What do you taste in a good Chai Latte?

What do you taste in a real Chai?

So in a good Chai Latte, you taste the different spices and also taste the tea. Excellent Chai Latte concepts can be dry mixes(Bondi Chai, Royal Chai, BreakOut Chai). Note that not all dry mixes on the market make a good chai latte. There are several mixes with preservatives, coconut fat, palm oil and other chai foreign additives. These Chai Lattes can be greasy, very sweet and heavy on the stomach. There is no ChaiWallah in India who adds these ingredients to his Chai!

Chai Latte is also excellent prepared with a liquid concentrate (not syrup!) such as Authentic Chai liquid. This is real tea cooked with real spices such as cardamom, ginger, black pepper, cinnamon, star anise and cloves. In the chai latte, then, you taste these ingredients.

The 3rd method of preparation is with Sticky Chai or Nectar Chai. These are real tea leaves and real crushed spices, soaked in coconut blossom nectar (vegan) or in honey. By boiling just 15 grams of this blend with milk (vegan), then pouring it through a strainer or preparing it with a cafetière, you make a delicious Chai Latte to your own taste. Again, you taste the individual ingredients in your Chai Latte.

So what about syrup?

The Chai flavor in a Chai Latte prepared with syrup is just one aroma and flavor that looks a bit like chai. Thus, you do not taste the individual flavors of the chai spices and you do not taste tea! Moreover, chai syrup loses its flavor aroma under the influence of light and oxygen. In the chart below, you can see the flavor experience.

So what about dry tea (tea bag) Chai tea?

Because it is nice that the spices give their full flavor to the milk, it often fails to make a Chai Latte with a tea bag. The tea and spices in the tea bag do not get enough time to infuse.