Thanks to Naomi at Joy’s Teaspoon for this!!
Ok, it took a few minutes of tweaking to get this right, but after I did…
OH.
MY.
GOOD.
GRACIOUS!!!!
Yeah, that good. Ok, maybe……a little under that, and I am not really physically showing the excitement, but I can enjoy this tea. A lot.
Smell: Dry, in the bag. Chocolate-y. But dry, unsweetened cocoa chocolate-y. And I’m not too fond of that, usually, but this smelled yummy. Steeping it smelled like that, but kind of burnt, which I’m just going to atrribute it to the fact that it was in BOILING WATER. So yeah. Hot.
Taste: The first sip with no sugar was yucky, and had no real flavor to me. Sorry. Second sip after 1 packet of raw cane sugar, was sweeter, but still no good. Packet #2…eh, almost. A bit chocolatey, but not perfect. It took 3 packets for me, which is ok because I like sweet. I let it cool a bit, added a few extra chocoalte chips, and then took a few more sips.
The chocolate flavor is the bittersweet of dark chocolate, and again, unsweetened cocoa. To me, it is a subtle flavor at first, and then kind of grows, but it isn’t a strong, overwhelming flavor. Honestly, that’s kind of what I want, BUT at the same time I REALLY LIKE THIS TEA. After a few more sips, I added some cream and that finally made it perfectly chocolatey for me and just YUMMY. The chocolate is creamy and rich, but again, a bit bitter. You have to enjoy chocolate that’s not overly sweet (like dark chocolate) and you have to like something that still has the taste of tea. For me, I loved it, though it did take a few adjustments.
I used 1 1/2 teaspoons, 8 oz. of water, 212 degree and 4 minutes steep time. Add 3 packets of raw cane sugar, a few extra chocolate chips, and a little bit of cream and you are good to go! Just don’t go overboard!! :-)
UPDATE: I let this cool a bit, to “warm” rather than hot, and it is SOO GOOD! SO SO GOOD!! The chocolate has gotten a bit sweeter, like milk chocolate, though there is still the bittersweet notes. It all mixes perfectly, and the cream makes it SO MUCH BETTER!! Upping the rating…
