Solaris Tea: White Tea Chai

On this wet, dreary London afternoon, I have decided to introduce you to possibly one of the most memorable tea's I've tried. It's flavoursome, delicious and full bodied. And, it's a white tea!

Solaris Tea are based in Ireland. They produce fine quality herbs and tea's. Their mission statement is simple. To provide high quality tea to their customers, using their passion and knowledge to produce fine blends that are traditional, yet have a modern twist. The tea's are hand blended and the company have their own in-house, master tea blender. I feel, by reading their website, that their number one consideration (after producing fine tea, of course) is building strong relationships with their customers and a happy, relaxed working environment for their staff.

The first tea I decided to try was their White Tea Chai. 

I love Chai tea, but have to take it in limited quantities, as it's far too strong to take without milk and a dash of sugar when blended with a black tea. White tea, however, does not sit well with milk so I was expecting this to be a interesting blend. And it was!

White Tea Chai is a loose leaf tea, which is stunning to look at. The leaves are large, abundant in colour and have a lovely texture. Due to the added lemon and orange peel as well as the star anis and cloves there are darts of colour that run through the tea, too, making it highly attractive to look at.

The base tea is a white, first flush tea from China.

For some reason I expected this tea to come in bags, probably the silky pyramid variety, so I was pleasantly surprised to see it was a loose tea, as Chai normally comes in tea bags. But, that was no problem. I'm too lazy to get rid of tea leaves from the pot so took some of the empty teabags I always keep in stock, filled three or four with a ample amount of tea and threw them in the pot.

Whilst I was filling the teabags I boiled the water and let it cool for several minutes. I then infused the tea and timed it to infuse for exactly three minutes. As we all know, white tea is very delicate and can turn bitter and unpalatable if over infused so I'm always strict on the water temperature and timings. However, each amount of tea can be infused up to three times which is brilliant but means you have to be super strict on not allowing boiling water anywhere near it. Always boil and let cool, boil and let cool ... make it your mantra!

I love white tea but don't often come across blends, it's certainly the quieter cousin to the black and green varities. There are plenty out there but they tend to come with peach and apricot flavourings so for this tea to be a chai is not only innovative on the blenders side but also take's a slight leap of faith on the drinkers side to. It's quite a "out there" combination of tea to flavours. So how would it work?

I can say with absolute sincerity that it really does work! Somehow, Solaris Tea has taken such a delicate white peony tea, paired it with strong flavours and made it a partnership that is guaranteed to give you a pleasurable, tasty cup of tea. I was, quite honestly, amazed at how well this works.

The most prominent flavour, no doubt, is the cardamom. It's punchy, gives the blend a kick and I love how your tastebuds are still tingling long after you have finished your cup of tea. It's really quite spicy and makes me marvel even more at this tea. White tea and cardamom working hand in hand - yes, really! I could taste the cloves slightly too, but underneath the cardamom is the sweet, fruity, citrus taste of the orange and lemon peel which adds a smooth, gentle flavour.The cloves, cardamom and the other ingredients are blended perfectly too. And that's my issue with taking chai black - most chai's are not blended well, meaning one flavour is too strong cancelling the others out. Many are unpalatable. This is blended perfectly.

Yet, despite this tea's powerful flavours, the smoothness of the white tea is detectable, it's delicate taste works well with the powerful combination of flavours, yet, somehow holds it's own. It has the light, slightly floral flavour that white tea has (for me anyway). It's familiar, I know the taste of white tea well, yet there is something new and modern about it. It put's a spin on the delicate nature of white tea.

I think that for white tea traditionalists this tea is VERY different, and will take you out of your comfort zone. For chai lovers it will provide you with a different (and much quicker, easier to make) cup of tea, a totally new experience which is tasty, enjoyable and unforgettable.

I am really excited about this tea and cannot wait to try the other samples which were sent out with this tea. But more that that - I am excited about Solaris Tea. I admire any tea manufacturer, and their blenders, who are willing to step out of the traditional way of thinking to create something with pizazz and energy.

I'm lucky to have been able to try this wonderful tea and I highly suggest you treat yourself to this tasty blend that comes in the most stylish, beautiful packaging, which is both understated and modern.

I'm off to re-infuse my teabags and enough this blend all over again. And for me, the kettle can't cool quickly enough!