Genmai Chai Masala

Tea: Genmai Chai Masala
Vendor: Yogic Chai
Price: $10.00 / 2 oz.

About this tea: When I first started looking through Yogic Chai's selection of Chai teas I was rather surprised to see this one. It seemed like a very odd combination in an unusual multinational way. Genmaicha is traditionally Japanese and Masala Chai is traditionally Indian. So this felt conceptually like having a piece of naan with some sushi.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea has a very strong clove aroma with a very light genmai aroma to it. It looks very much like I would imagine if I were to mix masala spices with some genmai.

Brewing Parameters: To brew this tea I brought 8 oz of water to a boil and added 3g of leaf to it and let it steep for 6 minutes. This was the recommended method based on the vendor packaging. No milk or sweetener was used for this.

Infusion: The tea had a alight brown color to it. There was a very distinct aroma of cloves mixed with roasted rice. This was a bit confusing. The flavor was short with a light sense of bitterness. The tea combines a light genmai flavor with the strong and prominent flavor of the chai spices. The flavor combines into a very smooth flavor which is distinctively chai. There is a detectable taste of ginger midway through the flavor of the tea and it finishes with a light sense of astringency.

Rating: 5/10

Conclusion: This tea was rather unusual. The tea felt very much like two separate flavors of the chai spices and the genmaicha. There wasn't much harmony between the two flavors, but each flavor on it's own was pretty good. Without sweetener and milk it didnt' feel much like a chai, but it wasn't recommended to add to this tea.