Stash Chai Tea
Goodbye coffee, hello chai. A less shake-inducing caffeine fix, and flavours that dance on your tongue, at once sensational and soothing. A taste quite unlike anything we’re accustomed to here in the west, that makes having taste buds exciting again (if having taste buds was ever exciting). Chai is an invigorating blend of Indian black tea, spices, and soy milk. Chai entered my life in a coffeehouse in San Francisco and there’s been no turning back. Except that when I returned to Montreal, chai was nowhere to be found.
Until… You have to love the Fruits du Parc shop in Galleries du Parc. (At least, you do if you’re a semi-new-age-vegetarian or a semi-health-conscious person with a tendency to investigate all things of the Orient, like I am.) I bought a box of Stash Chai Tea to see if it ranked with the California mixture, and my new morning ritual was born. Not too overwhelming with the spices, yet enough so to wake me gently. And tasty. So very tasty.
Chai is also now available at Starbucks and Indigo Books here in Montreal. The version served and sold for take-home at Indigo — Sattwa Chai — is thick and soapy in taste. It is a concentrate meant simply to be blended with milk, thus it requires no brewing stage — the essential step to any tea lover. Disappointing and not representative of what chai should be. At Starbucks I opted for the Tazo chai latte, and though it hinted at tasty chai, it was more of a tease. The chai flavors didn’t so much dance on my tongue as tiptoe. Just as well. Something spiritual is lost when giving money to the megaliths that are cashing in on what is becoming a trend. Chai is good, after all, and I am thankful for its availability, but I say to bring it to your kitchen; its atmosphere is home.
Go with the Stash version. It’s a great introduction to the drink, and the best version of chai so far. Though the directions on the box say to add your milk of choice, I recommend sticking to soy or rice milk products — just to keep things culturally intact and traditional. If it proves impossible — absolutely, hellishly impossible — to find Stash Chai, and I have intrigued you to the point where you MUST try some, I cringe-ingly refer you to Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea. It is in the neighborhood of chai, and is actually very good. Better than nothing, but it’s not the real deal.
For more chai info, check out: Chai! Spice Milk Tea. If you do fall in love with chai and are the adventurous type, this web site has numerous recipes for making your own at home.
Three reviews in one:
1. Remove evil coffee from your system by drinking chai. Your body will thank you, you will thank me and you’ll share common ground with Alanis when she sings, ‘Thank you, India’.
2. Stash brand chai tea is the way to go.
3. The Fruits du Parc shop in Galleries du Parc is where you can get it, and chances are you’ll leave with a full bag of Asian (homemade sushi!) and/or vegetarian fare (an amazing selection of Zoglo’s) you’ve seen nowhere else. Stash chai is also available at Optimum.
