I received this a long time ago from another Steepster member in a sale. Thank you to whomever it was (this might be the first time I forgot who sent me a tea.) Usually the teas from S&V have spot on flavor and this one never really tasted like chocolate SO I was questioning the age of this tea from day one. The black tea also never seemed to get very dark unless I used two teaspoons. So this isn’t really a tasting note for this tea specifically… as I had the idea to make COCOA TEA. So I brewed up some of this chai western style, and then added some delicious cocoa, also from Simpson and Vail, when the infuser came out. I would say the result is divine. Tea and cocoa. I knew I wasn’t really ruining a possible older tea, while also adding some delicious cocoa flavor. I love their sugar free cocoa, as I don’t need more sugar in my day. I added more cocoa on the resteep. I really like this idea. It’s caffeine +cocoa. The flavor was earthy and chocolatey, while still having the hints of black tea in there. (I don’t really see too many spices in this “chai”… it looks mostly like black tea.) I’m not rating this tea as it is older + it had the addition of cocoa. It’s a great way to use up this tea + some of that amazing cocoa I’ve been neglecting. I had another genius idea: making a cocoa tea with Bird & Blend’s Dark Chocolate Chili Chai…. that will be AMAZINGGGG. I can’t wait to try it.