My Go-To Chilled Summer Tea: Chocolate Chai + New Blog Header

There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t make myself a cup of tea. I’m always trying out new brands and flavours, on a quest to find my perfect tea. My go-to tea has been Japanese Sencha loose leaf for years, but I like to spice things up once and a while.

I recently fell head over heels for President’s Choice Chocolate Chai tea. It’s made from a lovely base of roasted chicory root, carob pod, with hints of spices like ginger and cinnamon. The price is very reasonable too; I think the tea bags work out to being less than 20 cents each. I find flavoured teas can be hit or miss, but this one is definitely a hit.

It really does have a chocolaty chai flavour like it claims. Before the weather got so hot, I was enjoying this tea piping hot with almond milk. Once the heat wave hit, I’ve been chilling a pot of brewed tea overnight so I have lots to drink the next day. The other plus of chilling tea overnight is that you don’t have to dilute the flavours with ice. [Thanks to Averie for giving me this tip a long time ago!]

Obviously, you guys know how to make tea and this isn’t a “recipe”, but I’ve been enjoying it so much I thought I’d share it anyways. Before bed, I boil 4 cups of water and pour it into a pot along with two chocolate chai tea bags. Then I place it in the fridge overnight (or until chilled if making it during the day), leaving the tea bags in for a stronger flavour (and more caffeine!)

In the morning, I stir in 1 cup of almond milk and 1.5-2 tbsp maple syrup. Sometimes I stir in 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract too. If your milk is already sweetened you might find you don’t need much sweetener. I’ve made this with many other flavours too, including regular black tea.

I love to pour a glass first thing in the morning or as an afternoon pick-me-up. Much like vegan overnight oats, it’s really nice to wake up to! You can also pour it into a travel mug and bring it to work or school with you or on the road.

It’s chocolaty, it’s creamy, and it’s so refreshing in this heat.

[Apparently there is something green floating in my tea. Totally normal…!]

What are your go-to summer drinks? Do you make any at home? What are your favourite teas?

My other fav summer beverages include Iced soy lattes, green monsters, and other smoothies. I know I’m about a million years late to the latte party.

In other news, I have a new summer blog header up! The theme was inspired by my Crumble Bar photoshoot yesterday. I hope you enjoy it. Hold down Control + F5 to refresh the page if you can’t already see the new blog header. (Update 1): Some of you are saying the header looks distorted in Chrome and Safari browsers…not sure why, but I will hopefully have this fixed soon! Update 2) The header should now be fixed in both Chrome and Safari. Please let me know if the image is working for you! Thanks)

Here is the original shot before editing in Lightroom, cropping, and writing the blog name in Photoshop.

You can also check out my post on Chatelaine this week where I talk about two easy summertime smoothie recipes.

Stay cool & have a great weekend!