Keeping Me Awake, But Not Pleasantly, Orgeon Chai Energia Herbal Chai Tea Does What It Promised And Nothing More.

The Good: Truly energizes, Does not taste bad, Easy to prepare, Caffeinated
The Bad: Exceptionally dry aftertaste, Nothing superlative on the taste front, Extraneous tea garbage
The Basics: Oregon Chai Energia Herbal Chai tea is an average tea that kept me awake, but not in a way that made me thrilled to recommend it.


I think that the very best time to try a tea that claims to be energizing or have properties to help keep one awake is when one is doing something non-dangerous and yet they must be awake for. In other words, working through the night at something like typing and researching, as opposed to utilizing heavy equipment. It was under those circumstances that I used Oregon Chai’s Energia Herbal Chai tea. Energia was only my second experience with Oregon Chai, after a review of their standard The Original Chai Tea (reviewed here!).

Under the conditions of working a night shift, the Energia Herbal tea held up and did exactly what it promised. Unfortunately, there are superlative teas like Celestial Seasonings’s Fast Lane (reviewed here!) that are great for keeping me awake and taste great!

Basics

Energia Herbal Chai is a tea from Oregon Chai. It is a tea that has caffeine and it is a fairly strong herbal tea. Energia Herbal Chai comes in Oregon Chai'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 two bags and making a steeping pot of Energia Herbal Chai reminds me of why I like the easy environmentalism of Celestial Seasonings' stringless bags. A box of Energia Herbal Chai comes with 20 individually-wrapped tea bags.

Energia Herbal Chai is marketed as a chai spiced tea and it actually reminds me most of loose green tea my father brought me home from one of his trips to China!

Ease of Preparation

Energia Herbal Chai is a chai tea, which means preparation is as easy as boiling a pot of water! Energia Herbal Chai, as the directions clearly state, requires water that is boiling. A single tea bag will make the standard 8 oz. coffee mug worth of tea and reusing the tea bags yields a mug full which is about 1/2 strength. It was only when reusing the teabag (or when the tea was cold) I found the tea to have a dry aftertaste.

To prepare Energia Herbal Chai, 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 four 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 be a pointless endeavor.

Taste

Brewed fresh, the Oregon Chai Energia Herbal Chai Tea smells like cinnamon and fresh-cut grass. The smell is not particularly uplifting, though it’s not a downer, either.

On the taste front, Energia Herbal Chai tea tastes strangely familiar, from a blend I used to have at a local tea house. The flavor reminds me of pine needles for some reason and that might be the yerba mate in the blend (I’ve pretty much repressed my two days working for Teavanna). The taste is a somewhat generic tea flavor, more toward the green tea end of the spectrum than black, and it is not nearly as spicy as any other Chai tea I have ever tried.

The Energia Herbal Chai tea leaves a strong, dry aftertaste in the mouth and it is not terribly pleasant.

Nutrition

The primary ingredients in the Energia Herbal Chai tea are: organic guayusa, organic yerba mate, and ginger root. This tea is devoid of any nutritional value. It contains no calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates or protein.

Storage/Clean-up

Oregon Chai's Energia Herbal Chai is a fairly light green-colored herbal tea. As a result, cleanup is rather simple, save 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!

Energia Herbal Chai 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. However, like all Oregon Chai teabags, there is extra waste from the strings, paper tabs and individual wrappings around each bag.

Overall

Oregon Chai Energia Herbal Chai tea is a dry disappointment of a tea that succeeds in keeping me awake, but not with a taste that makes me want to recommend it!

For other teas, please check out my reviews of:
Bigelow Sweet Dreams
Yogi Ginger Organic
Dilmah Ceylon Green

4.5/10

For other beverage reviews, please check out my Food Review Index Page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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