I took the advice of my fellow Steepster-ites and changed the way I steep this. This time I lowered the temp and steeped much longer – about ten minutes. I’m also no longer ill, so I don’t suspect my tastebuds are off.
My conclusion? Well, it’s definitely better this way. I can taste the chocolate, and at 5 minutes I absolutely could not! Unfortunately, I still get raisin from this tea – really, really strong raisin. Maybe malt just tastes like raisins to me when the tea is hot? It definitely gets less strong as it cools off. My husband thinks it tastes like chocolate – he doesn’t get the raisin taste at all. I think it’s a personal issue with me and malt. On the other hand, I think I’ve finally figured out why I don’t like beer – that malt! I gave the rest to my husband – he loves it, so there you go!