Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
Caffeine-free organic honeybush blended with organic cacao nibs, freeze-dried orange sections, marigold petals and organic chocolate and orange flavors. I was a bit reluctant to offer a chocolate tea outside of traditional hot tea drinking weather, but one of my helper elves insisted there is no wrong time to make a chocolate tea. After tasting this delicious blend, I have to say I totally agree with her.
Learn more about this tisane here.
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Taster’s Review:
I could smell the orange as soon as I opened the pouch! The chocolate notes are less apparent than the orange but then again … oranges are a bit more fragrant than a bar of chocolate. The dry leaf has a lot of petals (these don’t really affect the flavor) and little chunks of cacao nib and dried oranges combined with the oxidized organic honeybush leaves.
When I brew honeybush (or it’s South African “cousin” rooibos), I usually brew it in my Breville One-Touch tea maker and that’s how I brewed this. I measured out 3 bamboo scoops of the tisane and put it in the basket of the tea maker, and then I poured in freshly filtered water up to the 500ml mark. I set the settings to 195°F and 10 minutes and then I left it alone to do its thing. That’s what I love so much about the One-Touch … you just put the tea and water into it, set the settings and the tea maker does the rest! Ten minutes later, I had a pot of Chocolate Orange flavored Honeybush!
The orange notes are a little softer in the brewed liquid, and I can smell notes of chocolate as well as notes of honeybush. It smells sweet, orange-y, chocolate-y and nutty.
The flavor is similar to the fragrance. The sip starts with sweet, orange-y flavors. Then I notice the nutty, honeyed flavor of the honeybush and notes of chocolate. I wish that the chocolate notes were stronger – but if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, that wish should come as no surprise to you. I always want more chocolate. More chocolate = better. Always.
As it is though, I feel that the chocolate notes here are lacking. The orange is such an abundant flavor and it seems to overwhelm the chocolate a bit.
Oh, it’s still quite a tasty blend, but this is definitely more orange than it is chocolate. I like how the honeybush melds with these flavors – the nutty, earthy notes of the honeybush work well with the richness of the cacao notes and the sunny notes of orange.
It’s a sweet, dessert-y type of tea, and because it’s naturally caffeine free, this would be a great late night snack for those who are looking for something sweet but don’t want to indulge. This is guilt free sipping!
