Tazo chai concentrate is a sweetened spiced black tea that is ready to mix with milk or a milk substitute to make hot or iced chai. You can find the chai concentrate in both regular and decaffeinated forms. The nutritional content of the chai depends on what you choose to mix with it, but the tea will contain some calories and carbohydrates straight from the box because it contains sugar and honey.
Ingredients
Tazo chai concentrates are liquid mixtures of chai tea with sweeteners and additional flavorings. These concentrates contain tea made from black tea, cardamom, black pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and star anise, blended with natural flavors, sugar, honey, ginger juice, vanilla and citric acid. Decaffeinated Tazo chai concentrate contains tea brewed from decaffeinated black tea, rooibos, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, chicory and star anise, mixed with sugar, honey, ginger juice, vanilla, natural flavors and citric acid. The instructions say to mix an equal part of the chai concentrate with milk or a milk substitute.
Nutrition Overview
When prepared as directed, with milk or a milk substitute, Tazo chai concentrate produces a tea that is high in protein, carbohydrates and calcium and contains a small amount of vitamin A. The fat content varies depending on the type of milk you use. An 8 oz. serving of chai concentrate with 2 percent milk has 120 calories, 2 g of fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 50 mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrates with 22 g from sugars, 4 g of protein, 4 percent of the recommended daily value for vitamin A and 15 percent of the recommended daily value for calcium. If the chai concentrated is mixed with soy milk, you'll get 120 calories, 1.5 g of fat, no cholesterol, 45 mg of sodium, 23 g of carbohydrates with 21 g from sugars, 3 g of protein, 4 percent of the daily value for vitamin A, 10 percent of the daily value for calcium and 2 percent of the daily value for iron.
Caffeine
According to Tazo.com, tea leaves actually contain more caffeine by weight than coffee beans, but the way we prepare tea makes it naturally lower in caffeine than regular coffee. When prepared as directed, an 8 oz. cup of Tazo chai with milk contains 50 mg of caffeine, which is about half the amount found in the average 8 oz. cup of coffee. Decaffeinated chai concentrate produces a tea that is essentially caffeine-free.
Health Benefits of Chai Tea
Tazo regular and decaffeinated chai concentrate are made using black tea, which is believed to offer several health benefits. The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that green and black tea may reduce the potentially damaging constriction of blood vessels that occurs following a meal high in fat, which helps protect against cardiovascular disease. According to the Tea Association of the USA, the flavonoids in tea neutralize free radicals and including tea in your diet can help protect against cancer, coronary artery disease and high cholesterol, as well as support dental and bone health.
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