Red Velvet Chocolate

Backlogging: I picked up a tin of this a couple of weeks ago from Cardullo’s, being too overwhelmed by the awesomeness to decide on anything else. (They carry Golden Moon! And Kusmi! I have never seen so many great teas in one store O_O)

I’ll add a rating later, since the slider doesn’t want to cooperate with my phone. This was a little too tart/rooibos-y plain, but tasty with a bit of sugar. Also good chilled! I haven’t decided yet whether it’s better with or without milk.

I wanted to love this.. I really did. But no matter how I prepare it I’m just not impressed. I have to say it’s not a horrible chocolate tea; I’ve had some that were so artificial they made me sick. It’s just not doing much for me. Dry it smells nice, a mild rooibos smell laced with chocolate, berries and a hint of citrus. Without sweetener or milk it’s a mild rooibos tea with a hint of chocolate aroma. I think with a bit of sugar and cream it’s more akin to red velvet cake, but even then it’s weak. It makes me want to go make chocolate cupcakes right now at 10:53 pm. And if I happened to have a box of Miss Crocker’s in the cupboard I would go do just that. This also made me want some Florence, in my opinion a better chocolate tea. Or even a better rooibos tea, as I love rooibos and this isn’t one of the better rooibos teas I’ve had. Meh. I am dying for some good tea.

Delicious. This tea goes beyond just chocolate and rooibos flavors – there are vanilla notes that add to the richness. With some soymilk, this is a perfect tea to have for dessert.

I have tried this several times with various brew times and cannot get past the rooibos flavor. Meh.

I, like Jaime, was really excited to try this tea. The thought of rooibos + the flavor of red velvet was just too marvelous to pass up! This is my second cup of this today.. and I’m trying to get a grasp on the flavor. It does brew to a pretty red color and still has that distinctive wood flavor rooibos always seems to have. The chocolate scent reminds me of a scratch-and-sniff sticker from my childhood. It’s not completely artificial, but is on the border of being so. The flavor is sweet and balanced with the rooibos. I do very much like this tea and think it’s quite yummy.. but I wouldn’t necessarily call it red velvet chocolate. There are moments when I think “yes! That’s definitely it!” but it keeps slipping away. There are layers of chocolate, almost a berry tone and the rooibos. Overall, a very nice cup. Lots of flavors to keep your tongue occupied and your belly happy!

I was feeling overwhelmed by all the patient notes I have to write before I can get home, so I needed a distraction. I found a sample bag of this in the Republic of Tea sample box in my desk drawer so I decided to give it a try. I am pleasantly surprised by this little wonder. The rooibos blends nicely with the chocolate flavors. It’s not too “beety” either. Not sure I would buy a box of this as I am not a big “Red Velvet” person, but I’m glad to be enjoying it. If only it could write these notes for me….

And here I find yet another rooibos blend that I don’t hate! I actually like this one pretty well. Added milk and sugar to enhance the ‘dessert’ feel of this tea and it tastes actually really good. I’m not sure I’d say ‘red velvet cake’ if someone asked me the flavour in a blind taste test, but it is still quite pleasing. Chocolate and vanilla and creaminess is what I taste.

Huh. Interesting. A friend of mine gave me a couple of bags of this tea to try and it’s okay. I definitely get the chocolate and just a tad of fruitiness and, yes, cake. Definitely red velvet. Not something I’d want to drink every day, but a tasty little experiment nonetheless! Had mine with a bit of milk and honey.

I adore red velvet….and make a really good red velvet cupcake. Red Velvet fried chicken with mashed potatoes with a cream cheese ribbon is a staple in my house.
When I saw this tea, I got really excited and was like “Shut up and take my money!”
I brewed a cup as soon as I got it home but was not impressed and shelved it until now (because everyone needs tea at 2:30 in the morning).
I steeped two bags in a big ol’ mug for…a while. After about 5 minutes I started smelling a little bit of chocolate in the air. When I took my first sip, I was not real impressed. The flavor was not bad, it just does not scream red velvet to me. I did not taste very much chocolate, but real red velvet is not very chocolaty either.
I added a little vanilla coffee creamer (because that was what I could grab) in hopes that it might bring out the sweetness. It helped a little, but not much.
I will finish the can, but doubt that I would buy it again, at least not unless it was a lot cheaper.

Edit: I bought some on the little coffee mate shots in creamy chocolate. I threw one of those in there…..more delicious. Gives it a little more chocolate flavor. I would give it a 70 when prepared that way!

I really wanted to love this one! I’m a sucker for red velvet cake, but something about the formulation here is just off. There’s a weirdly sour note here, like they isolated that aspect of the recipe so there’s a sour cream tang like cream cheese frosting except not good. I think it must be the beetroot, I can’t figure out what else could be screwing it up.

I have a whole canister of it though, so I just add chocolate soy milk or cut it with another tea with more chocolate flavoring.