Not the best chai I’ve ever had, but a nice addition to my morning rotation.

Okay, so I just reviewed this, but I already think it’s better than I gave it credit for. I just oversteeped a cup because I got caught in conversation on my way back from the break room and it was still just the right taste, and I think that deserves full marks.

I know it’s a breakfast tea, but this hit the spot yesterday when I was dragging right before an afternoon meeting. Not too strong, just the exact kind of malty flavor I’m trying to experience more of.

This blend felt like a bit of a gamble, but if the flavors are subtle, they are more or less what I would have expected from the branding. A welcome addition to my current lineup.

I keep thinking that I should like Earl Grey, but I think it’s time to acknowledge that I just don’t. I’d like to try some more Lady Grey sometime, but even lattefication didn’t help me enjoy Earl Grey.

As a side note, I just want to say how glad I am that I now write these posts because over the weekend, I was trying to remember whether I liked a particular blend, but it was from before I started teablogging, so I had nothing to rely on!

Anyway, this was another good midmorning work tea. I’d gladly drink it again, even if I can’t say I’d notice if I never had it again.

Doesn’t knock one’s socks off, but it was a good mid-morning work tea.

I hesitated to give this full marks because I know it gets less interesting with time, but that’s also true of my chocolate mint tea that I love, and it’s been a while since I’ve had any of this, so my taste buds are very happy.

When one is at a gaming café, one pays one’s dues to help keep the place open, but the chai latte was a bad choice. It tasted like warm milk with some cinnamon mixed in, and maybe that works for some people, but it’s not what I’m looking for. I might just go for some “regular” tea the next time I’m there—or support the café in some other way.

I badmouthed this in my first review, but I’ve since remembered what I like about it even if it isn’t what I expected from a chai, so it deserves a review update.

I got this a while ago, when I was first trying to get into “real” black teas instead of the flavored stuff that’s my favorite.

It’s very strong, so I have had a hard time getting used to it, but I think I finally cracked the right way to steep it, and now I’m not dreading finishing the box.

This is a pretty good apple and cinnamon blend, but having cinnamon in it does not make it a chai, so points off for false advertising. It’s still good even when I borked the steeping this morning, though, so it has that going for it.

I bought a one-pound bag of this blend last April without ever tasting it. I generally like chai, and I generally like Elmwood Inn, so I figured it wasn’t too much of a gamble.

It turns out that this tastes different than any other chai I’ve had. It’s not cinnamony like some chais, but it’s also not the ginger and pepper combination that I really like in chais. Maybe it’s authentic in some way that I don’t appreciate, but it was a real disappointment at first. With time, it grew on me, but coming back to it after drinking none of it in December is reminding me how much of a disappointment it is.

Look, this isn’t that bad, and I’m probably being hard on it because it’s Starbucks, but I had a really good masala chai experience yesterday, and that makes me think about how too cinnamony and sweet this one is.

I think this is my favorite tea of all time. It tastes just like an Andes mint and brings real joy to my morning.

This tea is tasty! The orange flavor is good, and I like the cinnamon more than I might have expected. I am not giving it full marks because I think I’d tire of it quickly, and even though that raises some inconsistencies in my rating system, I’m sticking with it.

Good but not mind blowing!

I’ve been looking forward to this blend since the beginning of this advent calendar, and I’ve finally figured out how to follow these steeping instructions, and everything has paid off. I do miss some of the maltiness of blending it with Kenya tea, but this is good all by itself.

Okay, I think I figured out how to steep these “one bag per person” blends because this is really hitting the spot this morning! Plus, I reserved a bag instead of steeping both, so now I have more to enjoy later.

This would be better except that I steeped it too long, so some of the underlying tea flavor is too strong. It is the kind of chai I like (more pepper and ginger than cinnamon), so I’m going to have to be more careful the next time.

This was pretty good, but I think it would be better if I’d steeped it differently. I don’t get the “one bag per person” instructions and how it differs from “one bag per cup.”

Feel weird giving this full marks because it didn’t knock my socks off exactly, but it wasn’t “slightly too strong” in the way that I penalized yesterday’s Kenya blend for, so I guess if I’m going to have plain black tea one morning, I’d be happy with Darjeeling.

Not bad but not my favorite. I liked the recent blend of Kenya and Ceylon tea a lot, and now I’m wondering if what I really liked was the Ceylon. I’m guessing I’ll find out!

Chai sounds good, and coconut sounds good, but this combination doesn’t work for me. The coconut flavor is too strong, too tropical, and too artificial. Pretty disappointing.

One of the first non-herbal teas I tried was a Lady Grey, and I think that biased me toward that approach to Grey-like teas. I’ve had mixed experiences with Earl Greys (sorry, Jean-Luc), and I usually find myself wishing it was a Lady Grey instead.

This Earl Grey was pretty good, though! Not enough to get full marks from me (again, I found myself wishing for more citrus), but I was pleased by how it worked out.