Superb green tea blended with fresh Asian spices for real green tea chai! Delicious, especially with milk and sugar.
Luxury Ingredients: Black tea, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Coriander, Sweet Fennel, Lemongrass leaves, and Natural flavors (organic compliant).
Tea(s) From:
Sri Lanka / India / Egypt / Thailand
Antioxidant Level:
Very High
Caffeine Content:
Medium
Shelf Life:
10 years unopened, 2 years after opening.
HOT BREWING METHOD(Ideal Brewing Temperature: 85ºC/185ºF):
Bring filtered or freshly drawn cold water to a rolling boil. Place 1 slightly heaping teaspoon of loose tea for each 7-9oz / 200-260ml of fluid volume in the teapot. Pour the boiling water into the teapot. Cover and let steep for 5-10 minutes according to taste (the longer the steeping time the stronger the tea).
ICED TEA BREWING METHOD:
Place 1 slightly heaping teaspoon of loose tea or 1 tea bag into a teapot for each serving required. Using filtered or freshly drawn cold water, boil and pour 6-7oz/170-200ml per serving over the tea. Cover and let steep for 7 minutes. Add hot tea to a 12oz/375ml acrylic glass filled with ice, straining the tea or removing the bags. Not all of the tea will fit, allowing for approximately an additional ½ serving. Add milk and sweeten to taste. A rule of thumb when preparing fresh brewed iced tea is to increase the strength of hot tea since it will be poured over ice and diluted. (Note: Some luxury quality teas may turn cloudy when poured over ice. This is a sign of luxury quality and nothing to worry about!)
HISTORY:
Chai is so prevalent in India and Sri Lanka that it could be called the 'National drink'. It is very common to see the 'tea wadis' serving their chai to the walk-by street traffic. In North America we have the coffee carts; in the sub continent and Sri Lanka you have the 'wadis'. Paint the following picture in your mind: the tea wadis cart has that 'well used' look (read - bashed, dented), quite often with a charcoal fire going keeping the water boiling so steam and smoke are rising, an old evaporated milk can full of sugar, another bashed and dented can with the masala chai spices, an eclectic collection of semi -clean mugs and glasses and a wizened chai expert deftly pouring back and forth from great heights, tea with spices and milk, combining the two ingredients. Once combined it is normal to add a fantastic amount of sugar for that real chai experience.
Chai is brewed with milk and a mixture of spices. Each recipe can be different depending upon the spices used. Indian spiced chai is often referred to as Masala Chai. The word 'chai' literally means tea (different languages use various forms of this word - for example Portuguese call it 'cha', Hindus call it chai, and in Chinese the sound of the symbol for tea sounds very much like cha.) and 'masala' is the word for the mixture of the various spices - hence Masala Chai.
Numerous medical journals laud the health benefits of green tea. Top quality high grown green teas - the type of base tea in this chai (and for that matter - black tea as well) contain a significant number of polyphenols which are antioxidants, elements known to inhibit various types of cancers. Additionally recent research is also seeing a positive correlation between the consumption of tea and the lower incidence of heart disease. Another added benefit of chai is that the chai is prepared with milk - a good source calcium and other essential nutrients. Green Tea Chai - the drink of health!
