Chaï Cardamome

€9.95

Tax included

Chai, meaning “tea” in Hindi, is a spiced tea that is drunk in India. Our Cardamom chai is an essential drink in India that can be found on every street corner. Named in India “Elaichi chai” (cardamom tea), it is a powerful, aromatic, fresh, unique tea.

We made it with organic Assam tea from the small tea garden of Tonganagaon which is part of the Tinsukia district in northeast India. Located between the Brahmaputra River and the Namdapha Nature Reserve. This Tonganagaon tea from Assam is wonderfully sweet, spicy and malty; Typical that one would expect from a high quality Assam. It is made to meet the freshness and power of cardamom.

Chai is traditionally drunk in India with milk and sugar, but it is perfectly suitable to be enjoyed on its own, without anything added.

Net weight : 80g
Composition : Organic Tonganagaon black tea, Cardamom
Conditionnement : Resealable kraft bag

History

Plant & perfume

Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) belongs to the Zingiberaceae family, like ginger and turmeric. It is a perennial herbaceous plant with rhizomes. It develops long stems, somewhat resembling bamboo stems. From each node there are long lanceolate leaves. A cardamom plant is generally 2 to 2.5 m tall and can reach 5 m in height. At the base of the plant is the rhizome, from which small creeping stems will grow on the earth which will give birth to flowers, then a green fruit: this is cardamom (also called green cardamom).

It is a spice that brings freshness. It presents notes of camphor, almost eucalyptus, resinous (which can be reminiscent of pine sap), menthol and lemon. It’s a powerful spice but it doesn’t sting.

Chai is the meeting of two cultures: that of tea and those of spices. It seemed obvious to us to combine Indian tea with our spices. For this we work with Assam tea, with a small Tonganagaon tea plantation located in the east of the Assam valley producing exceptional organic teas. This tea is graded TGFOP (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe), containing only buds.

Benefits

Cooking and Virtue

With chai, the spices need a little more time to express themselves. We will start with an infusion at 80° for around 10 minutes.

Real chai is consumed with milk and sugar. When your chai tea is ready add lukewarm milk and sugar to your liking.

But it can absolutely be drunk without milk and without sugar. Cardamom chai is both powerful and fresh.

No flavors are added artificially, we only work with plants and spices. They express enough not to add aromas to this natural tea.

Origins

A long journey

Established in 1927, Tonganagaon Tea Estate is nestled near the foothills of the Himalayas and the mighty Brahmaputra River, on the edge of the Namdapha Nature Reserve. The organic growing methods used within the estate help to further promote the ecological diversity of the region.

The skill of making black tea has been refined over centuries and involves allowing the leaves to wilt in the open air, followed by a "crush, tear, curl" procedure during which the leaves are prepared for fermentation, carefully controlling temperature and humidity. Finally, the leaves are heat dried to stop the oxidation process, then sorted and classified according to size, then packaged. So this black tea generally has a stronger flavor than less oxidized teas.