Item reviewed: Mighty Leaf Bombay Chai in their classic silk sachet

Company: Mighty Leaf Tea

Teaguy Rating:  

Review:  When it comes to the world of bagged tea, most who know me well, understand my disdain for overly packaged, inferior quality, all-to-often-stale tea that adorns the supermarket shelves around the globe.  Every now and then, there are a few exceptions, and over the years I have, on occasion recommended 1 tea bag company to  new tea start-ups, coffee cafes and lazy friends.  That one company just happens to be Mighty Leaf.  The natural silk sachet and the quality of the tea in the pouch position ML as the best 'tea in bags' to be found anywhere.  It's nice to see a company that doesn't skimp and cut corners.

So the other day, with the ML gift box sitting on my desk, I reached for a pouch with their Bombay Chai blend.

I steeped the bag in a small asian style teapot for 5+ minutes and poured it into my Chinese style tea cup.

My first sip told me that the tea was quite a bit on the light side (I did brew the sac in about 15 oz of water).  The second hit was 70% clove with a hint of cinnamon. For the third small cup, I added some skim milk.  It didn't really improve it that much as I still found it quite weak - chai should be robust and fragrant!  The spices were not balanced well and the black tea was thin and in the distant background.

It wasn't a bad cup of tea, just not a blend of chai that I would drool over  - and I have drooled over many pots of aromatic chai.  If you are a chai lover, then I would probably take a pass on this.

I think the fine people at Mighty Leaf could have done a much better job creating an authentic chai.

Keep on sipping...