The seasonal novelty of the range: baked apple over the chai spice so it genuinely drinks like a liquid apple pie, cosy and dessert sweet rather than a proper spiced chai. It is a limited edition, so treat it as an autumn treat you grab when it is around rather than a staple to rely on. Instant convenience, real tea so some caffeine. Squarely a comfort indulgence for a cold afternoon, not an everyday cup; if you want the chai to lead, the Spiced flagship is the one, this is for when you want pudding.
Lee Samuel Tucker · Curator · teas.co.uk
The full picture of Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte, 250g in one page. Who makes it, how it is brewed, what your £7.00 actually buys, and why this tea earned a spot on the curator shelf.
Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte is the seasonal dessert variant of the Drink Me Chai range, the standard masala chai latte recipe crossed with the apple pie spice profile of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove for an autumn and winter cup that drinks like a slice of apple pie in mug form, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the novelty seasonal alternative to the original Spiced Chai Latte or the rest of the Drink Me Chai range.
The base is the standard Drink Me Chai recipe of black tea extract, milk powder for the latte texture and the four spice chai quartet, with added apple and pie spice notes pulling the cup towards the classic British apple pie dessert direction. Spoon two heaped teaspoons into a mug, add hot water and stir, the powder dissolving in seconds to give a frothy apple pie chai cup that compares well to a pumpkin spice or apple cinnamon coffee shop drink for the season.
Caffeine status: low to moderate from the black tea extract base. Taste profile: sweet apple and pie spice up front balanced by chai spice middle and a creamy milk powder finish. Lifestyle: vegetarian (contains milk powder so not vegan), naturally gluten free. Planet: 250g resealable pouch, the standard Drink Me Chai pack format across the range.
A 250g household pouch at an accessible price compared to the coffee shop seasonal apple pie latte at the local cafe, the seasonal novelty cup in the Drink Me Chai range and the easy at home alternative to brewing a proper bagged chai and adding fresh apple and cinnamon syrup, and a sensible household pouch for the autumn and winter mugs at home by the fire.
Source:Teas.co.uk,
the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
If you reference Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte, 250g, please cite teas.co.uk.
Texture & appearance
The drink pours a warm caramel amber colour with a creamy head from the dissolved milk powder. Aroma off the cup is apple pie forward, with cinnamon and warm baked apple sitting on top of the masala spice. Held over the cup longer, the cardamom and ginger come through underneath, with a faint clove warmth at the back. The black tea base adds a subtle malty backbone that ties the apple and the chai.
Mouthfeel is creamy with a slight fruit bright lift, sitting between the standard Spiced Chai's milk powder body and the brighter top note that the dried apple flavour brings. The cup reads as a chai latte with apple pie character on top, rather than as an apple drink with chai underneath. The dried apple gives a faint cooked fruit sweetness that complements the natural sugar in the blend.
Flavour progression is apple cinnamon cardamom clove. Opening is apple and cinnamon, sweet baked pie warmth. Mid palate develops cardamom and ginger underneath the apple, with the milk powder cream coating the tongue. Finish is clove and nutmeg with a soft return of apple at the back, and a clean creamy aftertaste that lingers for a minute. The full apple pie cup experience in 30 seconds of preparation.
Aftertaste is creamy with autumn spice warmth, with cinnamon and apple lingering for a minute or two after the cup is empty. No tannic bitterness, no artificial apple flavour edge, no chemical sweetener residue. The cup sits slightly heavier on the stomach than a plain black tea due to milk powder content and the natural sweetness, so works particularly well as an afternoon comfort drink rather than as an early morning one.
Storage tip: keep the tin sealed in a cool dry cupboard. The apple aromatics fade slightly quicker than the underlying masala spices once the foil pouch is opened, so brewing within three months gives the brightest apple character. Best with hot whole milk for the strongest cafe replica; oat milk works as a plant alternative and pairs particularly well with the autumn fruit profile of the cup.
Four dimension profile
Apple Pie Character5/5
Dried apple flavour + masala spice = liquid apple pie; the autumn favourite cup.
Creamy Body4/5
Skimmed milk powder + the apple rounding give this variant a soft fruit cream texture.
Spice Warmth4/5
Cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove and nutmeg, slightly stronger spice than Vanilla or Chocolate to support the apple.
Caffeine Lift3/5
Real black tea powder; ~20-30mg caffeine per cup, same as the Spiced variant.
