Best New Beverage Craze Chai Tea STAFF PICK: First came the bean. Then the spiced leaf.
Then five years ago, a "grande low-fat double cap with nutmeg
and cinnamon." But since the specialty coffee shops have
become a mainstay of the urban experience, enter the newest beverage:
chai tea. Chai is Portland's answer to Seattle's claim
on the coffee craze ("Oregon Chai" seems to have become
a buzzword), and the deliciously aromatic tea is popping up on
coffee-bar menus across Tucson. Though originally an Eastern phenomenon
(that's east as in Asia, not the Atlantic coast), here in the
West you can find a host of kinky new chai concoctions, including
Starbuck's frosty "chai frappe." Chai tea is actually
a distinctive blend of teas, ginger, vanilla and more discrete
spices carefully simmered and served hot or iced. Local java joints
and eateries that offer chai usually purchase it as a concentrate,
to which they add their own simmered spices and milk--regular
or low-fat or soy or whatever. Like coffee, chai is served hot
or cold; and like iced coffee, it can be a bit on the watery side
if you go the low-fat route (or it isn't prepared with the iced
version in mind). For those who don't favor the exotic, give it
a few years and chai will be as close as your nearest convenience
store. But rest assured--it's coming.
