Goldilocks and the Three... Elephants?

Oh, the elusive chai tea. Before I moved to Maryland I had not had real chai. My chai experience included Starbucks' Tazo Chai Tea Lattes. Did you know that a tall soy chai has 32 grams of sugar? (Thank you Starbucks for letting me cringe at the nutritional info while drinking my syrup laden lattes.) That's almost the same as a can of Coke. Anyway, they're tasty but sugary. And they're made with a chai concentrate.

Jay's mom has made homemade chai everyday for the past 40 years (give or take a few days). Sometimes a couple times in a day. She is an authentic chai expert. And guess what! I will share her secrets with you! But not yet. First we must discuss other chai. I've had a lot of different chai. One loose leaf chai that I actually liked, Yogic Chai Original Masala, just won Best Chai at the North American Tea Championship. It's got some spice. Chai tea must have spice. Not just cinnamon and cloves-- it has to have pepper. A lot of loose leaf and bagged chai teas have too much cinnamon and cloves or an over abundance of cardamom. Where's the black pepper!? The only chai concentrate I've tried that had more spice to it was the Tazo, which can be purchased at most grocery stores. I think that if any tea has cinnamon, cloves and maybe ginger or cardamom the powers that be automatically name it "chai." Wow, can you tell I've become a chai snob? And I said I wasn't going to be a pretentious tea drinker.

I was talking to a coworker today about my quest for the ultimate chai. I have likened it to Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Instead I'm Goldilocks and the Three Elephants-- get it? There are native elephants in India. Or maybe Goldilocks and the Three Tigers? Either way... one is usually to sweet, one has too much cinnamon, and I've tasted and tasted and haven't really found the "just right" yet. But that doesn't stop me from wanting to try them all.

There's a chocolate company called Taza based in Massachusets that makes delicious authentic Mexican drinking chocolate. They are fair trade/living wage and work directly with the cacao growers. [CACAO!] They have partnered with a Massachusets based tea company called Mem Tea to create a cacao chai. I like the fancy name: Chai Spice Cascarilla. Cascarilla. Apparently that means husk, as in cocoa shells maybe? Cascarilla is more fun to say. Here's the ingredients list thanks to Taza: black tea, organic roasted cocoa shells, whole cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, vanilla. Sounds delicious, no?

I drank this tea straight up. Usually I like tea and sweetener in chai, but I wanted to see what it tasted like plain first. I let it steep a bit longer than I should have and it was still on the mellow side. The cinnamon wasn't too overpowering and all the other spices were pretty balanced. Not too spicy and not too bland. They have almost all the "right" chai ingredients in there, minus the black pepper. The addition of vanilla adds a little sweetness and the cocoa shells gives a unique kick. I think this tea is good for a "little more than black tea but not crazy tea" day. May try with a little hemp milk next time.

The MEM Tea website is pretty fantastic. Their main focus seems to be on wholesale to coffee and tea shops as well as cafes and restaurants. But you can see all of the teas available and buy in bulk directly from them. One in particular I am desperate to try is the Thai Tea. I love a good Thai iced tea! They have a great "Learn"page that has tea basics, tea and health, preparation and recipes. There are instructions on how to make concentrates for chai and Thai teas for commercial use as well as instructions on basic tea brewing. They call it "tea dosing"- I think I want to start saying "I'm preparing my dosage of tea" when I make a cuppa now. Pretty great site-- definitely check it out! I found a retailer that sells Mem Tea in ounces instead of pounds. May be putting in an order for Thai tea very soon.

Since I am just getting the feel for this blog think I epically failed this week with regular posting. I do have a long list of teas to blog about now though! Expect to see some interesting teas and even a few recipes down the road. AND hopefully some tea room reviews!