Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups! I’m back today with another Let’s Talk Tea post and this time around I’m going to be reviewing Plum Deluxe’s – Uplifting Coconut Chai blend. When I was given the opportunity to pick three blend from the Plum Deluxe site to try, I had no doubt in my mind that this particular blend had to be one of them. I had actually had my eye on this blend before Plum Deluxe emailed me to ask if I wanted to collaborate simply because of how much I love both Chai & Coconut. I’ve been looking for a coconut chai for so long and I’m yet to find a decent one so I went into this tasting session with really high expectations and hoped I would be able to come out of this tastings session having finally found my gold standard No.1 coconut chai.Here’s what Plum Deluxe have to say about this blend on their website: You asked us for a coconut chai tea and it’s here – a coconut chai black tea. There’s something about a classic masala chai paired with fresh coconut that we just can’t get enough of! In this case, we’re using a malty Assam black tea, which gives this chai a robust base from which to blossom its fragrant and forward topical and spiced flavours. Great hot or iced, pour yourself the most uplifting cup of tea you’ll ever find.

Ingredients: Black Tea, Coconut Pieces, Cardamom, Ginger, Cinnamon, Lemongrass, Clove, Black Pepper, Cocoa Nibs, Love, Gratitude Has caffeine.

Tea Tasting Notes

For this tasting session I tried this chai both on it’s own and as a latte and for me honestly I think I prefer it much more as a latte than I do on it own because adding milk into it adds an extra creamy element that seems to make the coconut even more intense, giving it a fighting chance against the stronger flavours in this blend like cardamom and cinnamon. On it’s own this is pretty much all black tea, cinnamon and cardamom with and ever so slight lemongrass note but it’s pretty hard to pick it out and you can hardly taste the coconut at all. Because the black tea that’s been used in this blend is a CTC black tea it is also rather drying and a little bit astringent because that’s to be expected honestly and CTC tend to brew quite strong no matter how long you steep it for.

But adding in milk and honey calms down the black teas strength and completely removes almost all the astringency enabling this to become a much more balanced blend. If there was anything at all I would change about this blend I would make the coconut note a little bit stronger because I’m a coconut addict and I can’t get enough of it. This reminds me a lot of a Thai Chai blend I love as it had a lot of similar notes but it’s nowhere near as intense which is where this blend falls flat for me. I really have enjoyed drinking this one though and I’m thankful I was given the chance to try it, because it makes a gorgeous latte both hot and iced. If you’re a fan of chai but you are looking for something different and unique to try I would highly recommend this blend I’m sure you will love it.

Overall Teacup Rating: 4.8/5

If you want to find out more about Plum Deluxe and purchase some of this blend for yourself, you can do both here. As always if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll answer them all as soon as I can.

Speak to you all again soon. Happy Steeping – Kimberley