This chai is lovely to look at,  with lots of whole cardamom pods and other seeds, whole cloves, and pieces of cinnamon. It’s a fairly mild chai, however – in part because of those whole pods and seeds. Ground spices release more flavor than whole ones do (square-cube law, ratio of surface area to volume, all that), though whole spices remain fresher in flavor than ground ones. So one gets nicely spicy flavors here, but not as strong as in some other chais that use ground spices.

The spices in this chai are the usual ones – cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon. What gives this a unique flavor hit is the addition of green tea to the black tea; that adds a slightly vegetable-ish or herb-ish taste to the tea flavor which goes quite well with the spices.

Also, because of the mixture of green tea with the black, and the volume taken up by the spices, this tea has a little bit less caffeine per spoonful than chai based entirely on black tea.

Golden Moon has this to say about the tea:

Kashmiri Chai is a unique tea blend with a smooth, rich and robust flavor. You will love this Kashmiri Chai tea because it is a rare combination of black and green tea with the best quality cardamom seeds, cloves, spice oil and cinnamon.

The first time you taste the flavor of the Kashmiri Chai green tea leaf, you will notice it is light and serene while the cardamom seeds add an herbal and somewhat misty and refreshing flavor. Add to this the hot and spicy flavor of cloves, the sweet and spicy essence of spice oils and the warming spicy flavor of cinnamon and the result is a truly unique tasting experience you will love from the start.

Upon the first sip of this secret Kashmiri Chai tea blend you will see it is well balanced. All of the flavors come through without completely overpowering the tea base, which will have a balanced and smooth feel on your palate.

In order to achieve a truly balanced Kashmiri Chai tea blend, we begin with a leaf that has even and dark characteristics but is substantial and defined to the point where flavors are easily blended and multiple, savory taste infusions are supported.

Why do we think you will like Kashmiri Chai better than other Chai teas? We blended this tea in a way that is very proportionate and true to the authentic recipes of India. Golden Moon Tea believes that Kashmiri Chai will be one of the most harmonious blends of Chai you will find anywhere.

In a second steeping, one doesn’t get very much spice flavor unless one makes a point of crushing the seed pods to break them open a bit – so, if you want a mildly spicy, low-caffeine evening chai, the second steeping of this one would be ideal.

Another thing to do with these tea leaves after a first steeping is to use them in cooking rice – put the tea and spice pods in a metal mesh ball, since it’s going to be immersed in boiling water for a while; put the tea ball in the water as soon as you start to heat it, and then bring the water to a boil and cook your rice as you normally would; pull the tea ball out when you’re getting ready to serve the rice.

The reason a second steeping works so well for this is both because the color of the tea is lighter, and therefore doesn’t turn the rice an unusually dark color that some people would hesitate at, and because it’s lower in caffeine; also, on a second steeping, the fact that the leaves are sitting in boiling water won’t make them as bitter. It gives the rice a mildly spicy taste; add a dash of ground pepper to it, as well, and it complements meat dishes or roasted vegetable dishes such as eggplant quite nicely.

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