During my first pregnancy my love affair with Starbucks kinda fizzled out…I wasn’t drinking much caffeine and then once I was on maternity leave I had no reason (excuse) to swing by the ‘bux on the way to/from work. Since then it hasn’t really picked up again because we are now completely decaf people (so lame) and most locations don’t keep decaf brewed. Plus they got rid of my beloved Tazo chai tea (which is caffeinated, but I make exceptions for the content of it in a serving of tea). Therefore, my options are decaf espresso or pour over. Neither is a bad option, but I may as well just make it at home. And that’s how I lost my “gold” status. 🙁 wah wah
Since moving to Davis, Kyle and I have been making a ritual out of weekend walk/jogs to Safeway which has a Starbucks. And for a long time I struggled with what to order. The baristas weren’t amazing (pretty sure they are Safeway employees, not baristas?) and messed up my drink >85% of the time when I ordered decaf drinks. But…happy plot twist!
For the past month, my formerly defunct Starbucks app has been getting some serious use thanks to the Oprah chai tea. Oh and the introduction of coconut milk! Hooray for the ‘bux! It’s not the most amazing quality coconut milk, but I’m fine with it. From my experiences, they stopped using organic soy milk so I’d rather have coconut milk with gums than GM soy (also with gums).
Side note: I’m getting really skeeved out by research articles about thickeners, emulsifiers, and gums lately and considering switching from store bought almond milk to either canned coconut milk or making my own hemp/almond/alt milk. More on that later.
So anyway, this Oprah tea business is really tasty! It’s more cinnamon-y than normal Chai tea, but definitely good. I get it with half milk and half water, which somehow still confuses baristas on a daily basis, but I make sure to explain it 100 times as I order it so I don’t end up with a chai tea latte from the boxed mix (which everyone seems to want to make me). How many times can I possibly say tea BAGS, NOT MIX!?
Not that I care about Lady O (with a capital L), but is there anything she doesn’t have her hand in these days?! Geez. Every breath she takes is a business opportunity. I think they donate a portion of the proceeds to one of her charities though, so that’s cool (better than nothing).
I treat myself to at least one, sometimes two, of them per week. :O Or at least I did, until this last weekend, when I found out about this!!
Oh Whole Foods, why you gotta be so bad for my wallet?
We could blame it on the warm weather, or we could blame it on my poor planning (shopping while hungry – bad idea!), but either way I saw iced chai tea on the menu at the coffee bar and had to try it.
They make it from a locally brewed and bottled mix (which is sweetened) by Chico Chai.
And because it’s WF, they have any and every milk option you could want to add to it! I chose almond and man oh man was it good. Subtly sweet, perfect amount of spice, and cool and refreshing for these 70+ degree days we have been having. [Sorry rest of the country, I don’t mean to rub it in, I swear]
Clearly I’m going to have to start buying Chico Chai now, to keep at our house so I don’t go crazy at Whole Foods every time I shop there! That way, maybe I can trick myself out of the novelty/luxury of it? Oh the mind games.
What is your go-to coffee shop drink order?
Very strong, very hot and black served in a real mug. No paper or plastic for me.
I am having the same issues with storebought almond and coconut milk. Do you have a Vitamix? So easy to make your own and so tasty.
I love a Starbucks drink made with Oprah Chai tea too! I lost my gold status when I was pregnant too but they randomly gave it back to me for some reason, even though I’m still not hitting the quota!!
PLEASE PLEASE it is not “chai tea” that is saying tea tea…it is JUST CHAI.
i know laura – you are so right – but it’s not familiar to americans in this way. here chai is a certain flavor tea. the drink i order is literally called chai tea. the more appalling thing should be the fact that the instinct of a barista at a coffee/tea shop is to reach for a boxed liquid mix when someone orders tea!
cool!
i do – i used it forever to make hemp milk for P but stopped a while back because he basically just drinks water now. but i have a nut milk bag and it seems a very obvious solution to my gum issues. just gotta suck it up and do it!
agreed – a mug makes a world of difference in the enjoyment of sipping.
Elise–do you have any links to the articles you are reading on thickeners, emulsifiers, and gums? Now I am wondering if I should be leery of them!
Thanks!
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/21/a-feast-of-engineering-whats-really-in-your-food
http://civileats.com/2015/02/25/how-emulsifiers-are-messing-with-our-guts-and-making-us-fat/
just a few I’ve read lately…
Thank you so much! I will check them out (even though I am scared to… 😉 ).
Oprah is the bomb. Thats all 🙂
Yes, chai all the way for me too! Sometimes I will get the regular unsweetened iced tea from Starbucks too. I’m pregnant right now as well and I’ve been laying off all caffeine except for iced tea when I go out to eat which has been every other week or so. Of course, I’ve been loving my herbal teas – especially red raspberry leaf, nettle, and oatstraw.
There are multiple fabulous coffee shops near my office-which has spoiled me rotten. Culture espresso, intelligista and cafe grumpy…! I always get an almond milk cafe au lait, but once in a while an almond milk flat white. Caffinated for me thank you. Those three all use Califa almond milk, which has minimal added crap compared to other brands and i love the flavor-i buy Califa at home now too even though its not cheap.
You could make a concentrated cold brew chai tea at home to just mix up when you want… Tazo makes a good chai.
Ttrockwood
My order out is always at either Starbucks or perfectos and it’s a chai tea latte with soy made with tea no sweetener (I add my own stevia) when I grocery shop I get a matcha latte (hot or cold by season) with oat milk and stevia (because whole foods has it available) and sooo yummy
and another one: http://www.nature.com/articles/nature14232.epdf?referrer_access_token=R_upmvfjlfsaq4rl-CyKJdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OKski5KELCofuYPkpLIczY-o0hOaQUdW089tJLngpYxKuQnWiPEU47TPP31CdBJSiM8mjHtMgO8eD3_yWuX_9xmwRIwRj4eHAIlsL-khr8HbPgKCsw1FOguegULjEYW9y2qNwRF5FV3H8jIKtgNQLsuNqqmIHDZp5_0AASCmJ4QTa0gNCKclvyfqIG0XBB-vSXsauVfu7EyqVHLK8YFW0e&tracking_referrer=news.sciencemag.org
Thank you so much!