Chocolate Covered Snowballs

Sadly, this is the last sample of Cuppa Geek in my stash. It tastes like a light blueberry on a nice black base. I don’t get many more elements than that, but I enjoyed this cold with milk.

There’s sort of a lot going on with this tea but I enjoyed it! I sort of felt like some of my advents didn’t feel nearly seasonal enough so there was a stretch where all the ‘extra’ teas I was having in the evening were especially festive in terms of names/flavours to sort of compensate for that. This is a weird but delicious mix of milk chocolate, blueberry jam, and crisp cooling mint notes that probably shouldn’t work together but kind of does is a very interesting way.

But lets be honest… I brewed it up because of the name.

It was a chilly morning so I thought I’d warm up with a cup of dark chocolate peppermint patty. I’m not a fan of the mini marshmallows, but it adds a festive flair to a decent cup of mostly mint, but some chocolate tea. This tea isn’t anything splashy, just a cup of comfort that steeps three times.

I knew I had two remamining Cuppa Geek teas from my Advent; as they were thought for Boxing day and New Year.

I wasn’t craving them at all. Maybe I was fed up with the random teas. But today I just wanted somehow random tea. And I chose the black one, instead of some herbal. Maybe I will prepare the latter for the evening.

Anyway to chocolate covered snowballs! It’s okay. NIce base and nice chocolate flavour; with hints of vanilla. Refreshing thanks to peppermint leaves.

Overall, quite easy sipping tea, with nice flavour and even better aroma. I haven’t noticed any blueberries; but that’s completely okay.

Advent Day 20, From the Depths of the Grab Bag.

Kiki’s confused again by the smell of the packet. “Smells like butterscotch. Butterscotch again? I wonder what makes me think that.”

I sniff, I say it smells like vanilla and redfruits, medicinal.

“That must be what makes me think butterscotch — vanilla. I think because it may not be natural vanilla.”

You mean like vanilla beans?

“Yeah, yeah, I think that’s what I mean. It’s not like vanilla beans. But I do smell something red like cherries. It reminds me of cough syrup.”

“I think it’s— I like the black tea better with the vanilla, better than without the black tea. I think it’s got a little rosehip in there maybe. Some kind of fruity thing but mostly vanilla. I don’t know if it’s astringent from the rosehip or the black tea. And that’s basically all I’m tasting. It’s okay, I’d say it’s a 7. It tastes okay. So what is it? Black tea with vanilla?”

Well, it’s called Chocolate Covered Snowballs.

She makes a funny face. “Okay.” Finishes the mug.

It didn’t taste like chocolate to you?

“Now that you say it, I guess so. Not compared to that good chocolate we ate earlier this morning. I guess I should know that when it smells like butterscotch, it’s probably chocolate haha.”

There’s also berries in it. Blueberries.

“It had a little fruity but…”

And there’s peppermint and teeny tiny candy cane flakes in it.

“I didn’t smell ’em.”

There are no rosehips in it, so it was probably the black tea that was astringent.

“It’s still a 7. Merry Christmas!”

Day 19 Advent
Enjoyed this cup earlier today. While it was a nice cup, i kinda wish the blueberry wasn’t in it. I think that’s because i was thinking about the peppermint tea from the other day. It was tasty though…but i like the peppermint stick one better because of the lack of fruitiness :)

CuppaGeek Advent Calendar – Day 12

Snowballs to me are those pink marshmallow snack cakes that have like chocolate and cream inside and pink marshmallow around and then coated in coconut – or something like that since its been a while since I had one. So when I drank this and it had a darker berry note to it and mint, I was very confused.

Once I read the description that it was supposed to be a chocolate covered blueberry, things made more sense. And it even made it more enjoyable. However, the mint still seems out of place. Also, there is a briskness from the combination of mint and black tea that I could do without.

Cuppageek Advent Day 8

This is one I was hoping would be in my advent and I picked it today! Yay! And DANG, but it smells good dry! Berry candy!

I was expecting this one to be similar to be Chocolate Covered Marshmallows but it was nothing like it. With breakfast, this was a really minty black tea. I did taste it before I started eating so I would have an idea of the unadulterated flavor! The peppermint tingles your whole mouth. For the first two steeps it dominates the cup. Two of my kids are mint fanatics but I am less so, although I don’t hate mint. I just don’t reach for it often, especially mixed with other things.

My favorite steep came after I cleaned the living room in preparation for my students. My feather duster (or as my husband calls it, “the dust spreader”) had to be brought out to dust the nativity scene across the piano and it decided to go through a winter moult or something because feathers went EVERYWHERE so I had to vacuum again, too.

After finishing the cleaning, I sat down for a third steep and the mint has now receded waaaay in the background and the berry flavors have moved forward. Nommy!

I would never make it as a tea sommelier: my ingredient accuracy is about 22%. I was sure I was getting coconut out of this one, and there’s nary a shred in this blend. Chocolate, mint, and blueberries …. who’da thunk it? Very cheerful and tasty. (I needed the cheerful this afternoon.)