Wonderberry Chocolate Truffle Oolong Tea

Me thinks this should be called Elderberry (Chocolate) Truffle Oolong as elderberry is clearly the dominant note here and WonderBerry… Really? So funny story on how I came to try this the day after the release. I had planned to visit Teavana later in the week to try some teas when Michelle was working (I knew she had Mon-Wed off), she could brew a few and we could both sample. I thought about texting Barista Boy to ask if he was working, but didn’t want to seem desperate. It was the toddler that came up with the idea of going to Teavana today, all on his own. I hadn’t mentioned anything to him, we hadn’t talked about Teavana in a long time (he used to love going there a year ago). I asked him why and told him we had lots of tea here at home, but he was insistent about it. Okay, then.

I was nervous driving there, funny how the mind can have such a reaction on the body. Not sure what about really, not like I’ve been banned from the store and there are only three people left working there that I knew, none of them management (our manager quit a few weeks ago, supposedly before they could fire or demote her). So I was going to either see one of two people I like and get a free beverage or someone I didn’t know and just order a drink. Well turns out it was the former and he showed me everything new, all of it I had seen online, but I humored him. Then I got to smell some of the new teas and settled on trying this one.

I actually had a craving for cherries and chocolates yesterday that I satisfied at first with a cold cup of Sakura Allure and then with dried cherries the husband brought home. I’m glad I did not run out for this as it probably wouldn’t have satisfied that craving. This is very elderberry as Barista Boy noted, he apparently has elderberry trees in his backyard and they freeze them and put them on top of ice cream, yum! I tried it unsweetened, against his recommendations but knew I could ask for some melted rock sugar later, however the toddler was dragging me out to the escalator which we rode down, then rode the elevator, the ordered him a ho dog from Dairy Queen at which point he told me he really had to pee.

So with my hands I led him to the “Family Lounge” and after we had both washed our hands we sat down at the small kids table and I sipped on my tea in the glorified restroom while Rowan watched old black & white cartoons. Sigh. It was pretty weak hot and only rounded its self out a bit as it cooled, tart elderberry and hibiscus, yep tasted like a Teavana blend, but truffle? Rowan gave up on his hotdog and was ready to leave the lounge. We stopped by Teavana on the way out to get my splash of rock sugar. Barista Boy said I knew it or he knew me so well or something. The sugar did bring forward the chocolate, but it was still subtle, nothing decadent, which is fine, but I feel like their were more chocolate notes in the Aged Tieguanyin I tried earlier.

I saved some of the cup for the husband who pulled into the driveway right behind me. He said it tasted like chocolate and wasn’t bad. I had my last few sips in a bone china cup, which improved things slightly, but I’m drinking the Aged Tieguanyin right now and it is just so much more satisfying and naturally sweet. No these two teas cannot be compared even remotely, but I do think it says a lot about how far I’ve come.

Lots of berry, toasted notes today with small amounts of chocolate. I’m still getting Christmas jelly sticks! I used just a bit more leaf today and all that did was add to the tartness. I don’t really think that’s helpful.
I don’t know who all has tried this, but the Teavana receipts say now that if you sign up for emails you get a $10 coupon, but I signed up at least a week ago and I haven’t seen anything like that. Any info floating around about that?

Hibiscus?!

In a chocolate tea?! What was I just saying about Teavana and hibiscus? Seriously, do the blenders for this company have any idea that not everyone loves for everything to taste like sour gummies?! Arrgh!

This is my last cup before bed, and I was initially going to have this with some Purdy’s fruit creme chocolates I have, but I decided to downgrade at the last moment to some chocolate cake instead. Boy, am I glad I didn’t waste those chocolates now. I’ve heard our new Caramel Sea Salt or whatever is a great chocolate tea, maybe I’ll save those chocolates to have with that instead.

I just don’t know what to say about this tea. The name is great, and immediately raises your expectations that this is going to be an amazing chocolate-y blend with an overlay of fruitiness.

Alas! No. Is there even chocolate in this?!

I can taste berries, yeah. (Ooh, is that what elderberry tastes like? Since I just had this back-to-back with Very Berry White, it’s easier to distinguish the notes they have in common.) I can taste hibiscus. I can even taste mate (more so than oolong, and I thought I might be imagining things until I saw that Amanda had noticed this in the ingredients), but chocolate? Dude, where?

…Oh wait, I think I caught some chocolate notes there when I burped. No seriously, the only chocolate is at the back!

It’s not that this tastes bad, but who on earth decided to market it as a chocolate tea and not a berry tea? It’s actually got a berry-flavoured chocolate taste to it at the back and in the aftertaste, but you can’t market a tea on the aftertaste and not what the sip is riding on. What a mess. FAIL.

