Chai Tea

[AmyKate88]

I looooove chai tea

[Tarnished]

Chai tea has either black tea or green tea in it. Thus it would be labeled as tea, not herbal tea. No, she probably wouldn't lose her temple recommend from drinking it. But she will be breaking the Word of Wisdom. You can tell her that she will be breaking the WoW and let her decide from there.

[Generally_Me]

Chai tea is "real" tea, caffeine or no.

Just like lattes are coffee.

If I was able to cut out my 3-a-day coffees, she could cut her daily chai. And yes I know how delicious they are.

[sixpacktr]

Originally Posted by Tarnished

Chai tea has either black tea or green tea in it. Thus it would be labeled as tea, not herbal tea. No, she probably wouldn't lose her temple recommend from drinking it. But she will be breaking the Word of Wisdom. You can tell her that she will be breaking the WoW and let her decide from there.

If you're breaking the WoW, you will lose your TR. It is one of the questions. Doing it out of ignorance is one thing--doing it anyway after being corrected...another thing altogether...

[wildbean98]

I drank a ton of Tazo chai till I rejoined the church and found it was made with black tea. I went on a hunt and now drink this:
The Republic of Tea - Republic Red Chai (50 Tea Bags)

It's chai tea made by taking rooibos which is a red tea from Africa and adding a bunch of chai type spices. It does not violate the WoW since it does not contain black or green tea and is caffeine free. A little honey brings out the flavor of the rooibos and makes it especially delicious. I usually fill a coffee cup a little less than halfway, nuke it till it's boiling, brew the tea, then fill the cup the rest of the way with milk to give it that chai creaminess.

[Alana]

I have had herbal chai blends and they are delicious. The 'chai seasonings' are very similar to the seasonings in eggnog. It's just like everything else... look at the ingredients, is there tea in it?

So since it's obviously so black and white (ha, right) I've been looking into Rooibos and I've seen nothing to indicate it's a tea, does anyone know other wise? Just checking with you guys, since I already checked the ingredients.

[wildbean98]

Only black, green, white, and oolong teas are covered by the WoW. They are made from the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant. The level of oxidation and what part of the plant that is used is what makes them different. Black tea is more heavily oxidized than green and white.

Herbal tea is defined as any tea not made with camellia sinensis.
Tea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rooibos tea is made from a completely different plant so it doesn't break the WoW, just like chamomile and rosehip tea are made from different plants and also do not break the WoW.

[allredcon]

What I don't understand is; if the Lord wants us to stay away from certain ingredients, wouldn't he just say so? I believe he is just testing us. To me, even if it doesn't have tea in it, if the drink is called "Chai Tea" I'm going to avoid it. It's as easy as substituting it for a glass of water. Do we really NEED to have that drink? We do not. I'd rather be obedient, than try to find workarounds.

That's just me, of course.

If I was able to cut out my 3-a-day coffees, she could cut her daily chai. And yes I know how delicious they are.

This was her first chai. That's why I'm even more bothered. She's made it 19 years -- I would have just said no. I had an alcohol problem, and I don't think cliff-walking would help me at all. I am impressed with your willingness to give up your coffee. It bothers me that she found a workaround. Next time though, I think my answer will be "pray, and do as the spirit directs."

[Alana]

As long as someone doesn't start calling water "clear tea" you'll be ok

[wildbean98]

Believe me, I've done a lot of research on this because my wife suffers from horrible migraines and chai made from black tea was one of the few things we found that would make the headaches go away. Coffee was another one that worked but it was too upsetting to her stomach. We originally thought it was a caffeine addiction but other drinks with caffeine had no effect. We had some pretty serious issues about giving it up.

The authorities have been pretty specific about which teas are bad and which ones are okay to drink. Herbal teas are regularly used by members. If you want to avoid anything with the word "tea" in it you can, but it's not what the WoW asks us to do. We need to make clear distinctions between what we choose for ourselves and what the church asks of us.

Chai only refers to the spices used. You can put the same spices in milk and have chai milk, or make chai ice cream or chai jello or chai whatever. Traditional chai tea is made from black tea which is against the WoW but that doesn't mean all chai tea is against the WoW. You could make a perfectly acceptable herbal tea and put chai spices in it and have chai tea that even the Prophet could drink.

Any other plant besides camellia sinensis that is boiled in water is referred to as herbal tea which has been stated by the church authorities as not against the WoW.

Bigelow Lemon tea: Rose Hips, Lemon Grass, Natural Lemon Flavor, Lemon Peel, Lemon Verbena, Peppermint Leaves, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Hibiscus Flowers, Citric Acid.
Does not break the WoW.

Bigelow cinnamon tea: black tea, cinnamon.
Does break the Wow.

As it turned out, something in coffee and black tea was causing her migraines. Our stake president happens to be a neurologist and helped us figure it out. We slowly reduced her intake of tazo chai and replaced it with rooibos chai and her migraines have pretty much dissapeared. There is definately something in camellia sinensis that is bad for us which is probably why the WoW refers to tea made from that plant.