I have so far managed to not be pranked by anyone, which is good, I doubt my delicate constitution could handle it! Well, that is not entirely true, I was pretty viciously pranked while playing Minecraft today. Minding my own business in a fenced in garden in the middle of the day, I was visited by everyone’s favorite green explosive. Of course I assumed I was safe so I took this moment to sip some tea, from behind me came a Sssss BOOM and I died, spilling the contents of my inventory all over the nice new hole in the middle of my garden, and of course the contents of my teacup all over myself. Who knew Creepers were such vicious landscape critics?
Today’s tea is Chocolate Chai by Wegman’s Grocer, a delightful grocery store that has a self serve tea counter that, when I lived in Pennsylvania, I visited quite often. Sadly they do not have an ‘order online’ option so the only way to get their tea is to pester my friends who live back home to send me some. This blend is a mix of chocolate chai and tropical chai, with Black Tea, Coconut, Chocolate Chunks, Vanilla Bean, Cardamon, and Cinnamon. The aroma is a happy dance of sweet chocolate, rich spices, and nutty coconut. It reminds me a bit of xocolatl but with coconut and the earthiness of black tea. This tea smells delicious.
Giving the chocolaty tea a steeping (goodbye really huge chunks of chocolate) the aroma of the leaves is as expected, intensely chocolaty. There is also rich malty notes and nutty coconut, it is very sweet and the spices make my nose tingle. The liquid without the leaves is very sweet chocolate with a hint of coconut and a finish of spices. The chocolate is sweet and creamy, like sniffing hot chocolate rather than dark chocolate.
Tasting the tea is going to be a treat, I can just tell as I am adding the customary cream and sugar to the chai. The taste is malty and chocolaty with a gentle kick of cinnamon. It moves on from the initial malt and chocolate to rich buttery coconut, it also gives the mouthfeel an oily quality. The spices do not overwhelm, it feels more like a cardamon caress and a cinnamon whisper, I can swear that there is pepper and a hint of ginger though it is not listed in the ingredients. This is a great balanced chai that has a really interesting flair, coconut and chocolate really go well together and in chai.
For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/04/wegmans-food-market-chocolate-chai-tea.html
Flavors: Chocolate, Coconut, Malt