(More tomorrow! Maybe I’ll get to some of the ones I actually really like, hah.)

Oolong? Really? Okay, it might be in here somewhere. The chunks of food in this tea blend are the largest yet—even from Teavana. Seriously, the elderberries are HUGE.

To prepare this brew, I followed my usual strategy with the “cornucopia of edibles” beverages from Teavana, pouring the entire one ounce envelope into my spice grinder and pulverizing it all to powder before infusion in a large glass Bodum French press cylinder.

Elderberries were the largest presence, both visually and in taste. Now I am wondering about the wisdom of using whole elderberries. Does anyone else grind their chunks of Teavana food before infusing? Otherwise it seems to me that most of the flavor would be trapped inside, with only the surface area making contact with the water.

The result of my preparation was not very good without sugar. In fact, without sugar I found it somewhat distasteful. So I added a huge dose of sugar, and then it seemed more like a strong elderberry juice, or perhaps closest of all to Sambucol elderberry syrup. Hopefully this brew will also be good for my immune system…

To me, this beverage bears no resemblance whatsoever to tea—whether oolong or any other sort. It’s potable, but I will not purchase it again.

TART. That’s the first thing. It seems like a mix of the hibiscus tartness and the berries. There’s a vague sweetness there too, that I think is the chocolate hanging around the edges. The aftertaste actually tastes like some berry filled chocolate thing, but I was really wanting the whole tea to taste like that. I’ve had good luck with cold-brewing overly hibiscus teas, so I may try that out later. For now, I’m not overly impressed. I feel like this tea could actually possibly taste like it’s supposed to if the hibiscus was removed

Positively disgusting! My mother gave me this tea as a gift because she knows chocolate teas are my one true tea love. I’m not sure what happened here… berries (sour berries) overpowered the chocolate the chocolate undertones must’ve been dar chocolate because they were bitter. I tried to redeem this with all sorts of methods. I tried it with no sugar, with a ton of sugar, with milk, just a touch of honey; this tea was not redeemable. I ended up dumping the whole thing in the toilet… I wouldn’t even try to pawn it off it was so bad.

I was feeling fancy tonight and since I just got some small teacups, I decided to have a TEA PARTY!

Okay … it was just me at the tea party, but it felt like a special occasion, which I guess is the whole point.

I picked this tea because I wanted a dessert substitute and because I have so little left, I figured it would get me close to a sipdown. I also happened to have some rock sugar on hand, and decided tonight would be a good time to test it with this tea. You know, because it was a party, after all, and parties revolve around sweet things.

Hot, the sugar transforms this to Generic Chocolate Tea. Just above lukewarm, it has a very oily mouthfeel and leaves me with the sense that I’ve just eaten peanut butter — I can almost taste it. Cold, the berry notes are prominent and I really enjoy it.

I don’t think sweetening was the way to go with this tea. It was enjoyable enough, but just felt too weird to me. Though, points, I guess, for making it more desserty than usual.

Meh.

Elderberries, blackberries, cranberries, cherries, and raspberries! Oh my!

This tea is berry good! Haha, I know, I know, it’s corny, but it’s also true. This tea is bursting with berry flavor, and also has this wonderfully smooth, creamy chocolate aftertaste. It’s subtle, but it’s there and it’s glorious.

This tea also smells wonderful-you can smell cocoa, and the berries, and it’s very pretty to look at, with a lot of purples, reds, and chocolate browns.

It doesn’t need a lot of sugar, and the taste is amazing. I’ve had the tea since Christmas, have drank it 3 times (I drink Teavanna teas slowly, because they are so expensive) and I NEVER ONCE REVIEWED IT! Shameful. The tea is amazing, I really don’t have much else to say!

I do have a question though—milk curdles when introduced to citrus, as well as, in my experience, some rose. Will it curdle with the berries listed above? I’ve wanted to try putting milk or cream in this, to see if it helps bring the chocolate flavor out any more, but am afraid to ruin the cup.

Oh, and this is a backlog from yesterday evening! I’ll try to be a bit more current, hopefully.

A sharp, clear berry scent. This tea seemed a bit too busy for my liking. Too many flavours competing for the spotlight made this tea confusing to the palate. A bright, acidic berry taste and chocolaty backnotes with a lingering dark green vegetable note. This tea was much better sweetened, cutting out the sharpness of the acidic berries.

21 down – 479 to go!

I expected more of a chocolate taste…and the chocolate flavor in this tea is, well, thin. It is really overpowered by the berry flavors and the top note is surprisingly tart. Not at all what I expected in a tea inspired by Belgian Chocolate. I expected more depth of flavor and richness; not sweetness, just a richer flavor. Compared to other teas, I think Teavana’s flavored teas are good but I think they can do better on this one. I was a little disappointed.