Being a sucker for all kinds of strong and/or spicy food and drink, I've grown quite fond of good chais, in all their wonderful variety of formulations. As such, my default will be to rate them fairly well unless they prove unfit for human consumption. This rates well. It's not up to par with most loose chais I've had, or a few bagged versions, but is still a pleasant chug.

Dry-bag had an intriguing scent: a vanilla-dominant chai, as advertised, a little peppery, a lot woody. The latter wasn't a chemical woody smell like I've gotten with a few other teas that reminded me of polished wood or turpentine. Instead it was purer, similar to freshly cut wild wood or sawdust of varieties such as ash, basswood, poplar, or balsa that have a light, pleasant aroma. Still, a woody scent in tea strikes me as off-base, and I was glad to see that didn't translate either to the taste or wet-bag aroma, which were very similar to one another.

The flavor is vanilla-dominant, cinnamon prominent. [Hmmm...just realized that's a tongue twister...say that five times, fast. ] The ginger, black pepper and cloves on the ingredients list are barely there. If you like those ingredients or cardamom to be well-represented in a chai, best avoid this one, though I still enjoyed drinking it for the good balance of the few flavors it does have. In the finish, I also caught a bit of nuttiness to it—faint, light, reminiscent of macadamia. The aftertaste came across as milky, or a little sticky, like a sweet tree sap. I suspect this tea would go well with milk, for those who prefer that style.

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