Dubbele Chocolade

Either my expectations were too high or there is something wrong with my taste buds because I’m not getting the delicious chocolatiness that everyone else is. This smells fantastic both dry and steeped but I’m getting a sour taste when I drink it that is overwhelming everything else. If I take tiny sips and let it linger on just the tip of my tongue I can taste the cacao but the feeling of this tea is very thin and when I drink it like a normal drink I just get sour.

The last swallow had more chocolate than the rest of the drink so perhaps it all just sank to the bottom for me? But whatever it is, I don’t like this tea very much at all.

a really good desert tea , iced and hot will have to get more went through it a little to fast , due to being stressed out

I received this in a swap with Janelle a long time back, and it’s always lacked the chocolatiness I crave every time I brew it up. Chocolate isn’t usually a flavour I go for in tea, mostly because it never actually tastes as chocolatey as I want it to, but I have to say that this one disappoints me less than most. The scent is so strongly chocolate that each time I inhale I think it’s going to be better than it is, but sadly the taste doesn’t live up to what the scent promises. It is more chocolate than cocoa butter, which I appreciate, and it’s not too artificial-tasting either, and if I had had this in the prime of its life and overleafed more maybe I would have liked it better. It really is one of the better chocolate teas I’ve tried, though I prefer a black tea with natural chocolate notes, like the Laoshan black. Making allowances for the age of the tea and the fact that I had to slightly underleaf this time around – it’s my final cup – I suppose the chocolate is sort of kinda thereish. I just wish it tasted as good as it smelled!

Sipdown 174/397.

I’d heard great things about this tea, so I pulled it out yesterday to inject a bit of cheer into my weekend. I tried my first cup black – 1.5 tsp of leaf (oh so cocoa-y dry, like opening a fresh tin of hot chocolate) left for three minutes in boiling water. No additions. It smells wonderful, but I have to say that I found the taste a bit of a disappointment. It’s one of the more chocolately chocolate teas I’ve tried, but it was still somehow watery and thin tasting. I know the mouthfeel is never going to resemble actual chocolate, but something seemed amiss. It reminded me of Teapigs Chocolate Flake, which also smelled wonderful but was similarly weak to taste.

This got me thinking about how I could improve my experience. With the teapigs, I used two bags and a longer brew time. A tea that smells as chocolatey as this one has to have something about it, surely? So, for my second cup, I used 2 tsp of leaf and left it for four minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor was fairly dark, so I added a splash of milk.

Suddenly, it’s all so much better. I can taste chocolate! It’s rich, creamy, very decadent. It tastes like milk chocolate to me, so it lacks a little intensity, but it’s still deliciously comforting. The black tea base is detectable underneath the chocolate, but it works well with the creamy, hot chocolate-esque flavour. It’s a good reminder that this is, after all, tea.

I do sometimes feel that I expect too much from chocolate teas — if I want the mouthfeel and the intensity, I should probably just drink hot chocolate. As a tea-person, though, I have to say that this is one of the better-tasting chocolate teas I’ve tried. It’s never going to be “just like the real thing” because that would be impossible, but it’s a good effort. Definitely worthy of a place in my cupboard.

Yesterday morning I went for this one as I was looking for something black, and chocolate sounded good too.

I’m pretty familiar with Della Terra teas being that they are the only company that I’ve ordered much of so far… their sales real me in too easily! Now.. if they did 30% off and free shipping .. I’d be in trouble, and likely w/multiple orders!

This has a nice black base and the chocolate is just that… a nice chocolate. Not too rich, not bitter, but good. A touch of raw sugar and my Hubby called this dessert in a cup.. Sounds good to me. I have found a few chocolates in tea that just aren’t great for me.

I will admit that as I drank it, all I could think about was “What could I add to this?”. I like my black chocolate mint teas and this was missing my mint… A good tea, but I was missing something. I was considering an order of Harney and Sons the other day with their free shipping to try their SoHo (chocolate and coconut), but didn’t call in time (didn’t want a full tin & was going to ask for 2 oz if they could do that)… With that in mind, I wondered how I could add my own coconut flavor to this. Hmmm.. & if I had some more of this tea I could add fresh garden peppermint to the mix instead of buying it already in a tea blend…. Which would make it cheaper… a tiny bit, since I was adding my own mint & not paying for them in the blend…. Hmmm.. First time I’ve had a tea and thought about what I could add to it, I think.

Thanks EvaGrimm for sending me a sample of this one :)

I got this from shmiracles like… last month? Ahh so many teas to drink, so little time!
Spending the weekend with my cousins because I have to bring my younger cousin to school tomorrow for a field trip and her parents are gone sooo PARTY AT THEIR HOUSE!!! **Tea party, that is :)

I brought a whole lot of teas with me, and I just brought my wee little teacup with the infuser because they do not drink tea at all and they don’t have tea equipment, so gotta bring my own stuff with me! All the teas I brought with me either has never been drunk before, or has only been drank once.

So today, I’m drinking this very chocolatey tea WHICH I FORGOT TO TIME SO I THINK IT’S DONE AHH Darn. I think it was getting a smidge bitter ahh well, it’s all good. It smells fine! If it’s bitter, then I’ll just think it’s dark chocolate, not sweet like milk :) I wasn’t the biggest fan of chocolate teas before, but now I’m starting to love them! I freakin love my toffee and marshmallow and cream and caramel teas though. Those are so good.

At first I thought this was going to be a nice cup from the smell, but I just tried it and yep, it got bitter aww :( Aww well. Maybe the second steeping might be better, and I’ll remember it this time!

Hello chocolate. I noticed each tea company has their own version of chocolate. I don’t mind Della Terra’s, but cacao is still my favourite. This cup is pretty rich tasting.

Thanks for the sample EvaGrimm!