“Idris” Hot Chocolate Infused Chai from Calabash Tea. . . . .

by Kaylee

A tea friend and I rather randomly ended up at Calabash Tea Bar & Cafe last time I was in D.C. The owner of this gorgeous cafe is an herbalist, so the blends focus on the medicinal value of tea, herbs, and spices. It started raining just as we got there, so we decided to settle in and stay a while. I’m so glad we did. We got to try several of their teas and both fell in love with this one (though really, who could resist Idris?). I ended up buying this and the anti-inflammatory Triple Goddess blend to take home.

I have brewed this tea a few times now. I always brew it hot – it just seems wrong to drink a chocolate chai iced. My favorite way to enjoy it is with a splash of chocolate almond milk, which turns this into a creamy chocolate bit of heaven in a cup. Even without any additions, the chocolate flavor is rich with a bit of the bite that dark chocolate has. The most dominant chai spice here is clove, but it is not overwhelming. I’m also picking up maltiness from the base tea, cinnamon, and a hint of citrus (though I am not at all certain that there is either cinnamon or anything citrusy in the blend). The clove, malt, and chocolate notes linger after the sip, with the clove lingering longest because of that tingling sensation clove can cause. This blend can be steeped a second time, though it loses the cocoa notes and comes out a tad watery. Some almond milk fixes that right up though.

Overall, this makes for a great fall tea that doesn’t require milk but does benefit from it.

Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy:  Calabash Tea
Description

Add an extra dash of spice makes Calabash’s Hot Chocolate Chai a delight!. This organic chai is strong, spicy, sweet and unapologetic about waking you up for a lil’ lovin’ in your cup. INGREDIENTS: The highest quality Assam Black Tea, Cocoa Powder, Chai Spices, Chocolate Buttons & lots of love.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Kaylee

I work in public interest. Tea is the innocuous, quirky hobby that doubles as a release valve for my high-stress job. My first serious foray into the tea world was when I joined Steepster in 2013. I learned so much from that community - and I'm still learning from them. I love to read books and blogs about tea to expand my knowledge. When I'm not nerding out about tea, I'm nerding out about Wonder Woman, Firefly, and other assorted superhero/sci-fi stories with strong female characters. Also RBG, who is basically a rock star to me.

This post was posted in Black Tea, Calabash

Atlantis Found. . .An Adagio Teas Custom Blend From Our Own TeaEqualsBliss. . . . .

by SuperStarling

My television often displays shows about Earth’s mysterious past. Ancient Aliens, Curse of Oak Island, What On Earth, Mythbusters, Finding Bigfoot, and Hunting Hitler have all graced our screen.

My husband cannot get enough of unsolved peculiarities. We’ll be eating a meal and he’ll be like “did you know that the skull fragment the KGB presented as evidence of Hitler’s death was tested? And it’s FEMALE?” or “have you ever seen pictures of the circles in South America where nothing grows — and NO ONE KNOWS WHY? THE SOIL IS FINE” or “did you know the sphinx was probably a dog, not a lion?”

So when I got a tea called “Atlantis FOUND!”, I was pretty psyched. Finally: one of those historical enigmas has been SOLVED.

CROSS ONE OFF THE LIST.

This is a very tasty chocolate-vanilla-fruit tea. It’s punchy fruit — blueberry and raspberry — in an ocean of what tastes like milk-chocolate. In summary, a very nice dessert tea.

I sometimes wish that Adagio’s default black tea had a little more oomph, but that doesn’t disrupt this tea very much because the other flavors are so strong. The meh-nature of the black tea can be canceled out somewhat by adding a little bit of vanilla almond milk (or whatever your choice of add-in might be).

I’m going to make up a batch of this and keep it in my insulated bottle as I hike through the tundra looking for the elusive Yeti. I think he’d dig it.

Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Black Tea (Flavored)
Where to Buy:  Adagio Teas
Description

Atlantis FOUND! All Black Flavors Blend – Blueberry, Vanilla, and Chocolate Chip

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

SuperStarling

"Hey, everybody! I'm Leah, a graphic designer from Pennsylvania, United States. I live with my husband and rescue mutt in a house with colorful walls. I love fonts, colors, animals, flowers, novels, illustration, geeking out, and -- obviously! -- tea. I've only been heavily into tea for about a year, but I've found I tend to prefer loose blended black dessert teas. I normally drink them hot western style without anything added; if I add in some vanilla almond milk or honey, I promise I'll mention it! When I'm not blogging here, I'm blogging at leahlucci.com/starling or posting to Instagram (super_starling), so come say hi!"

This post was posted in Adagio Teas, Black Tea