What’s the best chai? A blind taste test of 7 chai brands
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With countless chai tea bags, loose leaf, concentrates, and powder mixes out in the US market, there are mountains of chai options from which to choose. As a tea blogger and reviewer, I’ve had my fair share of chai and have a few favorites and opinions of my own.
However, I was curious to see if there was a “best” chai tea among big household names and boutique specialty brands that other people could also agree on. Specifically, I wanted to focus on chai lattes, as that’s how chai is normally consumed in the United States.
To do this, I hosted a blind taste test of several chai brands and types with some friends to see if we could come to a consensus on the best chai.
I’ve added all the behind-the-scenes guidelines and setup, but you can also skip ahead to the results!
Chai taste test setup & methodology
To eliminate brand bias, the chai comparison was done as a blind taste test, so that participants wouldn’t know which brand each chai was until all evaluation was done.
Participants
“Tea Administrator” - Does not like chai. Prepared each chai out of sight, assigned numbers to each prepared cup, and distributed the chai into each taster’s sample cup.
Taster #1 “Chai Newbie” - Not much experience drinking or tasting chai before.
Taster #2 “Sugar Fiend” - Biased towards sweetened chai lattes.
Taster #3 “Clean Chai” - Enjoys mostly unsweetened teas. Me.
Process
Each participant had a list of criteria from which to evaluate each chai brand. These include:
Strength of flavor
Strength of aroma
Sweetness
Spiciness (which spice is most dominant)
Notes about the texture (e.g. syrupy)
What type of mix could this be? (powder, concentrate, tea bag)
The Tea Administrator prepared all chai brands at the same time according to packaging instructions in numbered mugs. Whole milk was added to the chai tea bags. Then, the Tea Administrator served a random number at a time into each taster’s individual tasting cup. After each one’s evaluation, the next numbered mug was served. After evaluating all teas, the brands were revealed.
Chai brands tasted
The study included a range of chai tea bags, latte concentrates, and powder mixes. There was also a mix of common grocery store brands and niche specialty brands. These include:
Shortcomings
After the blind taste test was done, I went back to prepare the Rishi tea bags on the stovetop to see how the strength of flavor would differ.
During and after the blind tasting, there were a few issues that arose that made it a bit difficult to judge all teas on an even playing field.
The spices smell strongest when hot, so as the various chai teas cooled, the aroma became fainter.
To make chai latte with tea bags, it’s best to steep twice as many per cup on the stove to get a stronger brew that won’t water down with milk. However, we just steeped the tea bags as instructed and added a splash of milk, which made it harder to judge the strength of spices. I later the difference by using two Rishi tea bags to make a stovetop chai latte and the result was much richer!
Because each person has differing tolerances and preferences for sweetener, some people may favor sweetened chai mixes over unsweetened and vice versa, skewing the evaluation.
Results: What’s the best chai?
Everyone has different tastes and preferences, so rather than rank each chai from best to worst, each brand includes tasting notes and defining characteristics so you can decide for yourself which you might like.
Here’s a bit about each best chai concentrate, latte mix, and tea bag!
1. Trader Joe’s Spiced Chai Latte Mix
🏆 Overall fan favorite
Type: Powder mix
Sweetness: Very
Website: traderjoes.com
Trader Joe’s Spiced Chai Latte Mix was a college favorite that I would always take to a specific class. Since then, my sugar tolerance has plunged but this one still remains a favorite with the other two tasters and is overall a great balanced option as a latte dessert treat.
This powder mix is heavier on the caramel, milky flavors and less intense on the spice. It’s a good chai latte powder to make a decadent, creamy treat, but less tantalizing for those looking for more spice than sweet.
A bonus of chai powder mixes is that the milk is already included, so you just need to add water.
2. Rishi Masala Chai
Earthy, basil tones
Type: Tea bag
Sweetness: None
Website: rishi-tea.com/masala-chai-box
Rishi’s Organic Masala Chai comes in plastic-free, plant-based pyramid sachets, which are the best type of tea bag to maximize steeping and extract the full range of flavor from tea leaves. The chai blend is more on the mellow end of the spice spectrum, giving a very earthy and almost-basil taste possibly due to the black pepper in the ingredient list. Steeped in a cup following the instructions, you can very much still taste the black tea, which isn’t overpowered by the spice.
After the blind taste test, I was curious to see how this blend would fare when boiled on the stove after emptying two tea bags. The result was a mellow concentrate that mixed well with milk to make a latte, while keeping the grassy notes of the teacup steeped version. Rishi also has a loose leaf variety of this tea so you don’t need to cut open tea bags to take this route.
3. Stash Chai Spice Black Tea
Borrowed a few Stash tea bags from my mom.
