Milk Chocolate Caramel

Thanks to Janet at sTEAp Shoppe for this tea sample!

This review is part of #2 Virtual Tea Tasting. What a great idea!

I’ve been chatting a bit with Janet, getting to know her better and she’s a really nice person! We Steepsters are blessed with tea vendors who don’t just care about making a living with tea, they want us to really have a great experience with their companies too!

The Storm-Sandy
I sat down today flipping between the Weather Channel and CNN, watching the development of Hurricane Sandy. Like a grandma Hen, I’m worried about all my Steepster friends in the South and East who are going to be in the path of this monster system. If I could manage it, I’d scoop everyone of you up and bring you to my house for the duration, feed you and serve you tea.

I have not forgotten the kind words when the hills were ablaze during the High Park Fires here in Colorado this Summer, the comfort when I was hunkered down with a cloud of smoke like fog outside.

Now, it’s my turn and I will keep you in my prayers also!

The Tea!
The dry tea smelled roasty, reminding me of coffee and chicory with a little sweet caramel.
The wet leaves had the aroma of a cocoa-raisin energy bar.

The base flavor tasted ‘green’. Maybe it was the fenugreek but I’m not convinced. The tea wasn’t malty or strong like I had expected.

Plain (no cream or sweetening) there was a light cocoa flavor and caramel scent more than taste. A bit disappointing.

I was certain that what the tea called for was sweetening and milk to bring out the true flavors. I added sweetening first, which brought out the caramel right away, then milk which brought out the cocoa taste just a little.
(I wouldn’t recommend drinking this without sweetening it at the least.)

There was an aftertaste of raisin…not sure why.

The only thing that I would love to taste more of is ‘chocolate’.
A little more of the nibs would be fantastic or a maltier tea.
(I didn’t feel that the base tea was contributing enough depth to the blend.)

Knowing the sTEAp Shoppe this will be part of their continuing commitment to bring quality natural ingredients and good taste to tea drinkers like us.

I am so glad that sTEAp Shoppe added this tea to the database already … because it’s not yet on their website, so I didn’t want to add the tea without their information included. It not only helps me to write this tasting note but also my full-length review which will publish this Friday evening.

I had signed up for the Virtual Tea Tasting, but, unfortunately, something had gone awry with my entry and so I didn’t get my teas in time for the tea tasting this past Sunday. However, sTEAp Shoppe was kind enough to still send me some teas, allowing me to choose which teas I wanted! I didn’t choose this tea, but they included it, and I was thrilled because … wow, the name of it alone is drool worthy. Milk Chocolate & Caramel? um… YES PLEASE!

And it is indeed delicious. The chocolate and caramel really come forward nicely in this. The black tea is a bit on the lighter side, not what I’d call a strong black tea but it holds its own and I think that a stronger or bolder black tea would have overwhelmed the chocolate and caramel flavors. And trust me, you do not want to miss out on those notes! Absolutely yummy!

Wow! Thanks for this one, too, Liberteas!
This smells AMAZING! Sort of like a Chocolate Milk Shake!

The aroma is more powerful than the flavor but the flavor is darned tasty, too! Like a mellow fudgesicle or something! I can taste both the milk chocolate and the caramel and they are lovely together!

I agree with most of what Liberteas said in her review but I also could pick up on the raisin-like notes and chicory-like notes Bonnie picked up on too!

The more I sip this one the more I really REALLY like it! It’s a goodie! Very comforting and a nice guilty-pleasure type tea, too!

It was suggested that I might be able to pull more flavour out of this blend with a second steep, so I figured I’d give it a try. (Giving it a try on the same day was a terrible idea, when the first steep’s caffeine nearly did me in, but that’s a different story.)

Aroma: Much like the first steep, there’s a nice caramel fragrance, but I’m still not getting any chocolate at all.

Visuals: In spite of the longer steep, the tea was lighter in colour than after the first steep. Although this makes sense, it still worried me a bit: how could I get more flavour out of what appeared to be a weaker tea?

Taste: I needn’t have worried. The tea tasted much like the first steep, but yes, the caramel was very slightly more prominent. I then added some milk and honey, and quickly decided that it’s my preferred preparation. The milk made the tea creamier and brought it closer to justifying its name, and the honey brought forth the caramel like a blue shirt can deepen the blue of its wearer’s eyes. Still no chocolate, though.

Because I found a preparation method that lets me enjoy this tea without working for it, I have raised its rating a bit. Because I had to work this hard to find a preparation method that works for me, I lowered the rating a bit (but it’s still higher than it was before). =) Since I still have the rest of the sample, I’m thinking I might try this cold at some point and see how I like that.

Tea amount: 1 level tsp
Water amount: 5ish oz
Additives: A dash of vanilla soy milk and a smidgen (⅓ tsp, maybe) of orange blossom honey

Once upon a time Celestial Seasonings made a chai tea called Chocolate Caramel Enchantment. I loved it as an occasionally super sweet dessert-y drink in high school. Somehow it captured the teeth sticking together quality of caramel, which is really cool to me. This tea has been discontinued for a few years now…I haven’t really found anything quite like it.

So I had high hopes for this Milk Chocolate Caramel tea. Would it capture that same mouth feel that Chocolate Caramel Enchantment had for me?

