Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu’Erh
Where to Buy: Camellia Sinensis
Tea Description:
This amalgamation of tea and chocolate harmonizes beautifully the woody and earthy aromas of aged tea. Its rich nuances of cocoa butter and vanilla are a dessert in itself, perfect after a meal or the comfort of a sweet treat. Ingredients: Pu’er tea, chocolate, vanilla flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Camellia Sinensis happens to be one of my favourite online vendors, and I’ve already made several orders with them already this year – for tea and teaware, and I fully expect that I’ll be placing more before the year is over so I definitely have some higher expectations for this tea despite doing my best to be as open minded as possible.
Starting with the dry leaf, it definitely smells good – a little earthy with a coco puffs cereal sort of thing going on. To me, that sort of breaks down to a milky chocolate, some vanilla, and a touch of malt.
The smell is awesome after it has steeped too; very sweet and robust with chocolate, vanilla and earth notes. It’s making my mouth water just a little bit. However, it’s not translating into a rich, full taste like the smell would have you believe so immediately I’m a little bit disappointed – though the taste certainly isn’t bad either. I definitely get a rather muddy, thick Pu’Erh flavour and mouthfeel with some natural sweetness and a little malt perhaps? It feels a bit raw and unrefined. The chocolate comes off a little bit powdery the way some French teas do to me; it’s not necessarily a bad thing but it’s not for everyone – and the way the malt and vanilla play with this it definitely makes the Coco Puff cereal comparison seem accurate.
It tasted better as it cooled down; the chocolate and vanilla flavours appeared to get stronger. Because of the way I’m picturing this as cereal, and with the cooled down temperature I can definitely see it working as either a hot or iced latte – if I had more, I’d try it that way for sure. As is, I enjoyed this one even if it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. There were some disappointing things, but some really good things as well. I don’t think I’d purchase it especially when other companies offer similar teas – but I’m happy I sated my curiosity.
Chocolate Malt Flavored Honeybush Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
I wasn’t sure about this blend. I mean … you know me, I’m a chocoholic, so I LOVE chocolate, and chocolate teas are some of my favorite teas to be tasting. But, I have been kind of on the fence about iced chocolate tea. I don’t know why.
But wow! This is yummy!
It really tastes very chocolate malt-ish … but without the thick, rich ice cream-y texture of a chocolate malt. But the flavors are all there. It’s like sipping on a very thin chocolate malt.
It’s got a strong chocolate flavor (I like that!) and I can even taste the notes of malt. The natural nutty notes of the honeybush seem to accentuate the malt flavor. And I can even taste subtle notes of vanilla in there. It’s sweet and chocolate-y and just … so very yummy!
I like this a whole lot more than I expected I would.
To brew this, I brought a quart of water to a near boil: 195°F. Then I dropped the large tea bag into the vessel and let it steep for 9 1/2 minutes and strained the brewed liquid into my favorite glass 2 quart tea pitcher. Then I brought a second quart of water to 195°F and resteeped the tea bag for 12 minutes.
Remember, with honeybush, you can steep the leaves longer than you would steep the leaves of Camellia Sinensis because there are very little (if any) tannins in the honeybush leaves. You won’t get a bitter brew! The reason I go with a slightly below boiling temperature with honeybush (and rooibos) is because I find that if I go with a boiling temperature, I end up with a sort of ‘sour wood’ sort of flavor that I don’t enjoy. The slightly lower temperature eliminates this funky flavor. This little tip has helped me to enjoy honeybush and especially rooibos a lot more than I used to.
And I REALLY am enjoying this Chocolate Malt Iced Tea. It’s awesome!
The Malt Shop from Della Terra Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
Who doesn’t love a thick, rich chocolate malt from your favorite malt shop? I mean, every town still has one right? You go there right after the sock hop! Well, either way this amazing black tea revists that amazing era with the rich taste of chocolate malt! Does this tea taste like a malt, or a malted milk ball candy… you decide. One thing for sure, it’s delicious!
Ingredients: Black tea, chocolate malt flavor, mini chocolate morsels, malted milk balls *
Allergens: contains dairy, soy.
Suggested brewing tips
Serving Size: 1 level tsp./6oz serving
Water Temp: 210°F
Steep Time: 2-5 minutes
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I am not a big fan of chocolate flavor in teas but The Malt Shop from Della Terra Teas is a good blend! I love straight teas – unadulterated teas – that taste like chocolate, love them actually, but most blends that add chocolate flavor are a miss for me. This tea is an exception though! The chocolate flavor in this tea is really delicious and it absolutely has a malt flavor, you will think you are having a chocolate malt from an old fashioned ice cream parlor!
This is also a fun tea to play around with, you can add some sweetener if you want although I don’t find it necessary, but I have had it with cream and it is so yummy! Also I have had this iced, made into a slushie with vanilla ice cream, SO GOOD, as well as iced with creamer. Every way I try it is delicious! A versatile and yummy treat!
