Risen like a phoenix thanks to its Starbucks ties, the Teavana brand has rolled out an assortment of bagged teas available in online versions of retailers like Amazon (to where Teavana's website links point) and Wal-Mart, and found in some hotels and conference centers for guest breakfast areas and catering of meetings. I got this at a motel in South Dakota, and found more about a week later at a Colorado hotel. This variety retails for about 42¢/bag (in a 24-bag box) at Wal-Mart, as of this writing.

Across the board, this is one of the top few bagged chais I've had in smell and flavor. It doesn't skimp on quantity, and uses good-quality spices. The base black tea doesn't seem like an Assam, as usual for most good chais and which I prefer, but instead a sharper, more astringent variety (Ceylon and/or Chinese black-tea blend perhaps?) that still behaves well with the dominant cinnamon and cardamom. It is a very cinnamon-heavy tea. "Classic Chai" uses a decidedly spicy, warming variety of cinnamon that lingers in the mouth for several minutes, and should go down well on a cold day. I'm trying it on a high-summer afternoon in Oklahoma, and it's still enjoyable. Retail price is a bit high, but might be worthwhile for folks who want a quick yet quality fix of black tea with cinnamon and cardamom to kickstart the day.

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