After my previous experience with Teeccino, my expectations for this tea were very low. The dry bag does have a lovely hot cocoa smell. The brew is the color of coffee and smells like coffee and chocolate as advertised. I actually got my hopes up that this tea would not be awful.
Well…I was kind of right. It is more palatable than the other Teeccino that I had (French Roast, which I rated 12 and poured down the sink after 3 sips). This does actually taste like chocolatey coffee. Not great, but drinkable. Kind of like bad coffee. A touch of rice milk really pulls the flavors together and makes this cup almost pleasant. I don’t taste any of the chile, but the coffee and chocolate flavors are clear and complementary. I have a much better impression of this company now. I suspect that I would have rated this tea higher if I didn’t still have the memory of that French Roast. I am trying to adjust for that in my rating. Still, first impressions are hard to get over.
At any rate, I’m quite glad to say that this is another sipdown.