Red Velvet Chocolate

HAPPY NEW YEAR STEEPSTER!! HOPE EVERYONE HAS AN AWESOME, TEA-FILLED 2014 AND BEST WISHES FOR THE YEAR TO COME!!

With that said, my first tea of the new year was not so great. In fact, it went down the drain. I think that Republic of Tea’s rooibos is far too medicinal for my tastes. C’est la vie.

I saw this in Whole Foods before I saw anything about it…since I saw people say good things and I love cake, I kind of purposely just went back to get it…

O. M. G.

Adding the beetroot to color the tea more red is freakin’ genius, and just like in traditional red velvet you can’t taste it! It is delicious and chocolatey, sometimes I get a big taste of blackberry but that’s no problem.

I swear there’s even this slight tang to it like cream cheese frosting.

Entirely worth the ten bucks for the canister. And I have cake flavored vodka, can anyone say boozy tea latte when I actually buy milk sometime?

While at a coffee/tea house Saturday night I decided to check out the Red Velvet Chocolate they had on the menu. I loved the chocolate and vanilla flavors and the color was almost spot on with the slice of cake I had for comparison. I will have to get some of this to make at home though as I don’t think I had a long enough steep and therefore don’t want to judge completely on the one experience

So, I am on a roll. Apparently if I show my travel cup at the tea counter in Whole Foods, they give me free tea. This time they gave me one for my cup, and one to take home and try. Heh! They seem to not see the point in charging for one tea bag and hot water- is the cup part really that expensive? But I digress :)

I decided to try this one because I wouldn’t have the guts to buy a whole tin of it untested. And alas, I am not quite as impressed as others who’ve reviewed it. I can sorta get the red velvet cake scent from this if I sniff it, but brewed it just tastes overwhelmingly of rooibos. I like rooibos, but I was expecting something a touch…sweeter perhaps (without me having to add sweetener)? I tend to think of red velvet cake as sickeningly sweet. The red velvet cake taste does seem to be here, but as a backdrop.

Hmmm I like this just fine, but I can’t see myself buying it.

I a few samples of The Republic of Tea’s chocolate rooibos blends that I am excited to try. I have a hard time making myself switch from strong black teas to caffeine-free teas in the evening, and I am hoping that these delicious-looking blends will help. The teabag smells chocolatey and has that sweet odd scent from the rooibos. (I’m not a huge fan of rooibos, but am trying to be open minded!) The flavor is alright, it is kind of subtle. I added a little sweetener as I hoped it would enhance the sweeter flavors and also some milk as suggested, but both of these overwhelmed the tea. I was hoping for a more smooth and creamy cup. Although it’s not as good as I hoped, it’s still a nice caffeine-free cuppa for before bed, but probably one that I wouldn’t necessarily purchase a full tin of.

-Round natural unbleached teabag.
-Teabag smells of chocolate and rooibos. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet, warm red velvet cake and icing.
-Tea liquor is a deep reddish-brown color.
-Light chocolate flavor with a mellow red velvet finish.
-Best with a small amount of sweetener. (Milk overwhelms the delicate flavor.)
-Fair tea. Very thin and weak flavor. No creamy cake-like flavor as expected.

I received this tea as part of a Christmas present from a friend who knows how much I love tea. I love Red Velvet & had high hopes for this tea. Luckily, it did not disappoint me!

Everyone saying it tastes like red velvet cake batter is right…it does. And the vanilla flavor leaves a hint of cream cheese frosting. I enjoyed this from the first sip.

Definitely adding this as a favorite to always have on hand. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Really delightful cuppa tea.

I’ve been wanting to try this tea forever and finally got a couple bags in a swap. I’m not totally blown away by this tea, but it is pretty good. It has a good berry flavor mixed with some chocolate cake-iness. The mouthfeel seems very juicy and refreshing. The rooibos does come through quite a bit, but for me that’s a good thing. As much as I enjoyed this tea, I’m probably not going to buy it since it is only available in bags. If this was offered in a loose version, I would purchase it in a heartbeat. Prepared with almond milk and stevia.

Kristen sent me a sample of this! And, I was so excited to get to try it. Red Velvet Cake might be my favorite thing on the planet (damn… now I might have to make cupcakes just from thinking about it). I tried this last night so I am backlogging.

It does taste like red velvet cake which really surprised me. I even feel like I get a taste of cream cheese frosting.

BUT… as much as I want to love this tea, there is something weird about it. I had to drink almost the whole cup before I figured out what the strange flavor was. It’s almost like the chocolate is artificial, but then it occurred to me that it’s actually akin to the flavor that low-calorie sweeteners give off. It’s more of an aftertaste that you can’t get out of your mouth, kind of like saccharin (for those of you old enough to remember what sweet and low tastes like).

So, it’s definitely worth a try, but I don’t think I’d want to buy a whole tin.

Thank you Jaime for sending me this special treat. The best way to describe it is as follows…Creamy Chocolate Cake. Need I say more? :-) Yummy!

I was excited to try this tea but unsure of how I would like it as I am not normally a rooibos fan. I am going to try another cup before I make any rash decisions but the cup I had did not remind me of red velvet anything! It had some berry taste to it??!!! And something else was coming through but I am not exactly sure what it was… going to try it again.