so what's for breakfast today?

Smorgs, it's real, or realish, chai.

It tastes much like the chai I have at the Indian and Nepalese restaurants here. This one is a Tetley version. I've got a few others, including Celestial Seasonings Mountain Chai.

I'll be back in a mo with some info.

Ingredients: Black tea, cinnamon, ginger root, roasted chicory root, cloves, cardamom, natural flavors, nutmeg, black pepper, star anise, and vanilla bean.

Tetley® Chai Spice Drawstring Tea
Experience the magic of ancient and exotic lands with this authentic style Indian Chai. The flavors of traditional Chai spices are blended with select black tea to bring you a well-balanced and complex beverage that will indulge your senses. Excellent when served with milk in the Indian tradition or on its own.

I have a little cinnamon and sugar grinder that I keep at my desk at work, for adding a bit of zing to my tea and/or chai.

At home, it's a grinder with cinnamon, chocolate and sugar lumps in it. Great for specialty teas, chai, hot cocoa, buttered toast, oatmeal and rice pudding. mmmmmmmmmmmmm

oh my
nothing like new product to catch my eye

TeaHouse Specialties

TeaHouse Lattes - the smooth taste of fine black tea and delightful flavors in a creamy beverage

* Crème Caramel Dream™ ... imported black tea with a drizzle of real caramel flavor
* Golden Vanilla Hazelnut ... a sweet and nutty tea treat
* French Vanilla Velvet Decaf ... decaffeinated black tea with gourmet vanilla flavor

TeaHouse Chais - the exotic taste of a deliciously creamy spiced tea authentic to India

* Cinnamon Spice ... red (rooibos) and black teas blended with spicy cinnamon
* Vanilla Ginger Spice Decaf ... decaffeinated black tea with Tahitian vanilla and zesty ginger
* Sweet Coconut Thai ... black tea, fragrant spices and sweet coconut for chai with a Thai twist


http://www.celestialseasonings.com/products/teahouse_index.php

Have you tried chai infused with cardoman? Delicious!

smorgs - both the Celestial Seasoning and Tetley Chai's have cardamom in the ingredients. One of the local places does a chai that is more heavily cardamom' ed - quite wonderful.

Tell me about this, ehBeth, it sounds good, especially on toast. What kind of chocolate goes in with the cinnamon and sugar and what type of grinder do you use?

I got a free sample of that in my Sunday paper (sorry if I missed something, I'm just dropping in at the end). I'll have to give it a try. I'm not a big fan of Chai, as it really needs milk and I don't like milk in my tea.

These little buggers are from stores that sell President's Choice products. They've got grinders with different sweet and savoury combos.

(gotta find you a link)

They're refillable, and the grinders are surprisingly good quality for something that only costs about $3 - filled.

cjhsa - I'd say give the stuff a try - without the milk. The chai we can get in the machine at work is just fine without milk. The Tetley's version needs milk, and I'd say the Celestial Seasonings one is better with milk - but doesn't HAVE to have milk.

The Chai tea I've tried before was too strong of clove. I love the curry like flavors but clove can get overpowering pretty quickly.

I guess the joy of chai (if you find joy in it) is that each blend is so different. I live very close to Tranna's Little India, and each tiny shop has it's own special hometown variant. Definitely, some are too strong in something - but I love the experimenting.


Zane

grinder link

About a month or so ago the wife and I went out for Mexican food at a newer place I hadn't been to before. Keep in mind that there are four of these "nicer" mexican places in town, all owned by the same family, with slight variations on each menu.

Figuring this being the fanciest of the four, the mole was probably a bit different and worth a try. Different can't describe it. It tasted like the chef had dropped an entire bottle of ground cloves in the sauce. Utterly inedible. So, when I rejected it and sent it back, the first thing the waiter asked me was "Have you had mole before?".

My wife seemed to think this a reasonable question, but I sure didn't. I told the guy to take it back, take it off my bill, and that I wouldn't be ordering anything else.

Later the manager came out and said "There's something wrong with the mole".

Sorry for my rant and digression. Just a clove story.

<crossing cloves off the shopping list>

I understand, cjhsa. I can never understand the people who decorate with the stuff.

ehBethie, thanks! Some of the stores around here have President's Choice products. I have to pick up a few grocery items tonight anyway, so I'll see if I can find one of those grinders too.

Yum..got a craving for hot buttered toast..

pssssssst - look for the Thai Spice grinder as well, Zane

the sea salt and black pepper one is good too - i keep it topped up with La Baleine sea salt and good peppercorns

that whole series of P.C. products is verra verra handy

Don't go out for too long, Zane. It's freakin' cold out. It's that windchill

At first I didn't realize PC was a Canadian brand...I wonder how widely distributed they are here, even so close to the border. The supermarket chain I tried last night had some PC items, but no pre-filled grinders. Looks like I'll be checking Walmart sometime in the near future, or trying to make my own blend to put in a grinder.

No online store?

A blog entry re President's Choice Sugar, Chocolate And Cinnamon Blend Grinder:
http://neon.polkaroo.net/~mhoye/blarg/archives/002819.php