The Good: Great aroma, Easy to prepare, Caffeinated
The Bad: Extraneous tea garbage, Smells more flavorful than it tastes, VERY weak.
The Basics: Stash's Premium Chai White tea is very weak, but smells amazing and when it has flavor, it tends to come in the form of an aftertaste.
As I return to much more regular tea reviews, I find myself let down by Stash. Honestly, Chai White tea from Stash is not a letdown as much as it is exactly what I have come to expect from white teas. I think I had hoped that as part of Stash's Premium tea line, they might have made a white tea that was actually flavorful. Unfortunately, Stash cannot fix the fundamental problem with white teas, which is that they tend to be very light on flavor. In the case of White Chai tea, the flavor is mostly from the aftertaste that is exceptionally dry.
Basics
Chai White is a tea from Stash. It is a tea that has caffeine and is a very light white tea. Chai White comes in Stash's standard individually-wrapped tea bags, means that each tea bag has a wax papery envelope it is sealed in for freshness. Each tea bag has a five-inch string with a little paper tab at the end, which is quite a bit more waste than I like from a tea bag. When I make pots of tea, I tend to use three bags and making a steeping pot of Chai White reminds me of why I like the easy environmentalism of Celestial Seasonings' stringless bags. A box of Chai White comes with 18 individually-wrapped tea bags.
Chai White is marketed as a white tea more than a chai tea and it is good that it goes that way; this is much more like a white tea than a chai tea. While Chai White is aromatic, it does not deliver on the taste front.
Ease Of Preparation
Chai White is a white tea, which means preparation is as easy as boiling a pot of water! Chai White, as the directions clearly state, requires water that is boiling, which surprised me; usually white teas are made with hot water to prevent the leaves from cooking. A single tea bag will make the standard 7 oz. coffee mug worth of tea, though reusing the tea bags yields a mug full which is about 1/4 strength. This is not an ideal tea bag for reusing.
To prepare Chai White, simply boil up some water, and pour it over the tea bags in a cup, mug or steeping pot. This tea is recommended to take three to five minutes to steep and with boiling water, the tea was ready at the three minute mark and letting it steep longer does not truly change the results. Letting the tea steep more than five minutes does not net any additional flavor, nor does it denature the flavor of the tea. However, after brewing for five minutes, trying to reuse the teabag is likely to net the consumer a terribly watery second cup.
Taste
Chai White has a powerful aroma of cinnamon and ginger. This makes sense as those are two of the dominant ingredients. This tea smells like a potpourri container and hints at an exceptionally flavorful tea that would be impossible to dislike.
Unfortunately, the taste does not back the smell up. After opening the consumer up to a great taste experience, Chai White is a huge letdown. Vaguely flavored, the best I could define Chai White as is "dirty water." I find it a regrettable description, but honestly when I tried to figure out what the tea tasted like, I kept thinking of swimming at Green Lakes Park in the summer. I realized the association my mind was making was that this tasted like warm lake water. That is all.
Cold, Chai White tastes flavorful and actually tastes more like a weak black tea. Unfortunately, the spice flavors that come out when the tea is cool also make the Chai White exceptionally dry and leave the consumer aching for something to drink!
Nutrition
That Stash’s Chai White is so weak is a surprise given that the primary ingredients are organic white tea, cinnamon and ginger root. For a tea that contains clove oil, allspice and cloves, I would expect a tea that tasted better, not just smelled so good! Chai White tea is all natural, contains caffeine and is Kosher (though finding that notation took quite a bit!). This tea was also produced promoting sustainable forest management.
Were it not for the sugar I add when I make Chai White, this tea would be devoid of any nutritional value. It contains no calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates or protein.
Storage/Clean-up
Stash's Chai White is a fairly light white tea. As a result, cleanup is rather simple, even on fabrics. The mugs and steeping pot easily rinse out. This tea will stain if it is left on fabrics, so simply do not let the tea cups or mugs linger on light colored materials that might stain!
Chai White is easy to clean up after - the tea bags may be disposed in the garbage, or composted if you have a good garden and/or compost pile. One of the nice things about this tea - like most - is that so long as it is kept cool and dry, it can last for a long time and it is easy to clean up. The box my wife and I bought yesterday expires in October, 2014! However, like all Stash teas, there is extra waste from the strings, paper tabs and individual wrappings around each bag.
Overall
Stash Chai White is a weak tea that gets flavorful right around the time it becomes inedible. Unfortunately, this is another poor rendering of a tea that is very healthy, but not worth the health benefits on the taste front.
For other Stash teas, please check out my reviews of:
Stash Chai Spice Black
Stash Peach Black tea
Stash Double Bergamot Earl Grey
3.5/10
For other beverage reviews, please check out my index page!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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