Chocolate

I think this is officially my first chocolate chocolate tea? My lovely friend’s mum gave her some of this, because they were sold out of Paris. Nice substitute, but I think I will still give Paris the upper hand here.

Yummy yummy yummy smell. Super strong. Chloë opened the tin, and I swear my brain dissolved. As they say in Chocolat, “Each time I tell myself it’s the last time, but then I get a whiff of…” etc. Perhaps even more so than when I am lusting after someone to a silly degree. BUT. It also had a slight coffee / toasted wood undertone to the smell, which was well balanced, and definitely reflected in the taste.

The leaves are almost black, twisted, and expanded exponentially inside my strainer. Again, it reminded me of coffee in color – a very luscious, dark mocha. My anticipation was growing. I was biting my lip and staring at my glass teapot sideways, begging it to brew faster. The macaroons were prepared to dunk. (http://www.macaroons.com)

As we brewed it (and perhaps it could have sat for a bit longer), I was unimpressed. No bitterness to be found. The chocolate flavor was weak, mostly in the aftertaste, and only mildly strengthened with a splash of milk and sugar. In truth, all I had been searching for was a full-bodied, creamy, chocolate taste. If, however, you seek a tea that harmonizes chocolate with black tea flavors, then I think you will be quite pleased.

Chocolate. Tea. Perfect harmony. Ommm…

I love tea, I love chocolate, but not chocolate tea.

This has never been a favorite of mine. It tastes too bland, barely chocolatey at all. So today I used a recipe from Goddess Ghee that includes their Lunar Cacao.

1 Tbsp Lunar Cacao
→ ghee, cacao powder, honey, shatavari root, maca root, lavender, cayenne, and cinnamon
1 splash rose water
6oz hot water
blend til frothy

In place of the six ounces hot water, I used six ounces of this brewed chocolate tea. I also added some extra honey and cream because the ghee is a bit bitter and not very sweet on its own (plus, why not?).

I honestly can’t say the tea improved with the additions. Just not sure what to do with it at this point. I still have a nearly full tin of teabags left.

Link to recipe here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ3WJTlhPBy/

This one reminds me of Harney’s Florence, which was the first tea I ever tried from Harney, and I remember it quite fondly. Unlike Florence, though, this one (in my opinion) needs a few additions to make it tastier. So I add milk and a decent amount of sugar. The flavor is of light black tea and mild chocolate. There’s also some bitterness that you have to watch out for it you don’t steep it just right. But anyway, I like this more than many other chocolate teas, but that may be mostly due to fond memories of Florence. I don’t buy chocolate teas anymore because I never find them to be quite exciting enough.

I wanted to give this one a try so bought a sample with my last order. Unfortunately I’m just not a fan. The black tea is ridiculously light for any tea that is paired with a chocolate flavor. It’s so light! Chocolate tea certainly deserves a rich base. I couldn’t have even called the brew honey colored, it was lighter than honey. The chocolate flavor was alright, not as much like the gasoline flavor as the Valentine’s blend had a couple weeks ago, but not exactly the chocolatiest of flavors. The second steep is much darker (even though I only brewed about 2/3 of a mug full of water) and there was still plenty of chocolate flavor to go around for the second steep. The Steepster rating is a 67, which makes sense. I just wanted to try this one, as sometimes I’m in love with a tea that others don’t like.
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for not quite full mug // 16 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // couple minutes after boiling // 5 minute steep

After trying a few chocolate teas lately, I decided I’d include this in my most recent Harney & Sons order. I figured H&S is reliably good, and a sample was really cheap. If it’s not good, eh, whatever.

This tea is SO fragrant, both in dry leaf form and steeped. But the aroma isn’t exactly milk chocolate. It reminds me more of chocolate alcohol, like Bailey’s or maybe Kahlua. It also reminds me of Tootsie Rolls. You know, that fake chocolate flavoring. Hmm. That’s not very promising.

The reviews for this tea are all over the place. Mine falls somewhere in the middle. While this isn’t the rich chocolate experience I was hoping for, it isn’t bad. There is a nice toasted sort of flavor, but the chocolate does taste kind of fake. And there’s an inexplicably fruity note mixed in, too. Raisins, maybe? I wonder what it would be like with a splash of milk.

Again, I find myself ruined for chocolate teas after trying MiCacao. I need to just stick with that.

It was good. Not as chocolatey as I had hoped. I tried hot chocolate frim davidstea and had hoped this would compare since it’s easier to get. But it wasn’t I added sugar and milk. Might have been better if I added more tea. I only had a sample though. Don’t think I will buy more. Unless I pick up the sachets at the grocery store or another sample size to try a latte.

This was good! Much better than I expected. I remember liking Florence, but thinking it was on the weaker side. This was, strong, and everything I would want from a chocolate tea. It actually tasted of chocolate and didn’t have any weird to me flavoring.

I immediately picked up on the aroma of chocolate when preparing this tea. I opted to brew it at 190 degrees for 5 minutes as I’ve had issues with prior brews of this tea coming out too bitter for my liking.

Steeping at 190 for 5 minutes gave me no bitter aftertaste. Upon drinking the flavor came across like cocoa powder, which I was not a fan of, so I added a bit of sweetener and milk and that seemed to help.

Overall, I was not impressed by this tea so I won’t be purchasing it again. In the meantime I’ve been combining this with two different mint teas I have on-hand that I’m, also, not a fan of. Combining the flavors and adding a bit of sugar and milk makes a decent chocolate mint dessert-like tea.

If viewing this tea, solely, as part of a combination of teas (like my chocolate mint) I would rate this tea closer to 50.