Chocolate Orange

My go-to cup when I’m in the mall and wanting a nice pick-me-up. Sadly, I just noticed there’s actual dairy/chocolate bits in there (a downfall when asking someone else to make tea for you, is that you avoid seeing the bits and pieces in the brew).

Of bigger note during this visit was the reaction of a staffer for whom I’d left some tea for a few days back. The person who took it from me failed to tell said staffer, and just ‘left it in the back’. So when I entered DAVIDs today, I asked the gal I’d brought it for if she got it… and then all hell (in a good way!) broke out. Squeals, laughter, hugs across the counter, and even a long, slow running actual hug in thanks. She went in the back to find it, said she’d hoped it was the tea I’d left for her, and would I be offended if she brewed some up right now?

Gosh no. And so, the smell of Mint Chocolate Chip tea from another company took over DAVIDs at Metrotown today, and I take full responsibility for the chaos, squeals, and new friendships that ensued. Yay for tea!

Oh I am soooo glad to have more of this! I put it on hold for the summer as I feel it is more of a fall and winter tea with how rich and warm and comforting it is. I got a small amount from my local shop along with a few of the $1 straight teas (though not the ones I really wanted to try…they aren’t getting them apparently, BOO!). Having some now and soooo cozy now. I feel like it is wrapping me up in a cozy blanket and I just want to dive into a good book(!).

Unlike my experience with the Strawberry Slim Pu erh tea from Teavana, I can taste both the earthy flavour of the pu erh which mingles magnificently with the chocolate, but also a bit of the orange too. I added milk ad sugar to enhance the creamy chocolate orange taste…it is just like a chocolate orange candy bar. It is soooo yummy!!

My mug is looking sad and almost empty, so I think I might just have to make another cuppa.

Wait what, I only had a serving left? That sucks. /sipdown

I’ve been freezing all day, which is pretty sad for a Canadian getting cold in Long Beach, CA. It’s not cold here, but I’m cold! So, I made the last big cup of this tea while I cooked up some japchae (aka, operation cook leftovers) for dinner.

I’ve had better cups of this tea, but still a fun tea blend. I keep wanting to get more pu’er blends but I simply have too much tea, especially after Black Friday.

It seems that cold brewing this one kept the chocolate from dissolving as much and enhanced the other flavors while making the chocolate more of an accent to the other flavors. Interesting.

Awesome, the first cup I remember having of this that is totally delicious, chocolatey, orangey, goodness with no fishiness! Absolutely delicious! I think I shall change my rating… the tea isn’t supposed to be fishy, and I’m willing to bet the cup I rated it on was.

Only downside is that my throat feels a touch scratchy while drinking it. Odd/annoying but oh well! Hit the spot today for sure :D

I am easily persuaded by postings of recipes.

Okay for a second can I just gush about where I live? It gets a lot of flack for outsourcing basically everything (ie garbage/recycling pickup is not done by the city so residents contract a private company to do it, 911 operations is shared with another city). Yesterday, one of the red lights was out on my street, so I downloaded an app the city has to report it and now I have learned it keeps me notified of all the steps along the way to it being fixed. It almost makes me want to stop using Atlanta as my location for everything. Almost.

Okay, recipe. http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstea/7166379689/in/set-72157629044618825/ This sounded good right about now, so I decided to make it. Except it turns out coconut milk (at least the kind in a carton for milk replacement purposes) does not froth very well. It’s just sort of like, yay let’s make giant bubbles! And that’s about it.

It’s still really good in here. I used more milk than necessary and probably more chocolate syrup than necessary to make chocolate milk, but right now I just really needed chocolate. Someone in my building really likes loud music and I can hear it so perhaps my need to make this recipe was assisted by the need to make more noise by frothing milk…you didn’t hear it from me.

