November already? We’re well into chai season and I’m only on my second chai review. What a scandal!
This week, I’m reviewing Nuditea’s loose leaf Masala Chai. The Nuditea team were kind enough to send me this tea (and three others that I can’t wait to sip) to be reviewed on the blog, but this review is unpaid for and unbiased.
In the full review below you’ll find out what this tea tastes like, the best way I found to brew it, and where to buy it online to try it out for yourself.
Nuditea Masala Chai at a Glance
Izzy’s Rating
- Blend: Indian black tea with whole spices
- Flavour: Richly spiced black tea with distinct notes of cinnamon, ginger and cardamom
Most chai beverages taste like black tea with a hint of spice, but Nuditea tastes like a delicious warming medley of spices with a touch of black tea! I’m amazed at how much flavour is packed into every sip. This is a staggeringly good tea.
Full Review – Nuditea Loose Leaf Chai
- Type: Loose leaf
- Tea: Black tea from Assam and Darjeeling, India
- Other Ingredients: Ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, black pepper
- Flavour Notes: Light bodied black tea, tingly ginger, warming cinnamon and subtle cardamom
- Aroma: Heavily spiced black tea, cinnamon, sneeze-inducing ginger, toasted nuts, brown sugar
- Milk or Lemon: Plenty of milk and sugar/honey to taste
- Where to Buy: Nuditea
Nuditea use some of the nicest packaging – it really feels like opening a present to get to this tea. Once you’re in, the first thing you’ll notice is that the spices practically outnumber the tea leaves. The aroma is heavily spiced and heady with cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Nuditea weren’t stingy with the ginger either. It’s almost sneeze-inducing with ginger fieriness. I can tell already that it’s going to be one hell of a spiced chai.
Once brewed (instructions below), the aroma sweetens with notes of brown sugar and freshly toasted nuts. Combined with the black tea and spices, this tea smells like festive season in a nutshell. Adding milk invites a creamy note into the medley but doesn’t dampen the rich spices in the slightest.
As for the flavour. Wow. The black tea is actually quite light-bodied albeit bright, leaving the spices to take centre stage. Cinnamon is the dominant note with hints of cardamom adding an almost floral quality to the tea. The ginger hits the back of your tongue and throat as you swallow, leaving your mouth deliciously warm and tingly ready for the next sip.
This tea is so good it’s almost indecent.
If you frequently think that your go-to coffee shop chai latte could do with 2 (or 10) additional pumps of spiced syrup, this is the one for you. Nuditea Masala Chai does not hold back on flavour.
How to Brew Nuditea Chai
Nuditea recommend one to two teaspoons of loose leaf brewed for two to three minutes in freshly boiled water. If you like your chai black, that’s a good way to go. However, if you plan to add a large splash of milk then don’t be afraid to brew for up to 5 minutes.
The best way to make masala chai is to add a couple heaped teaspoons of the loose leaf mixture to a saucepan. Dry toast it for a few seconds then add a mugful of milk. Bring it to a simmer – the longer you simmer the better the flavour – and strain into a cup.
Masala chai is frequently consumed sweet, so add a good squidge of honey or teaspoon of brown sugar if you have a sweet tooth.
Nuditea note that this tea is quite high in caffeine, so swap to a caffeine-free chai in the evenings if you value your beauty sleep. I recently reviewed Dragonfly Tea’s Cape Malay Chai which uses caffeine-free rooibos instead of black tea – it’s worth a try!
Why Nuditea?
Nuditea is a British brand that is all about careful sourcing and plastic-free packaging. They source their black tea for this Masala Chai from Darjeeling and Assam, traditional regions for tea-growing in India, and prioritise growers that use organic cultivation and regenerative farming.
At first, the packaging stumped me. It was only after I read all the small print and explored their website that I realised the inner “plastic” packaging is in fact plant-derived PLA. My only real gripe with it is that it’s not resealable – you really ought to store your loose leaf tea in a dark, air-tight container to keep it fresh for as long as possible. I’ve transferred my loose leaf to a ziploc bag so I can keep it in the original Nuditea box, but any tea caddy (or thoroughly washed jam jar) will do the same job.
Nuditea packages their tea in the UK in small batches – this ensures the tea you receive is as fresh as possible and travels fewer miles from the tea farm to your cup (well, as few as you can get for a product that can’t be grown in the UK).
Summary
Overall, this is one of the best and most flavourful masala chais I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. I’m looking forward to more cups over the winter months and experimenting with some spiced chai recipes I’ve found too.
If you’d like to try Nuditea Masala Chai, the best place to buy it is directly from their website. It is currently available as a 100g box of loose leaf or box of 15 teabags. You can also order a 2-teabag sampler.
Tea Recommendation
Tea made at home always tastes better than what the coffee shops in the UK can deliver (you know the two shops I mean). Just like Nuditea Masala Chai is better than a chai latte, Whittard’s Spiced Pumpkin Chai beats any pumpkin spice latte – no matter how skilled the barista is.
