When my mother in law was in New Calendonia last year, she brought me back tea! Interesting tea at that – KeriKeri Tea Honeybush Chai.
What makes KeriKeri Tea organic’s Honeybush Chai unique is the ingredients – Organic honeybush, whole cloves, cardamon, ginger, cinnamon flakes and native New Zealand horopito pepper.
That sounds spicy! Before I look up what horopito pepper tastes like, let’s sample the tea!
Dry Leaf
It is really hard to say something interesting about rooibos and honeybush leaves as it looks like wood chunks. So yeah, the dry leaf looks like wood bits in red, cream and dark brown, with whole cloves. The scent is sweet for a chai, mostly cinnamon.
Steeping Instructions
The label states to steep the Honeybush Chai with boiling water for 3 minutes or loner, according to taste. I found 3 minutes was too weak, so I went to 4 minutes for optimal flavor.
Tasting of KeriKeri Tea Honeybush Chai
KeriKeri Tea’s Honeybush Chai sips in spicy with a apple cider spice vibe due to cinnamon and clove flavors. I get a bit of ginger and cardamon taste as well. There is a zing of peppery heat that tickles my tongue after each sip. As I drink my chai, it starts to burn a bit going down with spice. However, the spicy heat doesn’t continue to roast you, it just passes through and is gone. Honeybush Chai is spicy but very tolerable even if you don’t do hot stuff since the spice does not linger. I’d give this tea a moderate spice level, 6/10 on the Spice Meter.
The honeybush flavor comes through, adding a sweet woody and creamy flavor at the middle and end sip. There is also a wateryness to this tea, despite the strong spices, which I think is from the honeybush.
Comments
KeriKeri Tea Organic Honeybush Chai Pretty good chai that can be drank straight due to the natural sweetness level and light creamy of honeybush. The heat in this chai was unique and interesting and if you love spicy hot chais this tea would be of interest. I’ve had some seriously hot teas, but this one is pretty friendly.
Checking up on horopito pepper, it is a pepper that the heat creeps up on you. I had a hard time finding out the flavor, but found this blog post at Edible Planet that describes its prank use and a great option for steaks. The Seed Of Knowledge has some interesting facts, such as the leaves being used as medicine by the Maori but now has culinary uses.
Looking it up, I’m not sure if one could get KeriKeri Tea Organic Honeybush Chai outside of New Zealand. If you see it, report back!