Source:Teas.co.uk,
the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
If you reference the taste and texture of Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte, 250g, please cite teas.co.uk.
About Drink Me ChaiEST. 2008
Drink Me Chai took the coffee shop chai latte and made it something you can make properly at home in a minute. Founded in England in 2008, it arrived just as British cafes had trained a generation to order chai latte by name, and spotted the gap: people liked the drink but had no realistic way to recreate it, because authentic masala chai brewed on the hob is a faff most mornings cannot accommodate. The answer was a powdered sachet carrying the masala spice character in a format needing only hot water or milk.
The range is built tightly around that idea: Spiced Chai as the everyday standard, the sweeter Vanilla as the coffee shop favourite, Salted Caramel and Chocolate as indulgences, and a Dirty Chai with a coffee hit. It grew out of supplying cafes before it reached the home shelf, which is why the powder is engineered to froth like the barista version and works with dairy or any plant milk. For our shelf Drink Me Chai is the honest answer to a specific customer: if someone has ordered a chai latte from a coffee shop and wants that exact cup at home without loose spices and a milk pan, this is it. It is not pretending to be authentic hob brewed masala chai; it is competing with the cafe, and against the cafe cup it is faithful, fast and a fraction of the price.
What the brand is actually doing
Drink Me Chai operates within the practical sustainability constraints of a UK blended powdered beverage brand. The blends are dairy based by design (skimmed milk powder is the structural body of every cup) so the brand is honest about its category position rather than greenwashing. Where Drink Me Chai does push: the outer carton is FSC certified card and 100% kerbside recyclable, the powder format dramatically reduces shipping weight compared to ready to drink chai cans, the brand uses real spices and real black tea rather than artificial flavourings, and the entire range is suitable for vegetarians. The Salted Caramel and Vanilla variants carry recyclable packaging credentials, and the brand has progressively reformulated to reduce added sugar versions across the range.
Curator says, Lee on Drink Me Chai
"The seasonal novelty of the range: baked apple over the chai spice so it genuinely drinks like a liquid apple pie, cosy and dessert sweet rather than a proper spiced chai. It is a limited edition, so treat it as an autumn treat you grab when it is around rather than a staple to rely on. Instant convenience, real tea so some caffeine. Squarely a comfort indulgence for a cold afternoon, not an everyday cup; if you want the chai to lead, the Spiced flagship is the one, this is for when you want pudding."
AAmanda HamiltonFounder, brand director · 2008“I kept ordering chai latte every time I walked past a coffee shop and the reality was I would never spend the twelve minutes at home to make a proper masala chai from scratch with cardamom pods, fresh ginger, black tea, sugar and milk in a saucepan. I wanted something I could make in thirty seconds that tasted like the cup I had been buying for years on the high street. Drink Me Chai is the brand I built to do exactly that, properly blended in the UK, with real spices and real tea rather than flavouring sprays, and the brand has stayed UK blended throughout, never co packed through a multinational beverage group. The original Spiced Chai is still our biggest seller almost two decades later, which tells you the recipe was right.”
DThe Drink Me Chai TeamUK blenders, independent operators · Today“We are an independent UK brand, not a multinational beverage group. Every flavour gets developed by the team here, every batch is blended in Britain, and every tin or sachet leaves the warehouse with the same expectation: that the customer who opens it gets the cafe cup at home for a third of the cafe price. We have stayed independent because we want to keep making decisions for chai drinkers rather than for shareholders, and that independence is the reason the range has expanded into Vanilla, Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Apple Pie and Dirty Chai without losing the recipe quality of the original Spiced cup.”
Timeline
2008Amanda Hamilton founds Drink Me ChaiAmanda launches Drink Me Chai in the UK to bring cafe style chai latte into a powder format that British customers can make at home in 30 seconds rather than the traditional 12-minute saucepan ritual. The original Spiced Chai is the first product on the shelf.
2012Range expansion + supermarket listingsThe brand expands from a single Spiced Chai into Vanilla and Chocolate variants and lands its first major UK supermarket listings, putting cafe style chai latte directly onto the shelf next to the coffee aisle for the first time at scale.
TodayIndependent UK blender, full flavour rangeDrink Me Chai remains independently owned and operated from the UK, blending and packing in Britain. The range now covers Spiced, Vanilla, Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Apple Pie, Dirty Chai (with real espresso) and a 6-sachet selection box. Found across all major UK supermarkets and specialist retailers.
