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!
I LOVE iced white tea with honey. There’s this gourmet tea shop that I keep meaning to go to and stock up on the summery flavored loose tea leaves to brew. They have the most intriguing blends, like passionflower boysenberry and mango mint!
Those teas sound amazing. It’s amazing what they come up with!
I have never heard of chocolate ea before! This needs to be in my life, as I am a chocolate addict.
Great new header! I love the cherries! Did you design it yourself?
Thanks Laura, yup I made it yesterday. I’ll post a before pic of the header shot for fun.
Love the new header! It’s so nice!
I love to make iced green tea with fresh mint from my garden – very refreshing. Sparkling mineral water with lemon or lime is also a great thirst quencher on a very hot day.
I love that you put basil in your purple berry basil smoothie. What a fresh take on the traditional smoothie.
I don’t drink black tea, but I’m a fan of any variety of an rooibos infusion. There are so many varieties out there, I especially love the chai rooibos. I too add almond milk, & I like to sweeten with stevia.
& I really like your new header. What’s the fabric you used underneath the cherries?
It’s burlap :) Very messy, but I love it in photos!
Very cool! Where do you buy that stuff?
I got it at Canadian Tire in their gardening section :)
I drink mostly rooibos or mate teas these days. I have a chocomint rooibos tea that is just *divine* chilled on a hot, summery day!
love the new header, great colour combo!
my favourite tea is an almond tea from a little tea place in King West (Toronto)
I’ll have to forward this recipe to my Chai-addicted sister! I love the new blog header! Cherries are one of my favorite fruits and I love how you have been changing it up so often!
Love the new header!! Perfect for summer :D
Gorgeous header Ange! As I said the other day, there’s just something about the blue and cherry colours that I love. Great job! And those tea bags.. I think I’ll have to try them out! My favourite hot weather drinks are iced teas from David’s Tea (totally addicted, especially to Perfect Pear, a herbal one with pear and vanilla in it. SO good!) And of course, green monsters and other smoothies. :)
I also love David’s Tea! So much so that I bring tons of it back in my suitcase with me when I go back to the UK. I drink Sencha all the time as well, but my favourite David’s Tea green tea is ‘Toasted Walnut’. It has such a nice sweet kick to it.
Iced, I love the Luscious Watermelon and Goji Pop. And they have a great Chai selection as well. I pretty much love every one I’ve tasted so far though. It’s pretty addicting, haha.
Love the new header but for some reason in my browser (chrome) Its all squished and distorted looking. Possibly still set to the same image size of the last header? Or maybe my browser is just wonky!
Yikes, thanks for letting me know! I’ll see what I can do.
It should be fixed now Sarah! Can you let me know if it looks ok to you?
I also thought it looked distorted this morning but it looks fine now!
That’s good news :)
Love the new header but for some reason in my browser (chrome) Its all squished and distorted looking. Possibly still set to the same image size of the last header? Or maybe my browser is just wonky!
I love teas with hints of chocolate in them! It makes them so rich a creamy! Love the new header too!
LOVE the new header! It’s gorgeous :)
fabulous idea for the tea, I’m not a coffee drinker anymore and all I see is iced coffee! I wish I prepped overnight oats last night, I’m really craving them now! Have a great weekend!!
I live in Florida, where it’s extra steamy this time of year, and I love this idea! Plus, I really need to stop spending so much $$$ at Starbucks on my chai tea : ) Thanks for the tip! Love the new design, too!
I know I love Starbucks but it can suck the wallet dry at times! hah
the header looks awesome although a bit distorted… but cute theme idea! cherries are perfect for the season, can’t get enough.
Are you using Chrome by chance?
The header should be fixed now in Chrome…can you let me know if it’s working for you? Thanks Katie!
Love the header. Have a great weekend!
ICED COFFEE. It’s the best thing in the world on a hot, humid morning.
ps – The header is super cute :)
Love the new blog header. LOVE.
Hi Angela!
There was cherry juice all over my kitchen last night, but my breakfast just rocked the house! Thank you!
Yesterday I made lavender-chamomile iced tea with lemon. Two cups lavender tea (I steeped the buds), two cups chamomile, 2 cups cold water, 3 squeezed lemons and 1/3 c. raw sugar. I would have used liquid sugar, but I don’t keep it around. This was a combination of three lavender tea recipes I could find.
And then I mixed it in sparkling water. And then I was in heaven.
Have a great day and a fabulous weekend! Great new header!
That sounds incredible Colleen. I think I have some lavender-cham tea too….hmmm. ;)
Very cute header! :)