Minty Green Chai is our version of an Indian spiced green tea with mint and chai spices. This signature blend of roasted green tea and peppermint is hand blended with a unique range of sweet and aromatic spices. Our formula is sweet, full bodied and zesty with notes of cardamom, ginger and clove. This unique blend pairs well with honey and steamed milk.
Ingredients: Artisan green tea, cardamom, cloves, black pepper, vanilla bean, ginger, licorice root, cinnamon, fennel seed and peppermint
Origin: China; A Thirst for Tea blend
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.
Brewing Instructions
Water Temperature: Boiling
Water Quality: Best with Spring Water
Amount of Leaf (per 6 fl oz water): 2 tsp. (3 grams)
Steep Time: 5-7 minutes
Number of Infusions: 1
Our Minty Green Chai is good straight up or with warm milk and sugar. We highly recommend brewing your tea in a teapot or mug with a removable infuser so that you can remove the leaves at the end of the steeping time. Whole leaf teas of this quality need room to unfurl and expand in the water in order to perform their "magic." However, leaving the tea leaves in the water will result in an over-infused, bitter tea. If you want a stronger cup of tea increase the amount of leaf rather than the steeping time. If you don't have a removable infuser, you can brew the loose leaves directly in the pot. At the end of the steeping time, strain all of the tea into a warm serving pitcher or pot. We suggest that you experiment with time and quantity of leaves to find your personal taste preferences.
