Chocolate Chili Truffle

Sipdown! (63/375)

Thanks for the sample, Janelle!

I really like this, which is annoying. It’s not one I would keep in stock all the time, but I’d probably grab an ounce of it or so around winter time if I had the option. The dry leaf smelled the same as all of my samples now do, and the resulting liquor when brewed has a really distinct fruity sort of smell, so I was worried that this had been contaminated, but I needn’t have worried. This is really lovely. The chocolate note is present mostly at the front of the sip, and the chilli kick – the perfect heat for me – a lovely warming presence in the background, probably verging on the ‘moderate’ side of things but still mild enough that those not keen on spice could still enjoy this tea. But what really shines is the Sansia Black; it is absolutely beautiful and I’m kicking myself that I never tried it unadorned when I had the chance. Had I tried this tea back when Butiki was open I know I would have bought some of it. The distinct leafhopper-bitten honey note is super intense and prominent, followed up by a fruity note which I could definitely describe as cherry mixing soooo well with the chocolate flavour. There’s a thick, malty breadiness to it which makes me think of a chocolate bread, not one of those really sweet dessert-type ones but an actual loaf of bread with cocoa in it. I think that the Sansia must have a natural chocolate note because the flavours seem to mesh together so naturally that if it weren’t for the chilli (which is clearly not a part of the natural tea) I might be tricked into thinking that I was drinking the most magical elixir of a straight tea ever discovered. The best part of all is that I brewed this for four minutes at boiling and there isn’t even the beginnings of a hint of astringency! I added half a sugar which intensified all of the flavours, and now it feels like something really special. Dammit, Stacy, why you gotta be so good for?

This made me sneeze when I opened the packet. A dusty tea, it seems.
And wow is it ever spicy! in a good way. Adding half a tsp of sugar really brings out the chocolate note as well.
I love how rich and creamy it is without adding any milk. I guess the chocolate chips helped there. The spice vs chocolate level is just perfect.
I’m really glad I was able to try this. To be honest, this is what I wish the David’s tea version could live up to.

This tea deserves a better note than I’m going to write for it, because it’s awesome and chocolate chili ‘things’ are the best kind of things. Unfortunately I drank up the last of it during what was otherwise a particularly terrible day, so details are getting fuzzy. Good pot of spicy sweet tea, bad everything else.

For me the slight spice is perfect. Chocolate, never being my favourite ingredient in tea is also pretty good. I do have to wrap my head around that this isn’t the creamy, milk infused chocolate, but good old dark chocolate of little milk, a pinch of sugar or honey, and a lot of nip. So, essentially everything you’d want in a dark chocolate chili truffle.

Sipdown (116)!

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample! This is actually one of Stacy’s last teas that I actually had almost no interest in – I don’t typically go for chocolate teas or spicy ones, but that doesn’t mean I’m not grateful to try it. Since it’s not one that appealed to me greatly I probably would have never sought it out, so without your thoughtfulness I’d have never tasted it!

Hmm, I’m not getting a lot from the dry leaf. I expected to be able to smell at least a little bit of chili spice – and especially after having The Devil’s Mate from McQuarries so recently I’ve very, very wary of chili in tea currently. But mostly it smells like black tea with wisps of dark chocolate. Steeped up I’m happily surprised with how clear the liquor is; by which I mean it doesn’t have oil spots or things like that from the melted down chocolate chips!

Initial taste is a mild, somewhat watery chocolate. There’s a bit of bitterness, but in the way that’s associated with dark chocolate/bakers chocolate and not from the base tea. However, the more bland/flat chocolate flavour is definitely distinct of chocolate chips; it’s a shame that cacao shells/nibs weren’t incorporated into this one.

After the initial chocolate taste you’re hit with the delayed heat from the chili. This is way near the end of the sip/aftertaste, by the way. It’s actually pretty reasonable; though I think at this point anything less than the level of chili in Devil’s Mate would likely feel reasonable. I don’t like spice – keep that in mind, but to me this is a good compromise of having a flavor with impact, but not being incredibly mild/light handed. Other notes present in the tea/from the base: Cinnamon, honey, and some light floral notes as well.

I probably could have gone without trying this one; it’s not made a huge impact on me – but that’s just because the flavours aren’t ones that generally appeal to me anyway. I imagine someone into chocolate tea/spicy tea would find this quite delicious!

this is an interesting one from Stacy. I quite like the kick to this one and it blends nicely with the chocolate. Not my absolute favourite of her last batch of teas but i really am enjoying the spicy kick of this one. It’s not spicy like kaphaa but it’s a slow build of heat as you drink more and more of it. neat!