I pretty much had a falling out with this tea because it just wasn’t tasting as good anymore to me hot. But oh man I am loving it this way. Despite what probably sounds like my best efforts to just make chocolate milk with a bit of tea in it, the tea is definitely present. I guess that’s the good part about the puerh, I’m pretty sure if this was a plain old black tea, I would have made chocolate milk. And the orange flavor is still discernable.

I must have like 15g left and at this point I’m not sure if I will buy it again, but I’ll enjoy it while I have it.

This is from the Traveling Tea Box. Wheeee!

I was excited about this one because I really like puerh tea! I have had very little DavidsTea and that has been samples and mostly long ago.

I followed their directions for steeping. The aroma is nice puerh and chocolate with a hint of orange. One thing I wasn’t wild about is that there is an oil slick on top of my cup. It isn’t a deal breaker but I really don’t remember seeing this with other teas I drink. The sip is a bit disappointing at first. There is so much chocolate scent and the puerh base comes through so well, but the actual taste is tea with orange. There is only a hint of the chocolate. The puerh is more muted than I thought it would be. Perhaps I should stir it up or add seem of my own chocolate so that the taste matches the aroma.

One plus is that the second steep is much like the first without a noticeable diminishing of flavor, though I feel like the taste has morphed a bit.

This isn’t bad, I will enjoy it and I will share it with friends, but it doesn’t make me want to put in an order with DavidsTea. Once you have tried Lupicia’s Chocolate Strawberry Puerh, it is hard to love another flavored puerh.

This tea scares me… Flavored pu-erh? Sounds risky to me… Pu-erh is an adventure as is! But, I bought it so I must try it!

The scent of the tea leaves is orange chocolate all the way. I did get a little earthiness, but nothing that screamed pu-erh. I must admit that so far it seems pretty tasty.

Once brewed, it is super surprisingly dark. It is so dark that it could easily be confused for a cup of coffee. Here is where it got odd. I definitely smelled the pu-erh, earthy, musty and even a tiny bit fishy. The orange chocolate was still. There, but that peculiar pu-erh smell was there with it.

Now worried, I poured my self a cup…. And wow… The earthiness works amazingly with the chocolate and the orange! It is tasty and relaxing. The pu-erh really works in this blend! It isn’t something that I will need to have in my cupboard permanently, but I am really happy that I have decided to try it! Good way to start my day!

I had purchased the Stainless Steel Bodum travel mug two weeks ago. There was a lot I didn’t like about it, namely that the lid kept popping off. So, thanks to there fantastic return policy I took it back and got another perfect mug, glitter and gold and this one. I did not realize that it was just Oh Christmas Treat renamed. I spent last holiday season living off this tea while opening a VERY busy retail store.
I have a terrible cold right now and my sense may be playing tricks on me. This smelled horrible, but tastes great! I’d like to add a tin to my collection, but I’ve run out of room on the wall rack I use. Which means I need to re-examine my location.
This tea makes an amazing latte btw!

Thank you to Emilie for a generous sample of this tea! I am not one to shy away from pu-erh in any form so I figured I might like this.

The dry leaf smells very chocolate-y and orange! I wasn’t sure how long to steep this for, but after looking over the other tasting notes and DT’s website, I decided to go for 5 minutes steeped in regular infuser mug method.

I did give this tea a quick rinse in boiling water so I don’t know how much that impacts the flavor. After steeping, my cup smells very citrusy and earthy. I’m not sure where this pu-erh comes from but in my opinion it is lacking somewhat in flavor; after steeping it for so long I’d imagine it would pack more of a wallop. I do drink a ton of pu-erh, and I drink it almost every day, so I can fairly well discern the base of this tea is nothing too special (I apologize if that sounds snobby, no offense intended).

The orange in this blend is fairly strong and I am getting a little bit of chocolate in the aftertaste. The ingredients seem to go together well but I’m a little underwhelmed by this one, probably would not purchase it for myself though it makes for a nice after lunch treat. :)

Calling David Duckler… let’s see a Verdant version of this. :)