Burst of cinnamon
Type: Tea bag
Sweetness: None
Website: stashtea.com/products/chai-spice-black-tea-bagged
If you like anything cinnamon, this is definitely your cup of tea. And it’s no wonder cinnamon is the dominant flavor, seeing that the ingredient list has cinnamon as the second main ingredient with “cinnamon flavor” appearing again further down.
To achieve more of a traditional chai latte, I wouldn’t recommend using Stash’s tea bags because the other spices don’t come across very well. It’s possible that this is due to using clove oil and cardamom oil, rather than the real spice. However, cinnamon lovers will rejoice in having a distinctly cinnamon-y smelling and tasting chai option.
4. Tazo Classic Chai Latte
Coffee shop style
Type: Tea concentrate
Sweetness: Very
Website: tazo.com/us/en/products/lattes-iced/classic-chai-latte.html
Tazo’s Classic Chai Latte mix is a wonderful stand-in for a chai latte direct from a coffee shop, with satisfying amounts of sweet and spice that are all consistently portioned for each cup.
Our taste test found this to be the second sweetest chai latte with a nice tea to spice balance. It’s reminiscent of soft gingerbread and has distinct nutmeg and clove flavors. Like Trader Joe’s Spiced Chai Latte Mix, Tazo is definitely more of a dessert chai for “treat yo’self” moments, yet a reliable go-to for the casual tea latte fans used to grabbing a cup on the go.
5. Nature’s Guru Unsweetened Instant Masala Chai
Authentic spice blend
Type: Powder mix
Sweetness: None (Sweetened variety available)
Website: naturesguru.com/collections/sweetened-chai/products/masala-chai-unsweetened
Nature’s Guru brings a more authentically Indian chai through a range of delicious flavors, including cardamom, ginger, vanilla, and masala chai. To keep flavors consistent in the blind taste test, we sampled the masala chai, which contains milk powder, black tea extract, cardamom, and spices.
Overall, we felt this chai powder mix was creamy with a spiced kick and one of the more strongly flavored chai options sampled. Because of its well-mixed milkiness, it was also a delightful cup to dip some biscuits in.
6. Tanglewood Ginger Spiced Chai Concentrate
Fresh ginger zing
Type: Tea concentrate
Sweetness: Medium
Website: tanglewoodbevco.com/products/tanglewood-ginger-spiced-chai-32oz
While the other two chai tea concentrates we tasted aim to recreate a standard coffee shop chai experience, Tanglewood Beverage Company takes a slightly different route to reimagine the warming, spiced drink. Their tea concentrate is smooth and notably less sweet, with a pop of fresh ginger that sets in shortly after the first sip.
Tanglewood’s Ginger Spiced Chai is all handmade in small batches using real ingredients and fresh spices. This is the best artisan chai concentrate that captures its very own flavor and the essence of quality ingredients in each bottle.
Read my full Tanglewood Beverage Company review here!
7. Twinings Chai
Took a few decaf chai tea bags from my mom, which has the same ingredients as the fully caffeinated one.
Hints of licorice
Type: Tea bag
Sweetness: None
Website: twiningsusa.com/products/chai
Twinings is a well-known British tea company with a cemented role in shaping the world’s tea history. From my experience, their teas are fairly predictable, so it came to my surprise that the chai swayed more in the direction of nutmeg and clove. In fact, the taste test unanimously revealed a distinct licorice taste, despite there not being licorice or similarly tasting anise on the ingredient list.
This is a nice chai tea bag pick for tea drinkers more fond of deep, nutty spices, rather than spicy, warm ones.
Honorable mentions
These chai brands were not tasted in the blind test, but ones that I’ve reviewed or bought for my personal collection before and would highly recommend.
1. Simple Loose Leaf Simple Chai Tea
Harmonious blend for stovetop brewing
Type: Loose leaf
Sweetness: None
Website: shop.simplelooseleaf.com/products/simple-chai
Simple Loose Leaf is primarily known for its monthly tea subscription service that includes small sample pouches of tea curated according to your preferences. However, they also sell loose leaf teas individually so you can sample a new blend or stock up on a favorite.
I sampled a few different blends from Simple Loose Leaf, one of which was their loose leaf chai. They even included a cute postcard with a recipe on how to prepare a chai latte, which made a lovely cup.
Read my full Simple Loose Leaf review here!
2. Harney & Sons Chai Tea
More tea, less spice
Type: Loose leaf
Sweetness: None
Website: harney.com/products/chai
Harney & Sons’ Chai Tea is a solid loose leaf chai option for mild spice and notable tea taste. You won’t taste the strong cinnamon of Stash’s tea bags nor fresh ginger of Tanglewood’s chai concentrate, but rather a more tuned down blend of the full chai spice spectrum. I’d recommend this chai loose leaf for those more sensitive to spices.
Read my full Harney & Sons review here!
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