Sunday, April 15, 2012

Chai Tea

Apropos of nothing, I now quite like Chai tea.

I feel I need to blog about this. I'm on my second ever cup now and it's really quite good.

I had been sceptical of it. While I love the mysticism of it, I am at heart a British pragmatist. About three months ago I tried Earl Grey for the first time and the effect was really quite instantaneous. I converted quickly from Orange Pekoe. Chai took a little longer. I was tentative. It smelled good, but I messed the first cup last night up pretty badly and the aftertaste wasn't so good. The second cup tonight, though, seems to be an improvement.

Jury's still out on herbal. I'll have to try them eventually, just because. I don't drink coffee (see What Is This? for my usual line about that). There's something that fits my lifestyle about old-fashioned tea.

I keep a box of treasured Yorkshire tea in my cupboard, which I dip into on special occasions, difficult days, or particularly important writing nights. I still think that's my favourite, but a cup of Earl Grey--and now maybe Chai--does very well for a normal night.

Anyone else got any tea stories to tell? Are they better than this one? Good.