the search for the best chai latte

The past few years I have really fallen in love with chai lattes. I have enjoyed getting to try them in different places and coffee shops which led to me trying to make a challenge. My goal: to try as many Chai lattes as I could throughout the fall.

Of course I wanted to hit all the regular chains (which were also the ones it was easiest to get on breaks from work), but my main goal in this was to try out some new places, local coffee shops that I don’t always get the chance to try and the ones that are probably going to be the best (but I was trying to not be biased).

I would rate each chai latte on a five star scale (with half stars as needed) and are as follows:

1. Horrible, undrinkable, not good at all
2. Okay, I can drink this, but there is nothing special at all
3. Good, I would get this again
4. Really Good, there is something here that makes this special
5. Amazing, this is one of the best drinks that I have ever had

So I set off on my journey. I started by asking on Instagram where people loved their chai and I got a lot of great responses. I even got three for the same place, which I knew I had to get to at some point.

I created a list of places I knew I wanted to try and some I even had to cross off. I thought it would be pretty common for regular chains to have a chai latte, but places such as McDonald’s and Tim Hortons didn’t even make one for me to try.

The next few months involved a lot of chai lattes, which I am not complaining about. Some were had alone, some were with friends around heavy conversations, some were had on dates with Nigel, some were in the early morning, and some were at night.

While trying all of the chai’s was great, it was the conversations and experiences that really made this challenge fun. Seeing how each place made their drink a little bit differently and what I really loved in a chai latte.

Now here is my chart at the end of my journey. I managed to visit 11 places and try 11 different chai lattes in the two months of this challenge.

Now the best chai latte I had was at the most requested place, Sip Chai in Abbotsford had the best drink by far, and both Nigel and I agreed.

The other top contenders for best chai latte was Creekside Coffee and clik. As for the best chain of the ones I had Starbucks was the best and I find it is good in a pinch.

This was such a fun journey to go one and one that I really enjoyed. Have you ever tried to try all of one thing from many different places? Or are you a chai latte fan and which one is your favourite?