying it on its own so that I can attempt to taste all the flavours within it. It's a fairly powerful tea - I find it interesting that the bag says, "Ideal for bedtime" when just taking a sip of this chai seems to wake me right up...or send me to several different countries and cultures in a moment!

In order to bring out the best of my new tea, I delved into the depths of my tea cupboard and scrounged out a little tea-house strainer that I remembered having. It's just the perfect size. I filled the house with all manner of flavours and spices, and let it steep for a little while. I took a sip after only a minute or two, and enjoyed the light, fragrant taste...then let it steep for several minutes and am now being blown away by the intensity of this tea!

 
I'd hardly even call it a tea, once it's steeped and milk has been added to make a 'proper' chai...there are so many additional taste sensations combined that my senses don't really know what to make of it.

But it's brilliant for a Thursday night in when I should be going to bed, but I'm enjoying a night off, spinach-and-artichoke-dip and sparkling white wine with my sister (and watching old 80's films on YouTube for free). You can't buy that kind of happiness.

Oh - my walk! I almost forgot! I headed to the grocery store earlier to get the makings of the spinach-artichoke dip. A fresh, breezy, cool-but-not-too-cold night, with the sun setting in golden-peach colours on a blue background. At the time of my walk it made me think of something sharp and citrusy, but I couldn't resist the chocolate chai.

So I'm off to finish my tea of the day...perhaps add some milk in the next cup ("ideal for bedtime").  What are you drinking tonight?

Walk length: 15 minutes