Comfy Chai

Last week was its usual mad rush leading up to Christmas.  It just doesn't seem possible that everything will get done before disappearing off for the break.

To help get me through I love the smells and taste of Christmas such as cinnamon, mixed citrus peel, cloves and mixed spices.  So, on Friday I did something I haven’t done for a long time. I bought a chai latte.

Now, as much as I occasionally begrudgingly accept the sugary confection that forms most chai lattes today (which incidentally don’t actually have any tea in them – just sugar and flavours), I infinitely prefer something that has some basis in tea. This one was made with chai tea from T2.

I have, in the distant past, when I was a huge fan of chai, attempted on many occasions (working through about two boxes of chai) to make a good tasty chai latte. Unfortunately this skill continues to evade me to this day. It is always too strong (and bitter) or too weak or too watery or too milky. I just can’t get the right balance. So I decided some things are best left to the professionals.

Downstairs at my local work café I noticed they had the T2 chai available as a latte. I felt like a comforting blast from the past.

It was perfect. Sweet but not sickly like many of today’s chai lattes. Spicy but not too spicy like may of the leaf-based chais. It had the perfect amount of milk so that it was flavoursome but still milky. Yum!

So bravo to anyone out there that has perfected the elusive chai latte! But if, like me, you haven’t, when you can find somewhere that does a good leaf-based chai, don’t let them get away!

Madame Flavour does Pear

Green tea now comes in so many flavours it can be a minefield to work out what you like.

One I tried some time ago now is the Green, Jasmine and Pear from that divine teahouse, Madame Flavour.

I first got into Madame Flavour teas about a year ago.  I was wandering along George Street near Martin Place in Sydney when I had thrust into my hands by some marketing people three tiny boxes.  Each contained a beautifully presented cornsilk teabag with each of English Breakfast, Sultry Chai and Green,  Jasmine and Pear.  I headed back to work and immediately tried out the tea.  It was lovely!  The taste aided by the beautiful presentation: each in a tiny cardboard box with a silver lining and containing a little note explaining how to enjoy the tea.  It was so beautiful, I immediately hunted down Madame Flavour online (http://www.madameflavour.com.au/) and ordered a box of the English Breakfast.  A few days later it arrived with a handwritten note from Madame Flavour herself thanking me for my kind words and including a huge box of all different types of individually boxed teas!!!

The combination of the quality of the tea, the presentation and the generousity of the owner mean that I simply cannot say how much a love Madame Flavour!

Anyway, she does a mean Green, Jasmine and Pear.

It smells fruity and very strongly of jasmine.

The taste is of a traditional jasmine green tea however it has a mellow sweetness which introduces the pear.  It is more an aftertaste than the main fanfare but I rather like it.

It is a strong tea so those that find green teas a little too strong or astringent would probably prefer a lighter green tea flavour.

I, for one, am a fan.  So Green, Jasmine and Pear has been featuring as the green of choice in my tea box for the last twelve months and it has been very well received by my tea guests.

I would highly recommend checking out Madame Flavour's website.  Even if you don't particularly care for tea, you will still enjoy the beautiful graphics and words.  For the standard tea lover, I highly recommend the English Breakfast.  For the herbal tea lover, I recommend the White Tea with Rose (I know it is still a real tea but it is so light and sweet that you would never know).  She has also recently introduced some real tisanes to the mix.  I have not yet tried them but I be sure to report once I have!