I was looking for something strong today so I settled on this wonderful chocolatey blend from 52 Teas! I steeped 1 heaping teaspoon in about 12 ounces of hot water for 2.5 minutes, as recommended (although I admit I totally failed to do the recommended “wait 10 minutes after steeping for best flavor” thing. I get a little impatient for my tea, lol).
Once it’s steeped, the tea is a medium darkness, not really red or orange but more amber-ish or cedar-colored. It has a few teeny oil droplets on top, which tends to happen when you put chocolate chips in your tea, lol. I can definitely smell both the black tea and the chocolate flavors as well as the rose.
One thing that puzzles me about this tea is that I was sure I saw a white chocolate chip among the tea leaves, but I can’t taste it at all. Where did the flavor go? I know white chocolate isn’t really a dominant sort of flavor though, so maybe it was intended to just add to the general creaminess without actually showing up distinctly in the flavor profile. If that’s the case, then it was a success. The flavor is quite rich and truffle-ish. Since the tea has plenty of sweetness already, I didn’t put sugar in, but I did experiment with adding milk. I then became unable to taste the rose flavor, which is unexpected. It still tastes nicely of chocolate and tea, though.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
Blend is no longer available but check out the black teas that are here!
S’mores Genmaicha Green Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
I reblended this tea to fulfill part of our start-up Kickstarter campaign’s add-on offers! This was part of the Genmaicha 3-Tier collection – a yummy blend of Matcha infused Genmaicha green tea and chocolate and marshmallow flavors. I added cacao shells & nibs, mini vegan chocolate chips and marshmallow root to the blend. This is yummy!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This gemaicha is a perfect tea for the weather out there today! I’ve battened down the hatches and hunkered down, because the outside world has turned completely white. I’m living in a surreal ghost town of powder. It certainly doesn’t help that the wind keeps whipping up the 3 feet of snow that has already fallen. I can’t even open my front door! And to think it was almost 70 degrees yesterday. That’s Denver spring for ya.
I can’t believe I have already finished this package! I received the 3-tier genmaicha tin set from 52Teas’ initial kickstarter not too long ago. At first I didn’t care for the flavor, especially with the chocolate pieces. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine to have chocolate chips in tea. But I love the flavors of marshmallows and graham crackers, and I did not want to allow these chocolate abominations to keep me from enjoying this tea. So I just picked out and straight up ate the chocolate chips. May I just say that they are a great compliment to the tea – better than if they were in the blend, fusing to the sides of my teapot and creating an odd sludge.
I quickly became addicted to this blend. I think I drank nothing but this tea for about a week straight. It’s so on point – each flavor is well developed and distinct, from the smooth and mellow marshmallow to the crisp and sweet graham cracker right up to the vegetal grassiness and toasty rice flavor of the genmaicha. I love flavored genmaicha, and this blend is a great combination of a funky flavor idea and the classic Japanese green tea.
Chocolate Cherry Latte Oolong Green from A Quarter to Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong/Green
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Tea Description:
Roasty enough to appease the coffee lover in you! The blend of hojicha and oolong makes a robust, coffee like base without the jitters. Mellowed out with chicory, chocolate, and cherries. What could be a better start to the morning?
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
A Quarter to Teas is a fairly new tea store selling on Etsy that feautues seasonal and limited edition blends such as the blend I’m trying now and many other unique flavours like Strawberry Jalapeno Salsa. The owner, Lauren, was kind enough to send a few samples my way. I have to say my email correspondence with Lauren was incredibly impressive – she was so prompt in replying to my messages and very pleasant overall. Without even taking a sip of tea yet, I’m already impressed with the company on the grounds of their customer service alone.
That said, getting into the tea itself this smells AMAZING. I was totally expecting more of a coffee/chocolate with a subtle cherry because most blends that attempt to do cherry blends in which the cherry isn’t the sole flavour never really nail it. Instead, the smell is indicating this will be the opposite: cherry tea with more subtle coffee and chocolate. I am SO on board with that idea!
And I am so gleeful right now because the taste of the infused tea IS very strongly cherry! And it’s not some kind of gross cough syrup cherry either! Instead it’s sweet, dark cherry. So yummy and indulgent! Of course, there’s more going on here aside from the cherry even if that is the element of the tea which I’m most excited about. The chocolate notes come through well too and the pairing is a match made in heaven. However, it’s a little thin and I think that’s probably because this blend uses chocolate chips. If I could make one suggestion it’d be to use either cocoa nibs or shells instead. I think that’d kick the chocolate factor up a lot and also make the mouthfeel a little cleaner. Finally, the “coffee”. Personally I think this is the mildest element of the blend but I’m more that ok with that. As much as I don’t hate coffee and am cool with the flavour being in my tea I still prefer the tea itself to be the most dominant flavour. On that note I definitely taste the hojicha more than the oolong. I really love the idea of pairing the hojicha with the oolong as well; it ups the roasty notes up quite a bit and adds a whole new layer of flavour into the tea.
This tea is absolutely phenomenal! I’m very impressed, and I really look forward to trying the rest of my samples from Lauren. As far as first impressions go, this was a really good one.
Chocolate Cake Honeybush Tea from Fusion Tea Room
Tea Type: Honeybush
Where To Buy: Fusion Tea Room
Product Description:
Don’t we all love a piece of chocolate cake now and again? This creation is a must for all chocolate fans with its lively, sweet, chocolaty cake aroma and the beautiful decoration of rosebuds.
Ingredients: Honeybush, chocolate chips, caramel cream pieces, flavoring, rosebuds
Tasters Review:
Pardon me if I get giddy every time I try a tea or tisane with chocolate/chips in it! YUM!
Once I opened the bag of this I could smell Caramel and Chocolate…more Caramel than Chocolate but the aroma was terrifically-awesome!
Once infused I could smell the chocolate more and the caramel a little less.
This is very sweet and I can taste both the caramel and the chocolate. This is a medium-flavored honeybush and very pleasing and very much a comfort tisane!
This is very tasty and a great offering from Fusion Tea Room!
Chocolate Malt from My Sweet Honeybush
Tea Type: Honeybush
Where To Buy:
52 Teas
Product Description:
Continuing with the theme of beverages best shared, here’s our take on the classic chocolate malt honeybush-style. Sweet red honeybush, organic cacao nibs, milk chocolate chips and natural flavors. YUMMMMM!
Tasters Review:
Okay, okay…so I have been going a little crazy over this flavored honeybush…FINE…A LOT Crazy! Here’s why…
You will NOT be able to find a Chocolate Tea/Tisane that smells better than this!
This is Incredibly Good!!! I was thinking about giving it a 99 on my personal rating system/score card but I am going with a FULL 100!!!
This is sweet and chocolate and malty and yummy and goooey and smooth and it makes me crave more!!!!! Gimme! Gimme!
Like I said…CRAZY!
This is CRAZY GOOD!