I’ve got to admit, my expectations weren’t too high with this one.
I think it’s because the only thing separating this from the Vanilla Bean Black I tried yesterday was the addition of white tea. The steeping recommendations allowed for this by steeping at a slightly lower temperature but otherwise, everything was pretty close to the same. Dry leaf smell was mostly chocolate, leaves had some of the more spindly needle like leaves I typically see in white tea.
Once it was all steeped up, I found out I was right. The milk chocolate smell is what greets you first and foremost, and while its hot at least there is the familiar hot cocoa taste and smell I’ve come to associate with chocolate sTEAp shoppe teas. The one difference here is that the addition of the white tea causes a noticeable change in texture – it is definitely thinner than the Vanilla Black.
So in a nutshell – these were good teas, albeit samey. I think I’d consider having one of them on hand as a good chocolate substitute, because they really do hold their own without additives. Probably the vanilla bean black will be my go to if/when I place another order. The chocolate flavor is very authentic, but since chocolate is rarely my dessert of choice it doesn’t make much sense to go stocking a pantry full of it!
