The Real Tea Company: Assam Masala Chai Tea

It's fair to say, for me anyway, 2016 has been the year of Chai.

It doesn't matter if it's gingerbread chai, Bollywood chai or any other chai, this spicy tea has become a real treat for me this year.

The fact that I've eased off on my strictness, and now allow myself a tiny bit of milk and sugar has really helped. Chai was simply too much to drink without so I avoided them and most Christmas tea's like the plague. Now though, I have a lot of catching up to do.

Last month I was lucky enough to win a taster pack from the awesome Real Tea Company - a new start up company. I've already tried their delicious Winter Green Tea, a surefire hit in this house! Today, I'm trying their equally lovely Assam Masala Chai.

Yesterday was a busy day for me. Today is cold, miserable and wet so what better tea to cheer you up and make you feel warm and cosy than a lovely masala chai! These are the sort of days chai is designed for!

The first thing that struck me about this tea is how pretty it is. I love how the ingredients - cardamom, clove and cinnamon - add beautiful dashes of colour against the dark black tea. The first impression this tea made was a visual one. And it's truly gorgeous.

And the fabulous aroma of clove is just stunning. It's the first scent you get from this tea. This tea smells so fresh, it's bursting with exotic scents. As a tea lover this has ticked two very, very important boxes. For me of course the taste is everything, but, if it can delight the other senses too, then it makes the drinking of the tea a much richer, indepth experience.

I brewed the tea for a good few minutes and the tea itself (before adding milk of course) brewed to a gorgeous copper red colour. However, I'm simply not brave enough to take it without milk so added the tiniest amount of milk, to take the edge of the spices, but not to mask the flavour completely.

I LOVED this chai. And it certainly will go onto my list of hits of 2016. The taste is extraordinary. It's effective without being unpleasantly strong. It's tasty and leave's you wanting more, without any nasty after taste. It's got the familiar strength of Assam black tea, whilst adding a scrummy mix of spices.

Firstly, the base tea used in this blend is Assam. Assam is like your favourite, versatile little black dress. It's lovely in it's simplicity but also takes the addition of extra things and adapts to them so well it lifts it to another level. And this tea is the best example of it.

The Assam is strong and robust as Assam tends to be. And it's that strength that makes this tea work so well. Any lesser black tea would most likely be utterly masked by the spices, this is not. The familiar and malty taste of Assam is still very obvious and easily detectable.

And oh, the spices. What a journey they take your tastebuds on!

I have to say the cardamom is a brave choice to add to something like clove that in itself is very strong. And that's without acknowledging the cinnamon!

We have in this tea three very strong ingredients. I have to say when reading the description of this tea the other day I wasn't sure it would be my thing simply because of the strength of these wonderful spices. Yet, they do work.

The cardamom, for me at least, is the strongest flavour and even twenty minutes after finishing my second cup my tongue is still dancing from the effects of it. It just makes your mouth fizz and pop, it's like the tea version of the popping candy that is everywhere at the moment. It's just really nice.

After the initial effect of the cardamom, came the soothing, every so slightly sweet cinnamon, a lovely and effective balance to the cardamom. It soothes that wow factor and calms it a little making for a rich, smooth taste.

The cloves - of which I've experienced a lot of lately testing out the Christmas tea's - were the lesser flavour and the one I struggled hardest to detect. It's one of those situations where one spice is slightly overpowered by the other two, yet, despite me struggling to detect it, I'm sure I'd notice it if it was not added. Of course, this will vary from person to person, and you may drink it and pick up the clove and not the cinnamon. We are all different, after all!

I know I've been ranting on about the art of blending whilst trying the Christmas tea's. But this tea is the perfect example of how getting the blending spot on makes for a fabulous cup of tea. Tea blending is a art and Real Tea Company have got this right.To produce a tea that manages to retain the lovely familiarity of Assam with it's qualities, and yet adds three spices into the mix to make a even balanced, satisfying and tasty tea is no easy job.

Assam Masala Chai works. It's a tea that has several layers of flavour, has depth and is both warming and comforting for the cold days we all have coming up. Yet, at the same time it's subtle enough to leave you wanting more. And more.

I am so impressed with The Real Tea Company. They have managed, so far, to produce a wonderful green tea and now have created a lovely, exotic chai.

I'm also very happy to see they have added a Earl Grey, Darjeeling and a Russian Caravan, too! So, even if Chai isn't your thing, there are plenty of tea's to cater for every taste, whether you are a traditional tea drinker or if you like to experiment with something a bit more exotic.

But, on the Assam Masala Chai, they get a double thumbs up. Now, I'm off to make a third cup!