Inka Chokolade

Courtney very kindly shared some of this tea with me, and I’ve been waiting to try it till the time felt right. Now it’s a Friday morning, I have the day off, and I’ve retreated back to my bed with some homemade muffins and some schoolwork. Enter this tea!

(As a side note, I was actually a little hesitant after smelling the dry leaf, because something about it was a smidge off-putting. I think it’s the barley malt.)

…well, I was so caught up in my reading that I oversteeped my tea by about 10 minutes. I was kicking myself for not doing this sample justice until I tasted it. Because… it still tastes delicious. That odd scent note I caught in the dry leaf is not present in the taste. It’s rich and deep and chocolatey, almost unctuous, but in a good way. I’m definitely tasting the ginger and black pepper, probably more than I would have with a normal-length steep, but they add a pleasant spiciness to the dark chocolate flavor. The base is remarkably muted for such a long steep.

I won’t rate this one yet because I didn’t do it justice and I still have at least one more serving’s worth of leaf. I’ll be savoring that cup and paying better attention!

The Tante T web shop describes this as “liquid dark chocolate” and I have to agree. It is truly like drinking dark chocolate, it even has a depth of flavour that most chocolate teas don’t — reminiscent of a dark hot chocolate (I assume this is from the addition of barley). The ginger, cardamom, and black pepper fall more to the background here, but add a complexity of flavour and hints of spiciness that work really well.