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Ah, spring, when a woman’s fancy turns to “it’s been almost three months since I finished my advent calendar of teas and I want to try new ones” again.

Since Steepologie figured out how to make sample packets again (they had some problems where their sample packeting machine broke, and so they delisted all their samples for a couple of months) I figured I’d better jump on the wagon and try all their teas before the machine got broken again by all the orders coming in. I trawled through their site, looking at all the blacks, oolongs, and greens I could find – because that’s what I drink. Rooibus? Not a chance.

…except.

I love Mexican Hot Chocolate. A lot. It’s a fondness I developed when I was a tweenager, and it’s never gone away. And when I was in their store the first time, I was very sad I couldn’t get a sample of their tea, because it’s a rooibus and I was NOT going to get a full tin of a tea I was sure I was going to be disappointed by.

And the sample-generating machine was fixed.

And I had a coupon code from my advent calendar.

So I got it. And what do you know, it actually does taste like Mexican Hot Chocolate, and it does NOT taste like rooibus-trying-to-pretend-it’s-actually-camellia sinensis! WOW. It’s actually good! Apparently, given the fact that I also liked Fire Nation (and once upon a time, I liked RoT’s Rooibus Masala Chai, before I got tired of teabags) the answer to my problem with rooibus is “cover it over with so many spices that you can’t taste it anymore. Ideally, chili peppers.”

This tea definitely has a kick to it. (I like chili pepper. I don’t get it nearly as often as I used to because my kids have undertraumatized taste buds.) It also has a strong chocolate nose. I’m sure that the chicory is helping there, but that’s probably the fact that they added chocolate extract to the whole shebang. What it does not have – and I’m pleased by this – is actual chocolate; cleaning actual melted chocolate skum out of the inside of my teapot is one of my least favorite things, no matter how tasty the tea.

This is one I may have to get more of. I have too few naturally decaf teas in my inventory, and since I try very hard not to drink any caffeine after six (messed up sleep is not my friend) having another one in my arsenal is definitely welcome. I don’t even feel the need to mix this one with a decaf black – it’s fine as it is. Score!