Coconut Cream Pie is an oolong tea by DAVIDsTEA made with white chocolate, coconut, toasted coconut, and flavoring. More than that, it is now a milk chocolate-infused chocolate bar offered by DAVIDsTEA.
was not particularly fond of the tea itself but this makes for a nice chocolate bar. Unlike some of the other DAVIDsTEA chocolates, this one does not have hard pieces of tea. Instead, this is filled with crunchy bits of shredded coconut which makes for an interesting textural contrast to the creamy milk chocolate.
The coconut is toasty and this tastes similar to a bounty bar, with crunchier pieces of coconut. As a fan of bounty bars, I enjoy this tea well enough. If you can find it on sale and want a snack, it is worth a try, however, at the end of the day, I personally prefer the chewier consistency of bounty bars and given the cost of this is significantly more than other chocolates, it is not particularly worth it in my opinion.
Here’s the scoop!
Where to Buy: DAVIDs Tea
Description
This product is no longer available but click below for chocolate bars that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Mini Pu-erh Tea Bar (50 Gr) from Teasenz
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tea Description:
Made from 2012 “gift-tea grade” leaves selected by the Teasenz team and pressed into a tea bar. Easy to break and steep right away, or store and let it ripen for years. A perfect gift to surprise your favorite tea drinker.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was quite pleased by the aroma of the dry bar, because usually when I take a sniff of the dry leaf of a pu-erh, it smells very earthy, to the point where it smells … well, it smells like earth. Like potting soil with um … well, with maybe a little bit of fertilizer mixed in. Yeah, I’m not all that into that smell. But, while there are some earthy notes to this dry leaf (which has been pressed into a bar shape with little squares, similar to what you might find if you were to unwrap a bar of chocolate), this doesn’t overpower my nostrils with the smell of a greenhouse during planting season.
And the brewed tea doesn’t have a heavy earthy aroma either. Nor does it have a heavy “briny” or fishy smell. BONUS points for that. The aroma here is very soft, almost indistinguishable, which some might find a bit weird, but it’s much more agreeable to this tea drinker than the aforementioned potting soil.
The flavor is so nice! It has a deep, rich, mellow flavor that is a pleasure to drink. There are notes of cacao which is especially nice given the comparison I made to the chocolate bar a bit ago. Absolutely no bitterness. No astringency. Just a smooth, well-rounded, mellow flavor. While there are faint notes of earth here, this isn’t what I’d categorize as an earthy tea.
The flavor is very interesting because it’s quite unlike any pu-erh that I’ve tried to this point. The notes of cacao are there, it’s a very mild dark chocolate note. It’s almost like raw cacao, except that I taste a very subtle roast. Like perhaps they started to roast the cacao but then changed their minds shortly after the roasting process had begun.
The cacao notes are softer than the overtone of molasses that I taste. This tastes to me very much like molasses, with hints of mushroom. Imagine a mushroom that has been slow-roasted to dry it out a little bit (so that it has a slight dry, leathery sort of taste to it) and then topped with raw cacao, and then topped with a heavy drizzle of molasses.
Yeah, it sort of tastes like that, only better, because that description sounds kind of weird and this just tastes unique and lovely. I mean, if a chef put a plate in front of me with a slow-roasted, leathery mushroom that had been dusted with raw cacao and drizzled with molasses, I would think that the chef had lost his mind. It is sweet, rich, a little leathery with a very slight earthy tone. Overall … a really splendid tea experience!
This tea keeps going and going too. I managed eight infusions, and I think I could have gotten even more, but I was ready to move on. The flavors got deeper and deeper with each infusion, until about six. The flavors pretty much began to stabilize at that point, and then wane. My eighth infusion is where I started to notice a loss in flavor, but it was still quite flavorful.
PRODUCT REVIEW: Rooibos Vanilla Virgin Chocolate Bar from Raaka Chocolate
About This Product:
Raaka Virgin Chocolate bars, hand made in Brooklyn, New York. The Vanilla Rooibos bar combines unroasted cocoa beans with vanilla rooibos tea, stone ground to perfection in small batches. Tasting notes: Cherry and toasted marshmallow.
To Learn more about Raaka Chocolate, click here.
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Taster’s Review:
I received this chocolate bar in my April Knoshbox (yes, it has been a while, I tend to horde my gourmet chocolates for times when I really need chocolate. Like now!) and because this Virgin Chocolate Bar from Raaka Chocolate is also made with vanilla rooibos, I thought that I’d offer a product review on this confection right here on SororiTea Sisters, rather than my foodie blog.