The tea starts off with a rush of chocolate and then the chili comes through as a slow and smooth burn on top of a sweet honey base. It is really great and I’m glad I got a chance to try it.

I would write about the aroma of this tea, but I can’t even open the tea before my nose starts to itch. Then I inevitably start sneezing. I think its just a pepper thing. I’m not allergic to pepper, but there’s something about this tea. It’s a strong black tea base. I sweetened it with stevia leaves. You can taste the spice in the back of the throat, but I wouldn’t say its in your face. To have a stronger spice profile, you might need to steep it longer.

Based on the aroma of the dry and brewed tea, I really wasn’t expecting to like this one much. It just doesn’t have a lot of aroma – kind of like artificial flavouring, and tea. Not really chocolate, not really spice (though perhaps I wouldn’t want to be smelling that anyhow). However, completely different story for the flavour. The first flavour is a distinct honey-sweetness (argh! I bet that’s from the base tea, and now I’m sorely regretting not tasting this sooner and nabbing more of either it or the plain base), followed by a wave of dark chocolate, finishing off with a growing chili heat that prevents me from having more than a couple sips at a time because WOW it’s potent.

So anyways, this is pretty good. Definitely the best chocolate/chili tea I’ve had, because 1) there is actually a good dose of heat, and 2) the base here was a perfect choice. The chocolate here is nothing overly special, but everything works very well together – it was a genius move to use whatever this base is (a leafhopper-bitten tea of some sort, I imagine), because the natural sweetness really melds the flavours. Kind of sad I didn’t get more, but it’s ok, because to be honest, I probably wouldn’t pick out a spicy tea all that often, since spicy kind of screams heartburn to me (hopefully that’s not the end result, but my brain associates the two).

Happy I got a half ounce of this, and looking forward to an embarrassingly large amount of Butiki headed my way… (1 box almost here, 1 box just mailed, 1 box probably being mailed today, a few teas being mailed to Sil, and a few more teas in VariaTea’s possession. Yikes.)

ETA: This tea is so freaking amazingly delicious. So much honey goodness. I’m glad I have some Sansia Black headed my way if it tastes anything like this tea.

I love spice, chocolate, and tea, and this is an exceptional combination of the three.

The (distinctly) Taiwanese tea offers sweet, floral honey notes. It’s smooth and delicate. The chili doesn’t really register as “hot”. It’s more of a slight warmth, a tingle in the back of your throat. Enough to titillate. The chocolate isn’t a very prominent flavor, admittedly. It’s more of an undertone; the dark complement to the light black tea. It pairs very nicely with the chili heat and doesn’t leave me wanting more. Creamy, melty, sweet. Mmm. (I think more chocolate would make it unbalanced…I’ll just make a stronger cup if I want more flavor!) I really love this blend. Just wonderful.

Method:
2tsp/10oz
boiling
4min

My order from Butiki Teas arrived today. I wasn’t going to place an order because the teas that I order are teas that I review (as well as teas sent to me for review) and really, since Butiki Teas is closing soon, I didn’t figure that Stacy was looking for SororiTea Sisters reviews.

However, when I saw the announcement for the Lime Marshmallow tea I couldn’t stand it and I knew I had to try it. I already missed out on the smoky banana one and I didn’t want to miss out on trying the Lime Marshmallow. And that tea looked woefully lonely in the cart all by itself so I added a couple of other teas.

And yeah, i’ll review them eventually on SororiTea Sisters because that’s what I do: Drink, Write, Repeat.

This is actually really quite good. I was a little disappointed at first because I wasn’t getting a strong chocolate-y flavor that I want. (I always want more chocolate.) There is a nice amount of spice – it’s peppery and it provides a swift kick to the palate but it isn’t an overwhelming HOT sensation. I feel the tingle and the burn in the back of the throat from the pepper but it isn’t so hot that I feel like I need to find something to tame the heat.

And the chocolate is coming through. If I were to offer any complaint, it would be that it needs more chocolate. (Again, please refer to my simple scientific equation: more chocolate = better.) But, there is a nice balance between sweet chocolate and spicy chili here. And the black tea base is sweet, I taste light notes of honey that stay through the aftertaste. Nice. It’s a really pleasant black tea, it’s strong enough to be tasted amid notes of chocolate and chili.

Overall, this gets a yum from me. I’m happy that I put this in the cart.