Vahdam Tea Advent Calendar: Day 12 - Earl Grey Masala Chai

 I read the name of this blend and got VERY EXCITED!!

How could I not?  My two favorite blends of tea are Chai and Earl Grey.  Putting them together.... I had very high hopes.  I opened the tin and .... blissful magic in the form of spices and bergamot wafted into the air like heaven escaping to greet me.  Ok... that's a bit poetic, but seriously, it smelled DAMN GOOD.

The blend in the measuring spoon confused me a little, because the leaves in my chai blends tend to look more full leafed and this looked more like the sort of tea you find in a tea bag.  Still, I could also see the cardamom, cinnamon, clove and black pepper, so my anticipation grew.

I steeped the brew and was pleasantly surprised to find that the bergamot aroma blended so pleasantly with the chai spice combo.  The dark red of the tea liquor made me realize that even though the leaf in the spoon had looked a bit off, that they had stuck with an Assam to use as the base (the standard in a good Masala) even with the addition of Earl Grey elements.

My first sip.... made embarrassing anime style noises slip out of me.  It was DELICIOUS!!!  Even straight off the steep it was mellow but with the bite of spice I love from a good chai and the delightful citrus note of a bergamot heavy Earl Grey.  The astringency suggested that adding cream would be a good idea, but it wasn't NEEDED.  Because I prefer both my chai and my Earl Grey with cream and a touch of sweet, I added a touch of sweetened condensed milk and..... was transported to the perfection of tea.  This was the best cup of tea I've ever had from a tea advent calendar.  I am going to NEED to buy this blend for regular consumption.

Somehow, there is touch of ginger in the flavor - but only on the edges.  Mostly, it is the earthy sweet of a good quality Assam tea bag with a perfect blend of chai spices and a whopping helping of that lovely citrus floral of the bergamot.   The spices and bergamot all hold up against the cream and sugar.  Actually, the flavor of the tea held up even against the ice cream french toast Sean had made us for breakfast.  The bergamot and chai spices cut through the sweet from the breakfast and the tea mellowed it out to let the cream at the end of the sip leave a creamy mouth feel.

Alright - so I've mentioned a couple times that the tea in this blend reminded me of high quality bagged tea.  There's a reason for this.  After doing some research on the blend, I discovered that the Assam in this blend is CTC Assam.  CTC is short for Cush Tear Curl which is a tea processing method that gained popularity in the 1950s.  CTC tea is sometimes also called mamri tea.  More traditional loose leaf tea rolls the leaves into strips or balls, letting the hot water unfurl the leaf as it steeps.  The cut leaf doesn't have to unfurl to come in contact with the hot water and as a result, the leaf is quicker to infuse into tea with a stronger flavor.  Of course, there is a draw back.  If you've tried to taste different types of tea in loose leaf form, you've probably had an easier time of distinguishing between an Assam and a Darjeeling.  That gets harder to do in tea bag form because the CTC method homogenizes the flavor of tea a bit.  The crushed tea naturally breaks down the leaf cells and causes full oxidation - giving strong tea that loses its subtle flavor differences.  

I think that the use of CTC Assam in this blend is what allows the tea to stand up to both the spices and the bergamot not only without getting lost, but also acting as a binder/bridge between the two.

Final thoughts:  This is a must try.  I am in love.