Strawberry Cream Cacao

This tastes like melted Neapolitan Ice Cream. It hits you in the face with aggressive, cloying sweetness. Which is normally what I live for.

Am I growing up? That can’t possibly be it. I hope.

Oh god. What if I start putting kale in my smoothies? Filing my own taxes? Remembering to put the registration sticker on my car in a timely fashion? Being interested in material possessions or the stock market? Watching Oscar-worthy heavy films?

Is this the end?

It’s still summertime (although just barely) so the combination of strawberry, vanilla, and cacao really hit the spot. The vanilla gave the tea some of the creaminess I that was missing from the original cacao tea that I sampled and mixing it with equal parts of whole milk only made it that much better. The sweetness from the strawberry was just enough that I didn’t find myself missing the sugar I opted to leave out, although I did try several cups of it sweetened. I will say that unlike the photo on the website, there were no chunks of strawberry in my sample and the strawberry flavor was rather light, but I felt like it was just enough so that it was present, but didn’t overshadow the cacao. Overall, it’s an interesting blend and it makes an especially tasty latte, but isn’t something I’d drink every day.

You can read the full review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2015/9/8/tuesday-tea-strawberry-cream-cacao-tea-herbal-infusions

Have you ever eaten strawberries and cream oatmeal? This smells EXACTLY like that. But with a tiny hint of chocolate. It kinda tastes like that too expect with chocolate added. At first it was tasting good but as it’s cooled down I am not liking it as much. It’s better warmer.

Caveat Emptor! This company does not have their act together. My order was either never sent or lost in the mail, it took anywhere from a few hours to two weeks for them to answer emails, and when I finally got my order after six weeks, one of the items was missing.

This one was a bit of a disappointment for me. When I opened the package I was hit by the delicious scent of strawberry ice cream and dark chocolate, but the flavor didn’t deliver like the scent does, even after a 30 minute steep. Ah well, another tea I won’t miss, I guess. Which is good, since if this had lived up to the scent it would definitely be the one I missed most.

Sipdown! This was a sample from Courtney and after reading the reviews, I opted to use the whole sample and steeped about 10 minutes. I had a little cream left in the carton from dinner, so I poured that in my mug while this steeped. Omg, it smells soooo good. Sadly, like others have said, it is thin on flavour, but it it still good, and I’m using my sense of smell to try to beef up the taste, if you know what I mean.

I definitely prefer this over the plain cacao, but I’m not sure I’d get this. It is tasty. I’m glad to have tried it. I’ll file it away into my non-caffeine teas I like and see if it makes it to order status.

Samples sipdown!

I really like this tea. I just finished drinking it. It’s 11:50pm here….I think I need to order from Herbal infusions once I get my cupboard down to a manageable size….I need some caffeine free options for these nighttime tea cravings

Thanks again for sending the sample, Courtney :)

This sample came to me from the lovely and thoughtful Courtney, so thank you!

I really needed to get in some more tea-drinking, and by the time I got home this evening, it was too late for a caffeinated blend, so this tea won.

I agree with all the reviewers who said this smelled mouth-watering. Like the sweetest strawberry coated in a gentle creamy chocolate. I can also smell the rich cacao, which really makes you feel as though your first sip is going to taste like a strawberry-flavoured hot chocolate.

Sadly, even with some cream and sugar and a seven-minute steep, this tea felt very thin. I’m going to try it with a touch more cream next time (as Courtney’s generosity allows for another cup), and see if that makes a difference. If only this tea had more presence it would be the ideal evening cup!

Thanks again, Courtney!

Oh yum. It might be a tad weak, but I really don’t mind. It still packs a flavour punch!
Also, I noticed that cacao only stays fresh for a few months before losing a ton of potency. One of those that are best to keep in small quantities and refresh often.
Anyhow, the flavour is quite nice. I love the cocoa/strawberry hybrid. It’s nice and light for a dessert tea, but tasty enough that I keep going back for more! without any sugar!
I’ll definitely restock this at some point. Unless they come out with a blueberry version, at which point I’ll be all about that…

Courtney sent me a sample of this (thank you!!) and it’s very tasty! I didn’t even have to add sugar…weird.

I admit that I wasn’t sure what to expect because the tea looked like debris from a cracked pecan. The strawberry flavor is spot-on and if anything maybe adding a dash of cream would be all I’d suggest.

Thank you Courtney for this sample.
I received a lovely tea swap package this morning from the wonderful Courtney and this tea was the first that I could smell. It is absolutely amazing! Super sweet and strong strawberry with a creamy vanilla undertone. It smells like the centre of one of those strawberry chocolates you get from a box (like Roses). I could sniff this tea all day. If it was rated by a pure sniff factor then this would be a ten. Seriously, I want to eat it! Funny really as the blend itself looks a little dull and dry, but then again looks can be deceiving.

The steeped scent is much more chocolatey and resembles Neapolitan. It’s also lost the sweet strawberry and had instead turned rather sour. It also tastes very Neapolitan, at first sip the chocolate comes through with a little sourness before being sweetened by a strawberry and finishing with a creamy vanilla like after taste. I’ve had a few Neapolitan teas before so I have some means for comparison. This one offers all three flavours nicely at the start but after half a cup or so the chocolate becomes dominant and the sour overpowers the sweet. So in the end it’s somewhat..savoury…but also still rather tasty.

I like this tea, it’s not quite as it smells but it is nice and I would happily try this again. Would consider buying it from time to time if I could for when I’m in a sweet tea mood. :)