Really though I did all of that for fun, each time quite happy with the outcome, but this tea stands all on its own as a really decedent delight! No need to go to all the hassle and yes it is in fact just as delicious hot, even though we think of cold when considering a malt right?
This tea could not be truer to its namesake. If you love chocolate malts then grab some of this and enjoy! Its like malted chocolate balls. Also the tea has a thick mouthfeel which adds to the taste of a real chocolate malt! This could make dieting really easy. I think kids would love this tea as well as adults.
Chocolate Malt Flavored Honeybush from 52Teas
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
This feels like cheating just a little. Yes, we did offer a Chocolate Malt Honeybush, but not as a Tea of the Week; it was one of our My Sweet Honeybush blends, and it wasn’t even offered on 52teas until a few months ago when I killed our My Sweet Honeybush brand and had a few left over. I’ve reinvented the blend with organic flavors and new ROASTED organic cacao nibs. (I spent several minutes just huffing the bag of roasted cacao nibs the other day when we received them. This blend is CHOCOLATE. No, it’s CHOCOLATE! I fully expect this week’s blend to disappear quickly (who doesn’t like chocolate?)
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I thought I had previously reviewed this Chocolate Malt Flavored Honeybush from 52Teas (when it was sold under the My Sweet Honeybush label) because it was really one of my favorite Honeybush blends that Frank has ever crafted. But, I couldn’t find the review … so I guess I didn’t review it!
I’ll remedy that right now!
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, this is easily one of my favorite honeybush blends from Frank … but truth be told, it’s probably one of my favorite honeybush blends from any vendor. The reason is simple: Chocolate! This is one of the best chocolate tisanes I’ve had … in fact, the only chocolate tisane that comes to mind that might top this is pure cacao nibs or … even better, pure cacao shells.
Frank does the chocolate right in this blend. (Remember some chocolate = good, more chocolate = better) He goes with the better approach and adds plenty of chocolate to this tisane. It is so rich and chocolate-y, and there is a distinct malt note to this that makes it seem as though I’m sipping on a chocolate malt … only this isn’t thick like a chocolate malt. It does have a creamy element to it, but obviously a real chocolate malt would be thicker, creamier … and ice creamier … but, this … is less fattening and quite satisfying even without the thick and creamy element of a chocolate malt. It makes a perfect dessert-y treat when you don’t want to indulge in the more caloric version of a chocolate malt.
And what I like best about this blend – the flavor of the honeybush melds perfectly with the flavors. The nutty sweetness of the honeybush accents the malt notes quite nicely … and I like that the flavor of the honeybush doesn’t really stand out. It is kind of subtle and in the background, allowing the flavor of chocolate to shine through.
This is really one of Frank’s best blends. If you’ve tried honeybush blends and have been less than impressed with them, I highly recommend trying this one … it might change your mind about honeybush! It is so yummy – a perfect treat for the chocoholics out there, too!
Superfine Tan Yang Gong Fu Black Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Origin: Tanyang Village (坦洋村) in Fu’an, Fujian, China
Ingredients: Tea buds with pure leaves
Harvest time: May, 2012
Taste: It presents slight aroma of sweet potato when brewed; tastes smooth and mellow with sweet aftertaste
Being the first one among Fujian’s three best Gong Fu Black Teas (Bai Lin Gong Fu, Zheng He Gong Fu, Tan Yang Gong Fu), Tan Yang Gong Fu Black Tea has tight and thin leaves, looks glossy, which could be seen from TeaVivre’s product photo. When looking at this tea, the golden pekoe is particularly eye-catching, strongly connected to its high quality. Under the effect of photosynthesis, fresh buds contain the largest amount of beneficial substances than other parts. Moreover, the traditional making method of black tea has retained the nutrition in the most volume.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Superfine Tan Yang Gong Fu Black Tea from Teavivre offers quite a different experience. It has a lot of the same flavor notes that one gets from a Fujian black tea such as sweet potato, malt, and cocoa but Superfine Tan Gong Fu is much lighter both in flavor and mouthfeel.
It is quite relaxing and soothing in the way it makes me feel thus a good afternoon or early evening black. I don’t think I would particularly select this tea for morning as I find it brings about a tea high state rather than the wake up call I need.
As I sipped on this tea I found myself so relaxed, and spaced out that I checked my blood sugar (I’m type 1 diabetic) just to be sure I was not running too high. High blood sugars often mimic a spaced out state of dizziness and being sleepy. My blood sugar was perfectly fine. Outside of aliens having zapped my brain I am pretty sure it was the tea. I have had tea highs before, generally with pu’erh but now and then I get it in other leaf types. This is one of those times.
The tea itself is rather sweet and has a fruit nectar note to it. There is also very much a pipe tobacco note within this tea as I have noticed a couple of other reviews mentioning. It causes the throat to feel a bit dry after the sip, a little scratchy too but that feeling does not last too long.
Seriously – I keep spacing out writing this review so I am going to close by saying – a truly unique experience. I am very glad that I had a sample of it from my last Teavivre order.