Several years ago I began drinking chai tea. For me it's coffee in the morning (3 large mugs) and chai in the evening (1 large mug). After trying several brands, I settled on Tazo Chai, Original and everything was find and dandy, until a month and a half ago when I noticed my chai was no longer on the shelf at my local Giant supermarket. So I sent them an email saying "hey, what's up with that?" One of the things I pointed out in this email was that a new Weis (pronounced wise among us Dutchies) was opening right across the street from Giant. I also pointed out that even though Weis might not carry the Tazo tea I enjoyed, if Giant didn't carry it, well, that was one less reason for me to sit at a red light and wait to turn in to Giant (it's right turn on red in PA). Though I said they didn't need to contact me, one of their managers did, left me a nice voice mail in which he said "no, we're not going to carry" that product anymore. Pissed me off, of course.
So, what did I do, went on line and looked for a recipe on how to make Chai Tea. There lots and lots of variations, all of them including several specific spices. I now have a nice spice collection.
And what's really nice is that I can purchase these spices just about anywhere, even at my 'soon to be open' local Weis supermarket. It's the little things, you know? And though my chai doesn't exactly taste the same as Tazo's I think it's better. The ingredients are fresher. So now, in the evenings, I find myself settling down with my kind of chai.
