My mom bought a little bit of this for me as a surprise the other day, and I decided to try some today!
The first thing I noticed smelling it dry in the bag was that it has a very artificial scent to it. David’s website doesn’t say whether the “chocolate mint flavouring” they use is natural or artifical, and I don’t know if it’s the chocolate whiff’s or peppermint whiff’s that are putting me off, but it reminds me of really bad chocolate mint cookies… not off to a very good start.
A little trepidatious, I only used half a teaspoon when brewing and was careful with my brewing time even though I usually let rooibos brew for as long as I want. The liquor, a dark reddish brown, ended up with much the same artificial scent as the dry tea; none of the rooibos or vanilla comes through. Taste-wise, the mint chocolate is seriously overpowering, and not in a good way like the cinnamon in David’s Cinnamon Rooibos Chai. I guess most of it comes down to personal preference and taste, but I was pretty disappointed in this tea. I’m normally a fan of chocolate and mint together, but there’s just such an artificial (or at least, what I can only describe as artificial) taste to this that I can’t enjoy it or finish my cup.