The first thing I noticed about this is the packaging … I love the zentangle-ish wrapper! Very cool! The chocolate itself is a dark chocolate and it has a crisp “snap” to it when I break the bar.
Now, I’ve got to say that I’m not as fond of raw chocolate as I am of the “roasted” chocolate. The roasting of the cacao beans seems to add a depth to the chocolate that I just don’t experience in the raw chocolate. But that’s not to say I dislike the raw chocolate, I just prefer it to be made from roasted cacao. Here the chocolate is dark (67%) and it has a bold, rich flavor that is both bitter and sweet.
I can taste the rooibos, and the rooibos offers a slightly fruity tone to the chocolate. The tasting notes on the Raaka website suggest a “cherry” flavor, and I don’t know if I’m getting cherry, exactly. I definitely taste the vanilla, and it enhances the overall “creaminess” to the bar, which I really like. I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate, but, there is something to that creaminess of a milk chocolate bar that I do enjoy, and the vanilla notes here add that element without the milk.
When I allow the chocolate to melt over my palate, I notice more of the aforementioned cherry notes, as well as the toasted marshmallow notes as described on the website, so, I highly recommend savoring this bar like this: breaking the bar into small, bite-size bits, and then putting the small piece on your tongue and allowing the warmth of your mouth to soften the chocolate. That’s when you’ll really enjoy the fullness of flavor from this chocolate bar.
Overall, a really delightful chocolate experience. Then again, when is chocolate NOT a delightful experience? If you’re looking for a good raw chocolate bar … I think that this one from Raaka is my favorite of the raw chocolate bars that I’ve tasted thus far.
Organic Lavender Cream Oolong Tea from The Rabbit Hole
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: The Rabbit Hole
Tea Description:
Creamy oolong tea marries with lavender and vanilla to create this heavenly liquor. A guilty pleasure for those who don’t do guilt!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! What an absolutely DREAMY blend this Organic Lavender Cream Oolong Tea from The Rabbit Hole is! So delightfully sweet, smooth and creamy. I’m loving every sip of this.
I like that the lavender hasn’t been overdone … or underdone! Lavender is one of those herbs that when there is too much of it in a tea, the tea ends up tasting a bit like soap or perfume … and when there isn’t enough lavender, it becomes so subtle that it’s barely distinguishable and when it’s that subtle, as a taster I can’t help but wonder, what’s the point in adding lavender at all … you know?
But, with this blend, the lavender is just right. It is balanced well with the Oolong and the vanilla tones so that I can taste the sweet floral notes without tasting like I’m sipping on body spray. The vanilla softens and sweetens the cup, creating a very luscious, creamy taste and texture.
And these two flavors are blended with a lovely Oolong that enhances both the creaminess of the vanilla and the floral notes of the lavender. These three ingredients play so well together, working in a synergistic way to bring out the best in each. This is something that I could drink again and again. I found it very soothing and comforting to sip on this rainy day!
Tropical Paradise Oolong Tea Blend from The Rabbit Hole
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to buy: The Rabbit Hole
Tea Description:
Stranded on a desert island and you can only take one tea…this is it. Perfect hot or iced and great when you need a tropical time out minus the credit card bill.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yum! This is one of the tastiest tropical teas I’ve come across in a while! I love the way the Oolong tea, the coconut, the pineapple and the orange meld together in this Tropical Paradise Oolong Tea Blend from The Rabbit Hole!
There are a lot of tropical flavored teas out there, but I find that they are usually crafted with a base of black or green tea … it’s not often that I find a tropical Oolong, and perhaps that’s why I’m liking this one so much. The sweet flavor of the Oolong unites with the sweet notes of pineapple, orange and coconut in a really pleasant way, and the buttery smooth texture of the Oolong really emphasizes the coconut notes. And I like that I taste the Oolong front and center here … the flavors are strong, but the Oolong is not overpowered.
There is a very nice balance of coconut, pineapple and orange. As I mentioned before, I think that what really brings the coconut into the foreground is the Oolong. That rich, silky texture of the Oolong really plays to the slick coconut mouthfeel, giving the overall cup a very creamy taste and feel that is very luxurious and delectable. The pineapple is sweet, and the orange adds a bright note to the drink.
This is tasty served hot, but its AMAZING iced. And the Oolong tea allows for multiple infusions … increasing the value of this tea! This one will take your taste buds on a tropical vacation!