Tre caved and gave me a slice of pie! Yay! So, to go with my pie I made a black tea; black tea seems to go with most desserts, in my opinion anyway. I actually bought this one because of all the talk on Steepster about it; it seems like it made a rotation through several people’s cupboards and that got me curious. My favourite employee from Tea Desire also told me that she dislikes this one because she can only taste the dates in it – and that made me curious too because I hate oreos, but I like dates…
So, I’m drinking this with a pretty open mind seeing as I think it could go either way as a “love it” or “hate it” tea, and because I’ve heard a wide array of opinions on it.
Dry, this smells like creamy chocolate and black tea. Not awful or anything, but just a little bit average (in a good way, I guess). My preparation was 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf, 10 oz. boiling water, steeped for four minutes. The smell is creamy milk chocolate with a touch of sweet dates, like the kind used in pastries.
Taste wise, it’s actually a surprisingly good chocolate tea. The chocolate is light, smooth, and very creamy with nice vanilla notes. The dates are fairly present and contribute a nice fruity sweetness that keeps the tea from being too one dimensional. There’s a soft pastry or cake like quality to the tea too, which I think adds to the intended idea of an “Oreo Cookie”. The black base is light, but still present. The doesn’t taste really equal an Oreo cookie for me, but in my case I guess that’s a good thing! As it cooled down, it did taste a little watery so next time I make it I think I’ll use more leaf or a slightly longer steep time.
Ultimately; I think I’ll enjoy going through this one – but I’m unsure as of right now if I would repurchase it; it’s nice enough but not anything super unique, and since I have many other chocolate black teas I don’t think I would feel as if I was losing out by not having more of this around.
