aureate & aromatic

The fifteenth drink of my thirty day book as a bev series – and official mid-way point – is a hot spiced chai latte with a whipped maple cream topped with freeze dried strawberries based on my hardback edition of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

I was planning on sharing a Project Hail Mary drink as I started that today, but my brother was hounding me for this because he really liked it, haha. I was told to write it out so he could make it on his own, lol. Guess I’ll share that PHM concoction once I finish reading.

This beverage’s name is:

‘chai chaud’

Name Explained: For those unfamiliar with the setting of this tale, it takes place both in London and Paris during the time of the French Revolution. It has the iconic words of “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” in its opening quote. The full line is much, much longer, so I wont write it all out, haha. Since this drink is a hot chai, I attempted to tie it to the novel’s backdrop in a direct way and translated it into French.

Spiced Chai: I’m usually a tea drinker so I didn’t have to reinvent anything here, it was my first time adding star anise and nutmeg and that definitely made it taste more authentically chai. Usually cinnamon, cardamon, ginger and cloves are my go to. I prefer using a loose leaf black tea but any tea bag is fine! Substitute 1 bag for 1 tsp of loose leaf tea.

Whipped Maple Cream: Since my soaked butterfly pea and turmeric powder concoction worked so well when making my last blue cold foam, I figured why not draw on that again this time, just in a smaller portion. I decided to give it a different flavor and went with maple as I felt that would complement the chai. I’ve never used maple butter/whipped maple before and why was it so delicious? If you don’t have any on hand, a regular 1:1 substitution with maple syrup should suffice.

RATING: Overall I’d give the final drink a 5.0.

Flavor Combination:  Finally another five star drink 🎊 This drink came out perfectly. Can’t go wrong with a spiced tea. The ratios luckily worked out as I was just eyeballing everything and measuring them afterwards, haha. The whipped maple foam was perfectly sweet and complemented the tea and did not overpower or dim its flavor profile.

Ease: The was relatively simple to make. You just have to throw everything into a pot or kettle and wait for it to boil. The only thing that complicated it for me was soaking the milk to get that blue hue to match the novel’s cover, but you can omit that step and the simplicity drops down even further. I’ve made this again without the two and it tasted exactly the same, the cream was just a solid white and just as delicious.

Appearance: I’m so happy with the color match of the final drink! I feel like the photo doesn’t do it much justice. The strawberries were essential for tying everything together methinks.

Ways to Improve: I have no notes for this, happy to give it full marks and looking forward to enjoying it whenever I need a warm drink.

Links to all items used:

Glass Mugs (close alternative): https://link.amazon/B0fZiI02p

Glass Mugs (alternative): https://link.amazon/B0fACstHU

Loose Leaf Black Tea (exact): https://link.amazon/B0dhizB1T

Loose Leaf Black Tea (alternative): https://link.amazon/B09qyvFkE

Cardamom Pods (alternative): https://link.amazon/B05nasAky

Cloves (exact): https://link.amazon/B067g0ptB

Cinnamon Sticks (exact): https://link.amazon/B05dKgKjD

Cinnamon Powder (exact): https://www.spiceandtea.com/products/cinnamon-ground-true-ceylon?variant=44232232435900

Cinnamon Powder (alternative): https://link.amazon/B06a8vRvu

Nutmeg (exact): https://link.amazon/B0iy4jFEl

Star Anise (exact): https://link.amazon/B0idmSOd1

Brown Sugar (exact): https://link.amazon/B06rA5ar1

Butterfly Pea Flower Tea (exact): https://link.amazon/B05hqmuIJ

Turmeric Powder (exact): https://link.amazon/B00IIFOzc

Maple Butter/Whipped Maple (exact): https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/organic-maple-butter-078933

Maple Syrup (alternative): https://link.amazon/B01qApFNm

Whole Milk (exact): https://tgleedairy.com/products/whole-milk-plastic-quart/

Heavy Whipping Cream (exact): https://www.publix.com/pd/publix-whipping-cream-heavy/RIO-PCI-112684

Vanilla Syrup (exact): https://link.amazon/B0cLOp2Ow

Freeze Dried Strawberries (exact): https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/freeze-dried-strawberries-080665

Freeze Dried Strawberries (alternative): https://link.amazon/B04led2jx

Small Pot (exact): https://link.amazon/A06vuOXvN

Frother (exact): https://link.amazon/B076CRz7R

This post contains some affiliate links which means a commission may be received, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.

@aureateandaromatic

Another super late making video for my last tea beverage for my copy of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. A homemade chai with toasted spices, and a maple whipped cream with Trader Joe’s whipped maple. Any maple syrup will do, but since the former is back in season, I highly recommend it! The slight blueish hue to the topping is due to a mix of ground butterfly pea and turmeric. I’ve been spamming that combo for some drinks as of late, and I can’t help it – it works every time. The recipe and steps are already posted a few scrolls down, but if you want more details and links to what I used it’s on my site / 🔗tree  This drink has been made a gajillion times in my household since I first posted it, and I feel its 5 ⭐ rating still holds. If you hear some applause in the distance, that’s my brother giving me props for finally posting this after having it sit in the draft for months 😭 Of all the drinks I’ve made so far, this one is his favorite – and he’s been requesting the video so he can make it when I’m not around, lol. #spicedchai #whippedmaple #tearecipe #booktok #bookasabev 

♬ original sound – Bongku_news

Thanks for reading, have a great week!
~ C.C.