Cacao Mint Black

This really hits the spot today. I needed a faux dessert to satisfy my sweet tooth – and this was the answer! I love the hint of vanilla and hazelnut, the powerful chocolate kick and the mint medley. The mint doesn’t overpower the other flavors, which can happen quite often. I steeped it for longer than I would normally but this tough little tea rose to the challenge. Good stuff!

Want to make this actually taste like chocolate? Add a teaspoon of hot cocoa mix. Awww yeah.

You don’t lose out on the mint either, but I bet a mint hot cocoa mix would be even better! Sadly I only have the mini marshmallow kind or salted caramel kind right now, so mini marshmallows it was!

i actually hit a sale!! i am renowned for missing them, lol.

exams begin next week. sounds like i may be having surgery done on at least one eye as early as tomorrow….. remember how i mentioned exams start next week? yeah. not too sure what happens if they decide to go after both eyes seeing as i have resistant infections in both. and yet, somehow, i just don’t have it in me to be stressed. studying, trying to make sense of christaller’s nonsense theory (trick is… to say that in an exam essay you have to fully understand it to be able to refute it and not get spanked, lol)…. and drinking tea. is the tea keeping me calm? because i really don’t see why i’m not more freaked out, lol.

this tea is nice and refreshing! caffeine that reminds me of an after eight! the first half of the cup is a dessert tea, but as it cools the mint evolves and the chocolate takes a back seat. the mint isn’t sweet or herbal as it cools, it becomes savory! not harsh, not overpowering. it in no way reminds me of tic tacs or toothpaste. ok, seriously…. it reminds me of mint culled from my garden after maybe 3 hours. a moderate peppermint, not a spearmint. paired with a dark chocolate. the hazelnuts are not obviously detectable, but add a nice creaminess to the base.

this is my first fall tea! very nice! must admit, teavana makes me smile. they know i’m picky and that i won’t be pushed. i found teas that were a good idea, but were incomplete. i have said this on occasion before and been met with blinks and crickets. what did we do after this tea? we made a custom blend. i had a lot of fun. maybe fun is why i’m not a wreck.

the teavana at mayfair rocks. and the manager, cedric, is very good at what he does.

Amazingly enough, this is the first Teavana blend I’ve tried! I think I have a few other samples floating around, but I got this in my envelop from Amanada which was just packed with goodies. I think my expectations were too high for this tea, since it fell… well, really flat.

Sure, there’s a little mint and a little chocolate. It reminds me a LOT of English Tea Store’s chocolate mint… I honestly don’t know if I could tell the difference between them, except the ETS one is more chocolatey for sure. Considering that you can get 4 ounces of that for the price of one ounce… yeah, I get why Teavana is overpriced.

This probably has sounded really negative, but I did enjoy this tea! It just needs a little oomph, like where is the hazelnut? I was really looking for it. I think a well-done hazelnut/chocolate/mint tea would be beyond amazing, sadly this is not it.

I have a few minutes before my next student, & am trying to use up the teas in my cupboard & review them all before some new stuff arrives. This is the last of this one, & it always amazes me that is smells just like a Thin Mint girlscout cookie!!

The brew is very dark, with a nice whiff of chocolate & mint, & a mild undertone of hazelnut. Flavor wise, I get all of those, along with the deepness of black tea. Adding stevia, it becomes a girlscout cookie! The mint lends a nice cooling sensation to my throat. Ahhhh…

And now my student has arrived…

I really like when you can easily identify all the ingredients in a tea – so obviously, this tea is perfect in that respect. This is another tea courtesy of the quiet life!

When I first started to drink tea regularly, I came across a box of chocolate mint oolong (oolong in a bag…hmm…) which I really loved because it reminded me of Thin Mint cookies. I had no desire to purchase another overly price box (from a specialty kitchen store) but I have missed that tea because it was just really good.

Well, thanks to the quiet life I know have the loose leaf version of that bagged tea. This tea is a little heavier on the mint than I would like, but the chocolate is still noticeable. I really appreciate that you can still identify the black tea taste through all the flavors. In fact, this may be one of the most balanced teas I’ve had from Teavana. It is great for dessert, but I’m thinking a little chocolate syrup would really do wonders for this tea.

Just finished this one off! I may be completely out of chocolate teas now. (I hope not!) I need to order some more of this. My son just took a sip. He could smell it, and asked if it was chocolate. Then after he sipped it, he said it tasted minty. I think he may have a future as a reviewer.

Another tea I had forgotten I had. I didn’t have the greatest teavana experiences early on ( and now I never go ) so I guess I kind of blocked out their tea and forgot about it.

Used 2 tsps in the Davids big mug about 3/4 full….possibly over steeped as Lily the cat was trying to climb into the dresser and got stuck and needed help getting out – silly Lily! I used a tiny bit of rock sugar and frothed1% milk. I bet it would be even nicer with a light cream. This tea is pretty good- I get a strong chocolate smell and taste, and I really like that, and no bitterness. I wish this was decaf so I could drink it at night. I love chocolate and did buy some fancy hot chocolate mix from thomas haas, a local chocolatier, which is wonderful – but the calories!! This would be a great low cal, healthier alternative.

About half way through my cup I added a little shot of starbucks peppermint syrup…..good, but I think it was fine on its own. I am liking it! Maybe teavana is worth another look….( I know to beware the upsell)….well, home from swimming…..is it ever going to stop raining? Kind of want to go to Ikea, but never really find that very pleasant and would rather stay home with Lilycat and my chocolate mint tea….

So in my previous review I mentioned how I wanted a stronger chocolate flavor with this one. Well this time I did go ahead and add some of The Tea Guys Chocolate Parfait and created heaven in a mug. Perfect balance, great resteeped. Add a splash of milk, a smidge of brown sugar splenda and hello happy LefTea!

In a word…OM NOM NOM.

Hazelnut, cacao, mint, something strange, black tea, meh. Not digging this one. Not really mint. Not Cacao but not chocolate but not cocoa. Hazelnut moreso. Not real decadent. Not really a treat. I know I have had this before but apparently didn’t log it. Not memorable. Perhaps that is why.