It’s cold and wet, so there’s no better time to review a delicious herbal tea like Nuditea Soothing Chai. This is a caffeine-free rooibos blend from Nuditea, so it’s not technically a traditional ‘chai’ but it certainly has all the right spices.
If you want to cosy up with a hot cup of something good, you’ve come to the right place. In my full tea review, I’ll explain what this tea tastes like, the best way I’ve found to brew it, plus all the ingredients and some info about the brand too.
Don your fluffy socks and put the kettle on – it’s tea review time.
Nuditea Soothing Chai at a Glance
Izzy’s Rating
- Blend: Rooibos and honeybush with traditional chai spices
- Flavour: A smooth and sweet tea with subtle spices and tingly sensations
The cloves and pepper dominate this tea, with smooth and subtly sweet rooibos creating a pleasant rounded flavour. Not the best caffeine-free chai, but certainly soothing and comforting.
Full Review – Rooibos Chai Tea
- Type: Loose leaf
- Ingredients: Rooibos, Ginger, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves, Honeybush, Black Peppercorns
- Flavour Notes: Smooth light rooibos, nutty, slightly sweet, pepper, cloves, warming
- Aroma: Gingerbread, golden syrup, nutty rooibos, orange peel, cloves, medicinal
- Milk or Lemon: Honey, to taste
- Where to Buy: Nuditea
Opening the packet, the smell of this tea is amazing. It smells like fresh gingerbread and golden syrup, with nutty notes from the rooibos and a little brightness from the cloves. There’s cinnamon and cardamom listed in the ingredients, but they don’t make much of an appearance in this tea (aroma or flavour) which is a little disappointing.
Once brewed into a golden chestnut syrup shade – very clear and bright – the rooibos really takes centre stage. It’s medicinally sweet like syrup. If you aren’t a fan of rooibos and were hoping for enough spices to mask it, you may be let down by Nuditea Soothing Chai.
However, if you like rooibos, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the smooth and nutty rooibos base of this tea. It really carries the other ingredients, adding a light body and subtle sweetness without becoming overpowering.
Black pepper and cloves make their presence known with a tingly warm sensation on your tongue, and notes of ginger build up with every sip you take. As mentioned, the cinnamon and cardamom don’t appear at all.
Once I’d finished my cup, I thought long and hard about whether it was truly soothing. The best answer I’ve got is… sort of? The effects of the tea warmed me up but didn’t make me feel wired thanks to the caffeine-free blend of ingredients. But the flavours themselves are too tingly, too spiced, and also somehow too light (especially compared to traditional chai made with black tea) to feel comforting in the moment.
It’s an interesting and tasty cup of tea, but there’s room for improvement.
How to Brew Nuditea Soothing Chai
I’ve got the loose leaf option but you could pop it into refillable teabags or purchase the teabag option from Nuditea. If you’re using loose leaf like me, use approximately 2 teaspoons or 1 heaped teaspoon to really get a good flavour. Brew the tea for a minimum of 2 minutes in freshly boiled water straight from the kettle.
This tea is really too light to have with milk, but if you insist, I recommend going for a super long brew time of 5+ minutes. This will give the rooibos and spices a chance to develop a tannin-rich flavour that can cut through the milk.
Add honey to taste and drink whenever you feel like it – there’s no caffeine in this tea so it’s ideal for a pre-bedtime treat.
Why Nuditea Chai?
I usually recommend going to a dedicated chai producer if you really want a good, well-balanced chai beverage. Chai Guys is a great option if you want something made in the UK – they’re based in London and have a store in Notting Hill if you want to shop in-person rather than online.
But Nuditea is doing a lot right, despite not specialising in chai. First, they are using whole and large pieces of spices, not just dusty pre-ground spices. They also offer their chai in loose leaf, which gives you more flexibility if you like to brew your chai traditionally on the stove with milk.
I think where Nuditea excels is creating interesting, new flavours (chai made with rooibos and honeybush, for example) and prioritising ingredient quality and sourcing. If you want ethically-sourced tea, natural flavours, and plastic-free packaging, they are a solid option.
One last note: plastic-free packaging might be great for us and the planet, but it’s not so great for tea. Once you’ve opened your Nuditea Soothing Chai, move it to tupperware or a glass jar – keeping it in an airtight container in a dark cupboard will preserve the flavour for as long as possible.
Summary
If you are looking for something warming, calming and caffeine-free, this is a wonderful tea to try. It’s a very good alternative to traditional chai when you are craving those spices but it’s a bit too close to bedtime.
Currently the only place you can buy this tea is directly from Nuditea’s website. I’ve added a link below – they are not currently an affiliate, so I don’t make any money from your click.
Tea Recommendation
I’ve repeatedly referenced traditional chai – black tea and spices – in this tea review, so if you want to give that a try next, I have just the review for you. Nuditea actually sent me some of their Masala Chai to sip for Instagram and the blog. It scored 4.5!