…not really. I wanted to like this one so much. I made a cup last week and didn’t really notice…anything at all while drinking it, but I thought maybe I brewed it wrong. I tried again today with really boiling water. The tea brewed up was dark and almost thick, and hardly smelled like caramel at all. It was more like a strong breakfast tea. Maybe tasted vaguely of burnt sugar, but nothing more. I added a splash of milk and it still looked more like coffee than tea. As it cooled a bit, I noticed a smell that was a lot like sweet potatoes, which was strange, but not unpleasant.

There’s nothing wrong with this tea. But I don’t think I’d order it in the future.

I got this tea sample free as part of the Virtual Tea Tasting. Thank you sTeap Shoppe. I missed posting this by the date of the actual tasting as I was out helping elderly family/neighbors get ready for the frankstorm Sandy.

I got more of the chocolate notes then the caramel. However, this is a great dessert tea, especially for someone trying to eat healthy and drop some lbs!

At the end of my last cup I added a little bit of milk, which I NEVER add, to see if I could coax any milk chocolate – hot chocolate- flavor out of the tea. It worked!! The milk added a creamy note that was not present prior and made it seem a hot chocolatey.

I enjoyed this tea and will be seeking out other offerings from Steap Shoppe!

I am so embarrassed that I missed the virtual tea tasting I was so excited to be a part of!! Even though Sandy hasn’t really effected my area yet (aside from pretty constant rain). My apartment building jumped the gun on everyone else and the power went down yesterday. Well, the storm is supposed to hit my area tonight and tomorrow. At least since losing power yesterday, I’ve stocked up on flashlights, batteries, and water. You can never be too careful!

I promised myself I’d make up for missing the tasting today, so the first thing I wanted to do this morning was brew up some Milk Chocolate Caramel. What a beautiful color this tea produces. It smells amazing as well, but I do agree with everyone it’s not quite the sweet milk chocolate caramel taste I was expecting. It’s a bit on the lighter side as far as flavoring goes, but I’m actually really enjoying this one. I added a little sugar and a splash of half and half and mmmmm…this looks like chocolate milk now! Sweetening it is bringing out some of the sweet caramel.

I think I’m enjoying this a little more than some have. I’m happy with it, but I do agree that maybe the name should be tweaked a bit.

UPDATE : Watching the president speak about Hurricane Sandy on the news right now. Please everyone stay safe these next few days!

Okay, why is some of my text turning into links with ads?!

We got home from the beach very late last night, and I got up early this morning to help my fiancee get ready to go to St. Louis to visit his family. After a crazy past few days of being at the beach and everything that comes with organizing vacation details for a group of people, I am a little happy to be home. And especially happy to be back in my kitchen with a cup of tea! I usually take tea and my little Bodum kettle with me on vacations, but didn’t this time because we had so many other food items/coolers/etc. to bring. Boy was I sorry that I didn’t have any tea when I got the worst headache ever the first day we were down there! Definitely learned that lesson – must make room for the tea!

Anyway, this tea sounded heavenly this morning when I was perusing my cabinet and trying to decide what to make. The dry leaves smell strongly of sugary caramel and rich chocolate, while the tea aroma has a malty black tea scent with a hint of burnt caramel. The flavor and finish is slightly malty and chocolatey. The caramel comes out mainly in the aftertaste, and is heavy and delicious. This is like a light cup of hot chocolate with a wonderful caramel sweetness at the end.

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with pieces of cocoa and small pieces of flavoring.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of sugary caramel and rich chocolate. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and burnt caramel.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark reddish brown color with an oily sheen on top.
-Slightly malty and chocolatey flavor and finish. Heavy caramel aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A smooth cup with a rich cocoa flavor and a sweet caramel aftertaste.

From the virtual tasting earlier today…

This one may need to be renamed, but it was still super tasty.
There was a definite milky quality to this, like I had added a bit milk already. Smooth and creamy. I had trouble tasting the caramel, but I could definitely smell it in the cup. For a tea with chocolate in the name, I didn’t get a lot from this blend. The fenugreek was interesting (at least I think that’s what I tasted), definitely need to get my hands on this so I can at least smell it plain.

This tea arrived as a small zip-lok sample, along with a sample of Smokey Mountain sTEAp. I immediately took a whiff of both teas and didn’t get much of any scent from this one, but thought that it might have been overwhelmed by its Smokey Mountain sTEAp travelling companion so I let it rest for a few days.

First steep (4 minutes): I smell mostly black tea with a hint of honey-like sweetness. Taste is pleasant, but pretty much a smooth, mellow black tea. (I’m unfamiliar with Assam teas, but this is nice.)
I don’t really taste vanilla, or caramel, or cocoa. I checked my spice rack for fenugreek but alas, I have none; so I can’t say whether I taste any or not.

Second steep (6 minutes): I added a touch of stevia (blend) to this, as I find that sweetener often helps bring out the flavors in dessert teas. The smell is faintly caramelly now, but still no smell or taste of what I would consider to be cocoa — although I realize these nuances can be extremely subtle.

To me it’s a pleasant, mellow tea with an interesting taste, but as a dessert tea I think I’d choose something else.