Fortnum & Mason Tea Advent Calendar Day 21 - Chai

 I admit it, I opened this one on the evening of the 21st and decided to save it for the morning of the 22nd when I would be able to make myself an entire pot so that I could enjoy it while working on my early day at work.  It was absolutely the right call.

I couldn't tell under the spices what kind of black tea they used as the base of the blend, but it was tasty.  I was wary when the ingredients listed fennel, because often times when fennel is used in a chai spice mix the blenders can be too heavy handed with the fennel and it sours the blend for me.  Thankfully, that was not the case here.

While I admit that I prefer my Chai to hit my palate with a hotter spice, this blend was a very festive winter holiday spice appropriate chai and I enjoyed that.  The cinnamon was delicious and present without being so strong as to dry out my mouth; the star anise gave some bite without turning the tea to licorice; the cloves gave some smoke to the flavor again without drying the mouth; the coriander, cumin and ginger all gave some heat and depth to the blend without any of them being dominant.  All in all, it's a very well balanced chai - full of spice, but without a "spicy heat" of other chai blends that use pepper or larger quantities of ginger.  As a result, it has a pleasant complexity that allows large quantities to be imbibed without flavor monotony setting in.

Final thoughts:  Lovely as a change of pace during the holidays, but I won't purchase large quantities of it because it's too mild for my chai preferences.  I know that this blend will suit a LOT of palates besides me own.  A lovely mild chai.