Chai Soda Blended Float

Sorry about the blur.

Normally I don't go in for oddly flavored sodas. I love the colors and creative labels of the Jones soda empire, but in general, we are a Coca-Cola Classic household. But when I saw this Chai Cola at Sprouts Farmer's Market in Tulsa, I impulsively purchased it out of curiosity.

It always starts out so great...

 An initial taste of the chilled soda revealed a perfectly portioned chai flavor. It was spicy and sweet and aromatic in a way that a soda has no business being. This is fine in itself, but wasn't quite enough. What ultimately threw it off for me was the carbonation, and I found myself thinking, "This would be fantastic with ice cream." I think, ultimately, what I was still really craving was that creamy complement to the spicy chai that is found in chai lattes, and something to tone down the bite of the carbonation.

See that foam? That's what I don't like.

Yum!

So I got out my trusty blender and some Bluebell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and went to work. I am thinking now that a more subtle vanilla ice cream, like a Vanilla Bean flavor, might work better; it might make for a more complex, layered flavor to the whole affair. But Homemade Vanilla is what was in my freezer.

Now, you may be wondering why I didn't make a float. I love floats for their flavor, but I hate the oddly sticky bubbles that rise up when the soda hits the ice cream, and I wanted to create something that had a more consistent texture. So I threw it all in the blender and pushed the little red button.

Sweet, delicious float!

The result was a drink that was creamy and spicy, smooth and succulent, without being cloyingly sweet or shockingly fizzy. However, I think that a similar effect could be achieved by simply mixing in some heavy cream, making a chai flavored cream soda. This would probably be more refreshing and might be something I would choose to do in the summer when I am craving an iced chai. But right now it's January, and my New Year's guilt hasn't quite caught up with me, so I went for the equally decadent, thicker ice cream.

If you happen to come across some chai flavored soda, and you are a fan of chai in general, I would definitely suggest that you pick some up and give this a whirl.

Yum!