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 will have to try that tea, I have seen it before but never picked it up. I love water with lemon and Stevia, smoothies with Vega protein, and iced coffee.
Yum, I love the PC brand chocolatey chai! I never thought to chill it though, I always think of it as a hot drink. Gotta try this :D Your header looks great!
I love tea, love chai. Need to try this brand. Love the glass too.
This looks inconceivably delicious! I love your blog header – so pretty!
Chai Chocolate??? Send me some ASAP! :-)
you always have the cutest headers! this one is my favorite one yet i think!
This sounds delicious! I love lemon-lavender tea and I make my own with organic lavender flowers and sliced lemon — it’s amazing!
I love the new header, it looks great. Have you every tried Four O’clock Chocolate Spice Tea? Its fairtrade, 85% organic and caffeine free and it is one of my favorite dessert teas. It tastes great hot or cold with a splash of almond milk and since its caffeine free you can enjoy it in the evening on place of dessert.
I don’t think I have but I will have to check that out!
I agree: this is my FAVORITE tea! Available at Loblaws.
I’ll have to pick some up. Bonus points for being available at Loblaws too!
I’ve been looking for a decaf that I can drink at night. No caffeine for me after 5pm! lol
I also like Vanilla Nut Stash decaf tea, but the flavour isnt quite as strong as I’d hope.
Another fabulous header! Love it :)
Love your website and the new header! Thanks for the detox salad recipe!! I’ve been enjoying that often and I will have to try this tea, as well! I’ve been bragging about your site often! I appreciate it so much! Thank you!!
Aw thank you Valerie, that means a lot to me!
I am a FREAK about chai tea. Love, love, love it!
Yum! I love chai teas – so delicious! I just bought my own smoothie make and I make it with ice now- best thing in the world
i love the header picture but it looks distorted??
Hey Amy, Are you using Chrome browser by chance? A couple others said it’s distorted too, but it looks fine to me in Firefox and IE.
hmmm I’m using Safari- I have a Mac
Ok good to know. Thanks!
No problem- for the record I just checked using my firefox browser (my default is Safari but I have Firefox as a backup) and it looked totally normal- it’s got to be certain browsers that are squishing it!
Hey Amy, Yea I think that was the issue! The header should be normal in Safari and Chrome now. Can you let me know if it looks ok for you? Thanks!
Yes I’m looking at it now in Safari and it looks great! Also, organic cherries might be my favorite summer fruit :) The price tag kills me though……
Glad it’s working for you now! Thanks for letting me know.
I discovered that chocolatey chai tea this winter and I LOVE it too! Good idea to make it into an iced bevie — I never thought of trying that! And I love your new header. The cherry red with blue lettering goes great together!
Great recipe, Angela! I love Chai, especially iced in the summertime, but I’ve only had vanilla and cinnamon chai before. The chocolate looks delicious.
I adore the new header! It is very happy and summery!
Love the new header!
I am going to do this today – except I will use the tea I have in the house (Spicy Chai).
Great Idea!
I love making my own iced tea in the summer! I recently learned to add about 1/4 tsp of baking soda to the tea to cut down on the bitterness you sometimes find after the teas been sitting for awhile. It totally works!
Really? That’s interesting! You don’t taste the baking soda at all?
nope!
Good to know :)
I also love the PC Chocolatey Chai tea. Have you tried the Chocolate Mint one too? It is also great.
Thanks for the iced tea WITH MILK idea. I’ve made iced tea before, but for some reason I didn’t think to add any milk to the mix… I’m going to brew some right now and hope that it will be chilled enough in a couple of hours to enjoy.
Did you say Chocolate mint? How did I miss that? That sounds right up my alley!
I just saw on Instagram that you found it! YAY :D
So I have a somewhat funny yet sad story about that tea.
I was all excited when I found it in the grocery store so I obvously took and pic and Instagramed it.
I came home and unloaded the groceries and was super excited to make my chocolate mint tea. That’s when I discovered that I forgot to put it in my cart and actually buy it!! bahaha FAIL. I will have to go back!!!