The phenomenon of Chai Tea entering the mainstream has interested me for some time. This is partly due to the fact that I no longer drink coffee but I still frequent coffee shops and Chai Tea Lattes are very widely available. This leads me to today when I found myself waiting for a bus and very hungry. I was weighed down with just enough luggage that wandering in search of food seemed like a bit too much effort. Yet with just a turn of my head I noticed that I was already standing in front of a Starbucks. (It's a tad eery how they just pop up like that.) With a sigh I resolved myself to my fate. I picked out their only vegetarian sandwich before scanning the lists of fluffy milky beverages to see what was coffee-free. My gaze landed on a Chai Latte but only yesterday I had drunk Stumptown's version of the that beverage and I was not quite ready to let the memory of yesterday's stunning Chai Latte fade into the mediocrity that I have come to expect from Starbucks. I decided to instead try the Chocolate Chai Latte, because I figured even if it was subpar, it was still chocolate.
Having purchased my Chocolate Chai Latte I took a sip. Milk, sugar, cinnamon and chocolate syrup fought for my attention but where was the chai? I took another sip. Yes, the chai was in there somewhere but only as the subtlest of echoes, lurking behind the cinnamon. I know that cinnamon is an important ingredient to many a Chai Latte but this chai seem to be reduced to only that component. I wondered if, since cinnamon is one of the tastes in chai that's most recognizable to the american palette, Starbucks assumed that the taste of cinnamon in milk would be enough to conjure the feeling of chai for their customers. Even though my hopes were not high I'm still a bit disappointed. At least I got a smidge of chocolate.
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