Our Indian Masala black Chai is an exciting full flavored spicy tea that is very good with milk. The classic blend of cardamom and cinnamon with ginger and flavoring. This is the strongest taste and caffeine level of our Chai teas and we have other bases, white, green and rooibos that is caffeine free. Try them all to find your favorite.
Facts and stories about Indian Masala Chai
Masala Chai originated in India and chai is the Indian word for tea that has become synonymous with a black tea with warming spices. The type of spices varies in different blends but normally contains cardamom, cinnamon and ginger. Now outside of India there are chai’s with different base teas – white, green teas and herbal caffeine free using rooibos. It is one of the few teas that we believe can be better for some palates with the addition of milk and sugar. The black base is very popular in the morning with the high caffeine of many blends using Assam region teas.
In the early 19th century tea was discovered in the Assam region and this
helped the British dramatically reduce its imports from China to support the high consumption at home. Indian tea consumption remained low as they believed that tea was mainly consumed for medicinal purposes. As in England during the Industrial revolution, the Indian Tea Association encouraged workers to drink tea to increase consumption with the added benefit of the caffeine keeping them more productive. Chai is now extremely popular in India and is mainly prepared in a type of saucepan where the tea leaves are boiled together with the spices and milk. A common sight at the extensive railway network in India are tea boys (wallahs) selling Chai on the platforms to the travelling crowds.
Now very popular around the world and prepared in more English traditional ways of brewing the blend in a teapot and adding the milk and sugar afterwards. Also used in smoothies and available premixed in cartons.
- Three quarters of an ounce bag makes approximately 6 cups
Green tea, green mate, coconut shreds, rose petals, cornflower blossoms and flavoring
English Tealeaves sells over 125 high quality teas that are "cherry picked" from over 15 suppliers who specialize in specific types and countries. This gives us the flexibility to find the best of the best. We also blend around 8 teas ourselves that can't be obtained to our standards. For example our #1 selling tea, English Breakfast is our own blend that we created in 2002.
Our Cafe customers give feedback and we discontinue the ones that get poor ratings. We also look to improve our teas and will replace a standard tea, like say Mango, with a higher quality blend from another supplier.
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