Dragonwater Green Spicy Chai Tea Review
The word “chai” simply means “tea”, but has come to mean a very specific kind of tea in Western culture – generally a flavorsome, strongly brewed black tea infused with spices like ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and pepper. It's usually mixed with milk and a generous amount of sugar to bring out the fullness of the spicy flavors.
The Dragonwater Tea Company, however, has created a Green Spicy Chai Tea that is somewhat different from the ordinary Chai Tea experience. It's chai tea, alright, but made with green tea rather than black tea – quite unusual! Green tea is much more of a “purist's drink”, in that the very best green teas tend to contain no additives whatsoever – no sugar, no flavorings, no spices. It's meant to be consumed as it is, natural and untouched, having been through a production process that limits alteration to the leaves in order to keep them as close to their original state and full of natural goodness as possible. That's why it has so many health benefits, and is seen as a pure, natural beverage.
Since green tea tends to have a fresh, grassy, vegetal tea that is very distinctive and completely unlike the flavor of chai made from black tea, making a chai beverage with a green tea base is an interesting choice. And it has to be said, a very successful one. Even the aroma of the dry tea as the bag is opened is quite spectacular, sending your sense of smell to chai heaven with the blend of cardamom, ginger, spearmint, pepper and clove scents mingling and complementing each other perfectly.
The inclusion of pepper as an ingredient in this tea is a definite bonus for Dragonwater, because many chai teas leave this ingredient out, and the chai suffers as a result. Others use far too much, so that the surprising heat from the exuberent pepper useage can completely overpower the drinker. Dragonwater gets it just right, using the pepper sparingly enough not to make it too much for the tastebuds, but liberally enough to give the tea a real spicy kick.
There's no one predominant flavor in Dragonwater's Green Spicy Chai Tea – and yet you can taste each one of the listed ingredients. It seems to be an utterly perfect ration, with each spice and flavor lurking and mingling with the others to create a wonderful balance of tastes and smells. It is somewhat different from other, sweeter chai teas, and yet also a break away from the norm in terms of green teas, even flavored green teas. The fresh green flavor is definitely there, but there's also a hint of spiciness as well as a mixture of other great tastes.
While a chai tea made from green tea rather than black tea might seem like an unusual idea, and indeed while a green tea with all the flavorings of a chai tea might seem even more unusual, this is a really great tea if you're looking for something a bit different.
Return to Green Tea Guru Home