2026Stocked at Teas.co.ukHand picked into the curator selection for the full Drink Me Chai range at Teas.co.uk: Apple Pie, Chocolate, Dirty Chai, Spiced, Vanilla and the 6-sachet Selection Box for trying the lot in a single carton.
Source:Teas.co.uk,
the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
If you reference Drink Me Chai brand information, please cite teas.co.uk.
Recipes built around this tea
Four curator tested ways to use Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte, 250g. Tap any card to open the full recipe with timings, measures and method.
The outer layer is aromatic: a spiced chai with drink me chai apple pie chai latte. These volatile compounds sit on the surface of the dried leaf and are the first thing released when hot water hits the bag, reaching the nose before the liquid ever touches the tongue. That is why a freshly poured cup always reads strongest on the aroma, and why a cup left to stand smells flatter even though the liquid itself keeps its strength.
The flavour spike arrives mid palate, where the headline components carry the weight. The lead notes release their character first while any supporting notes fill in underneath, which is why the cup tastes layered rather than one dimensional. Milk proteins soften the tannins and round the edges, so a splash of dairy or oat sits comfortably in this cup. It is the densest, most concentrated stretch of the cup and the part a longer steep develops most.
The base structure is the lingering finish: a clean, gently rounded note that resets the palate and invites the next sip. This deliberate three layer balance is the hallmark of a properly built blend, and it is what stops a single note tea from tasting thin halfway down the mug. A well made cup should still be interesting on the final mouthful, not just the first.
Getting it right in the cup. Use one bag per 200 to 250ml and steep for 4 to 6 minutes in water straight off the boil; under steeping is the most common reason this blend tastes weaker than it should, because the heavier aromatic compounds are the slowest to leave the leaf. Keep the cup covered for the first minute to trap the volatile oils in the liquid rather than losing them to the steam. Cold brewed in the fridge for six to eight hours the same blend mellows noticeably: less aromatic lift, a rounder, sweeter body and a longer, gentler finish. Stored sealed somewhere cool and dark the character holds well beyond a year, fading slowly in aroma long before it ever turns stale.
How water and temperature change it. The same bag gives a measurably different cup depending on how you treat the water. Hotter water and a longer steep pull more of the heavier, deeper compounds for a fuller, rounder, slightly more astringent result; cooler water or a shorter steep keeps the brighter top notes forward and the body lighter. Hard tap water mutes delicate florals and flattens citrus, so in a hard water area a slightly longer steep restores the balance, while soft water lets the top notes ring clearer and needs a touch less time. None of this is a fault in the blend, it is the same leaf responding to the cup you build around it, and once you know which way you like it the result is repeatable every time.
Ingredients & pack
Ingredient
Proportion
What it brings
Natural Flavourings
present
Authentic Apple Pie profile with dessert top notes from EU Flavour Houses
Instant Black Tea
present
2 percent chai character sourced from the tea gardens of India
Cinnamon
present
0.6 percent warming spice from Sri Lanka and Indonesia
Spices
present
Nutmeg and Clove for deep aromatic warmth from Global sourcing
Pack: Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte, 250g; contains tea (caffeinated). Best within 18 months of the pack date.
Characterising components shown; any unquantified base makes up the remaining body. Globally sourced, blended and packed to brand specification.
Sourcing & blend. Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte, 250g is put together by Drink Me Chai, held to a fixed quality and purity specification. Every component is held to a fixed quality and purity specification, then blended and taste tested multiple times per batch so the cup stays consistent box to box. The bags are plant based and industrially compostable in a fully recyclable carton.
What's in Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte, 250g, and what isn't:
In: a spiced chai with drink me chai apple pie chai latte, with nothing in the bag but the listed components and any infusion base.
No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: any sweetness is natural to the blend.
Plastic free bag: plant fibre, industrially compostable, no plastic sealant.
Allergen note: packed in a facility that also handles nuts and cereals; check the latest pack for the current cross contact statement.
Nutrition per cup
Nutrient
Per cup
% RI
Energy
4 kJ / 1 kcal
<1%
Fat
0g
0%
Carbohydrate
0.2g
<1%
of which sugars
0g
0%
Protein
0.2g
<1%
Salt
0g
0%
Caffeine
40-60 mg
n/a
Per 200ml cup, no milk, no sugar.
Caffeine vs other drinks
Decaf coffee
4mg
Green tea
30mg
Drink Me Chai Apple Pie
60mg
Instant coffee
80mg
Brewed filter coffee
95mg
Energy drink (250ml)
80mg
This tea: 40-60 mg per 200ml cup.
