Red Velvet Chocolate

Nothing like sitting in front of the computer doing analytical left-brain things all day, then coming home and spending the evening milking what’s left of the other side to write creative kids’ activities. I am squoze dry. (The creative stuff is the most fun; wish I didn’t have to save it for the dregs of the day.)

And because the cookies mysteriously disappeared while I was at work—two dozen whittled down to two, this is the dessert I’m trying to perk myself up with. It’s not a bad little rooibos, Charlie Brown; it just needs a little love, a small cup, and the bag left in throughout. Not sure I’m getting much chocolate out of it, but it’s still OK for a dessert/nightcap.

Er, I may have hit up a mall in a major city and gone to both DAVIDsTea and Lupicia, and come away with some tea. Oops.
Well, time to work on my sipdowns. This has one more pot left in it, which I may kill off tonight, if I’m feeling ambitious. This was a decent enough starter tea, but I’ve grown past it, and I am done. I wont get it again.
Edit- Sipdown!

I have discovered the thing to do with this is just cut the teabags open and use three of them for one mug of tea. It is sweet and chocolate-y, still I am not sure I would buy this again and I wish I could buy it in loose leaf form.

Backlog from yesterday. I had this with my dinner while at Panera. At first I had my doubts about eating there but it was super convenient at the time and then I saw they carry Republic of Tea and I took it as a sign. (Have some nasty memories associated with that place, Kristaleyn, they can be replaced!)
Anyhow, this tea… Hmmm. Well it was great, I really felt as if I was drinking red velvet! with a fraction of the calories (I did add a packet of rock sugar). And no milk needed! sometimes I find milk enhances/detracts from a rooibos dessert tea. In this case, I feel it would have taken away from the natural creaminess that was already there.
When it was really hot, I found the intense astringency a bit annoying but as it cooled… it toned down significantly. Also, I wish the flavour was a bit more intense, just a tad. Otherwise, I am in love! :)
Anyhow, I’m headed to a tea tasting today!!! I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks now. Yeaaay!!

I’m digging this one way more than I did before. I received a large tin of this today! It’s smells very chocolaty and when I steeped it it lost a little bit of that chocolate smell but the taste is VERY smooth and vanilla-YUM and the rooibos is a delight. It more red in color than I expected but I will chalk that up to the beet root! I’m liking this one a little bit more iced than hot but they are both good.

Thank you Jaime for the most wonderful package, which included this tisane (my cupboard went from 74 to 92 teas OVERNIGHT! O-M-G!)

I really enjoyed the flavor of this tea! There was definitely a chocolate cake like flavor. CAKE!! They really did the cake part!!! (neat!) I was shocked and pleased at the red velvet cake color (must be the beets!)

I took this with a touch of sugar crystals and a splash of milk, and I’m not sure if it weakened it a bit or what, but next time I would use a little less water and maybe a minute more on the steep to get a little more strength. I would also like to try it sans additions. I have two more bags left, but I need to go to Wegman’s tonight – if they have it I would pick up a tin FOR SURE! It would be a great addition to my tisane arsenal!

CAKE!

Wow, quite impressed by the vibrant beet color this tisane steeped up. The aroma smells of chocolate and cake, but not a plain old chocolate cake, this smells like the cake in red velvet cake. I’m very impressed with how well the cake flavor translates into liquid tea form. The chocolate is light, but I think I prefer it this way. The only thing missing is the cream cheese frosting. Maybe there is a cheesecake flavored coffee creamer I could add to get this in the tea? I love this with a few ounces of skim milk. Very bakey and delicious. I definitely have to order a tin of this! Thank you Kristen for sending me some of this to try!

It’s he-re!!

Rushed home to find this on my doorstep, and immediately ripped into it. Brewed for 10 minutes, my standard steep for rooibos teas. It brews up a lovely red color (as well it should, considering the name!).

It tastes like red velvet cake batter. Really, it does. Sweet, with that distinct chocolate taste that’s unique to red velvet cakes. So someone at the Republic did their homework, and I’ll give them an A! There’s even the barest hint of cream cheese frosting. It’s going to be a staple in my cupboard now, and I cannot wait to get some vanilla ice cream and make either a tea float or a teashake with this!! I’ll try it as a latte soon.

You can taste the rooibos, and if you don’t like that, this might not be for you. It’s not overwhelmingly strong, but it is obvious that this tea is built upon that base.

(And, since I know you’ll ask, you can’t taste the beet root bits. Trust me, I’d tell you. I do not like beets.)

Thanks to momo for sending me a few bags of this tea! I don’t have some love affair with red velvet cake like it seems many other people do, but I think DT’s version came out around the same time as I was swapping, and so I was curious as to how they compared. I definitely prefer DT’s version, perhaps partially because this one is rooibos, which I didn’t realize until after I brewed it. Anyhow, this version isn’t too bad – sweet and chocolatey, with minimal rooibos flavour marring the chocolate. I used two teabags for a ~10-12 ounce cup, which probably worked out well. It’s strong, the way I prefer it, though I’d probably opt out of drinking this tea again given a choice.

Thanks to momo for the sample.

This isn’t bad. Brewed up pure I was getting chocolate but wasn’t getting any red velvet. So I splashed some soy milk into this and it definitely helped bring out that cake creaminess. This is on par with the peppermint chocolate I tried the other night.