Which Chai Am I Most Tempted By?

If coffee is like my favorite coworker (the frequent companion who helps me get through the day), chai latte is my college friend. Our meetings are more rare, but it only takes me a few seconds to remember everything I love.

The warm spiciness. The caffeine.  The delicious smell.

With the first day of spring hinting at a time when hot chai lattes must be swapped for iced chai lattes, I accepted a Chowdown Showdown challenge to find the best chai latte in Yorkville.

First stop: Panera. There, the clerk asked me if I wanted skim or 2 percent milk (skim, please) and a dash of cinnamon on top of the foamed milk (yes, please). There’s only one size option, but $3.49 for 16 ounces of warm goodness doesn’t seem bad.

For kicks, I looked up the nutrition information up on Panera’s Web site. It said a 10-ounce serving had 200 calories and 4.5 grams of fat. My to-go cup was definitely larger than 10 ounces, and the Web site didn’t offer different options for the type of milk. I suppose it provides a barometer of sorts, though: Chai latte has more calories than Diet Coke.

The good: This hot tea is so well-spiced it kicks. I didn’t taste any of the strong, black tea that hypothetically provides the base for chai; I just tasted spice and milk.

The bad: See above.

The Village Grind Too, 202 E. Countryside Parkway

Here, I went for a small (12 ounces) for $2.85, sans whipped cream. My lips met the perfect flavor combination of tea, spice and milk. The flavor lingered without kicking my taste buds. No idea how many calories were involved, but after the second sip, I didn’t really care.

The good: The right amount of spice flavor did not overpower the drink.

The bad: The Village Grind Too is only open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the week, so if your chai craving hits in the evening, you’re out of luck.

I ended up inside SuperTarget, in line at Starbucks, and dished out $2.95 for a tall (12 ounces) chai latte. In a corner filled with complicated coffee drinks, I appreciated the frothy, foaming simplicity of my chai latte, but I have to admit: The flavor was lacking. Too much milk and not enough spicy tea. Starbucks was just, kind of, weak.

The good: Even less-than-great chai latte is still good in my book.

The bad: Weak flavor. (I tried to look up nutrition information on the Starbucks corporate Web site, but the information for chai latte was blank. Also weak.)

And the winner is: The Village Grind Too. The flavor and price are good enough to make my plan my chai runs around the hours.