No Water Please
You want to read something mildly amusing? A while back I got some advice from a friend that I should try ordering my Chai Lattes from Starbucks without water. I tried it and was instantly converted. It had always been sort of thin tasting and a REAL chai is a very rich and thick drink. So, even without the water it isn't perfect, but it's better. Of course there are the Starbucks faithful who say that I am actually shorting myself because the drink REQUIRES water in order to be good. There is a whole rather lengthy discussion of the issue here that has been going on (I kid you not) for a year. The baristas and the cultists defending their company's methods, and others denouncing them. I spent FAR too long reading through this this afternoon.
As a good viewer of Alton Brown let me just lay all this to rest. Spice requires a medium to convey it, and the perfect medium to do that is fat or oil. Water contains neither obviously, so the addition of water adds nothing to the flavor of a chai. Chai is a tea based drink, yes, but Starbucks mixes it from a concentrate so it does NOT need to "steep." That's just a dumb argument.
If you are in the city and are blessed enough to be near one try the Chai from the Mud Trucks. THAT is what chai is supposed to taste like.
As a good viewer of Alton Brown let me just lay all this to rest. Spice requires a medium to convey it, and the perfect medium to do that is fat or oil. Water contains neither obviously, so the addition of water adds nothing to the flavor of a chai. Chai is a tea based drink, yes, but Starbucks mixes it from a concentrate so it does NOT need to "steep." That's just a dumb argument.
If you are in the city and are blessed enough to be near one try the Chai from the Mud Trucks. THAT is what chai is supposed to taste like.
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