Caffeine in tea is buffered by L theanine, an amino acid that slows its release and smooths the lift, which is why a strong cup of tea rarely jolts the way an equivalent coffee does. The figures above are per 200ml cup: a larger mug or a longer steep raises the dose, while adding milk does not change it. Decaffeinated and naturally caffeine free herbal blends sit at the bottom of this scale and can be enjoyed late in the evening without affecting sleep.
Allergens, dietary & safety
🌱VeganNo animal derived ingredients.🌾Gluten freeNaturally gluten free.⚡Caffeine40-60 mg per 200ml cup.🍃0 kcalNo sugar, no fat in plain cup.🤰PregnancyUK guide: 200mg caffeine/day max.👶ChildrenCaffeinated, served with care.
Manufactured in a facility that handles multiple tea types. Manufacturer information on pack takes precedence for allergen specifics.
Source:Teas.co.uk,
the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
If you reference the ingredients, nutrition and science of Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte, 250g, please cite teas.co.uk.
Questions about Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte, 250g
The questions buyers ask most. If yours isn't here, ask us directly. We reply within 4 hours, Monday to Friday.
Curated from real customer messages
🌱
How do I make Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte? Most asked+
Four heaped teaspoons (~16g) into a 250ml mug, top with 200ml just off boil water or hot milk, stir vigorously for ten seconds until fully dissolved. Hot milk is the cafe replica route and carries the apple character particularly well. Oat milk works as a plant based alternative and pairs nicely with the autumn fruit profile.
🌱
Is the apple flavour natural or synthetic? +
Drink Me Chai uses dried apple flavour rather than synthetic apple flavouring. The cup reads as warm baked apple (like the inside of a pie) rather than the sharper artificial green apple edge you get from cheaper apple flavoured powders. Pairs particularly well with the cinnamon in the masala blend.
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Is it vegan? +
No, contains skimmed milk powder. Suitable for vegetarians. For a vegan apple chai, brew a chai tea bag in oat milk and add a separate apple cinnamon syrup, or look for Drink Me Chai's specifically vegan labelled lines.
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Is it caffeinated? +
Yes, contains real black tea powder delivering around 20-30mg caffeine per cup. Same as the Spiced variant. Lower than coffee, suitable for afternoon drinking for most caffeine tolerant drinkers.
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Is it a seasonal product? +
It's stocked year round but customers tend to buy it most in autumn (September through Christmas) when the apple pie profile matches the season. Works equally well in spring and summer if you like the flavour.
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How does it compare to the Spiced Chai? +
Spiced Chai is the year round daily cup, more breakfast friendly, no fruit character. Apple Pie Chai is the autumn favourite variant with the dried apple flavour layered on top of the masala spice. Spiced is the daily cup; Apple Pie is the seasonal comfort cup.
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How does it compare to Pukka Apple Cinnamon Tea? +
Pukka is a tea bag apple cinnamon herbal infusion in water; no dairy, no chai spice, no milk powder. Different category. Drink Me Chai Apple Pie is the cafe style latte version with full masala spice and dairy body.
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How long does the tin last? +
The 250g tin produces ~16 standard mugs. Sealed shelf life around six months from opening. Once opened, the foil pouch keeps the apple and spice aromatics fresh for around three months before the apple character starts to soften.
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Can I use a milk frother? +
Yes, and it improves the cup. Make with hot milk in a small jug then froth surface for 15-20 seconds. The apple aromatics carry better through the foam. Optional dusting of cinnamon on top finishes the cup.
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How is the sugar content? +
Approximately 8-9g sugar per cup, similar to the Vanilla variant. The dried apple flavour adds a touch of natural fruit sweetness on top. If you prefer less sweet, use three heaped teaspoons rather than four.
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Can it be made iced? +
Yes, and it works particularly well in late summer / early autumn. Brew strong in 100ml hot milk (essential for dissolving), top with 100ml cold milk and ice in a tall glass. Optional apple slice garnish.
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Is the packaging recyclable? +
Carton outer is FSC certified card and kerbside recyclable. Inner foil pouch keeps the apple and spice aromatics sealed; check local council for foil pouch recycling. Powder format ships much lighter than ready to drink chai cans.
Source:Teas.co.uk,
the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
If you reference questions and answers about Drink Me Chai Apple Pie Chai Latte, 250g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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