Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Mount Wuyi, in Fujian China is primarily known for oolongs, but this rare black tea is harvested only a short time each year. It is naturally low in tannins, giving it an exquisitely smooth finish which, combined with its natural chocolate notes, earned it the nickname “Black Silk”. We’ve upped the ante by adding some organic chocolate and marshmallow flavors, cacao nibs and marshmallow root.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
When I read my SororiTea Sister Nichole’s review of this Black Silk Chocolate Milk Qui Hao from 52Teas, I was eager to try the tea out for myself! If you’re a frequent reader of our little blog here, you may have picked up on the fact that I’m a little bit of a chocolate freak! So this tea is right up my alley!
Mmm! The Qui Hao black tea is a delightful choice for the base of this tea. It is a rich, satisfying, well-rounded tea and it compliments the flavor of the chocolate notes. There is a creaminess from the marshmallow but it seems a little subtle. But that’s alright, because for me, this tea is about the chocolate.
The combination of the rich, malty Qui Hao and the chocolate flavors creates a dark chocolate type of flavor and the hint of marshmallow enhances the overall sweetness of it. I don’t usually add milk to my teas these days, but after sipping on this for a while, I decided I’d see how it tasted with a splash of milk.
I have to say that I think that this is even better with the addition of dairy. It brings the marshmallow notes forward a little bit without obscuring the chocolate notes. It adds just a hint of the milk chocolate flavors that I think that this particular tea needed because I wasn’t really getting “chocolate milk” until I added the dairy. The milk just brought it all together very nicely.
Overall, a really pleasing chocolate tea. If you’re a chocoholic tea lover – you should definitely give this one a try!
Canton Chocolate Tea from Canton Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Canton Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Specially created for the Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair, this luxurious blend of Indian Assam, Chinese Yunnan black, Madagascan vanilla pod and Peruvian cocoa nibs is served daily with their famous Afternoon Tea., It is deep, rich and moreish with a velvety mouthfeel. Extremely satisfying with smooth, malty Assam and a hint of plum from the Yunnan black adding an additional layer of dark fruit. The cocoa nibs and vanilla pod provide the depth and sweetness which complements the heady flavours.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Chocolate Tea from Canton Tea Co. is one that I’ve been wanting to try for a while! Let’s face it, whenever I see a new-to-me chocolate tea from just about any tea company, my interest is piqued, but when it comes from a company that I associate with high quality, top-notch teas like Canton Tea Company, then let’s just say that my interest sizzles into very lusty desire.
Yes, I lust for chocolate.
And this tea lived up to my crazy high expectations that I put on it. This is deliciously chocolate. Even with the hint of Madagascar vanilla in this, the flavor is still delightfully dark chocolate-y. Rich and decadent and sweet. Mmm!
The black tea base is rich and satisfying. The combination of Assam and Yunnan is a thoughtful one. The rich, malty notes of the Assam add to the sweetness of the tea. The fruit notes of both teas play to the deep berry notes of the cacao nibs. The slightly spiced notes of the Yunnan enhance the overall experience. The black tea base tastes robust and it’s a solid background of flavor, allowing the flavor of the key ingredient (the chocolate!) to really come out and express itself in a sumptuous, seductive, chocolate-y way.
So good!
The chocolate is a rich, dark chocolate-y flavor as I mentioned before. It has a luscious, creamy taste that Canton describes as velvety and I find myself in complete agreement with that assessment. The vanilla is not overly done, there is just enough vanilla here to add that velvety texture and taste. There is just enough to give the cup some dimension and depth without diminishing that deep, dark chocolate flavor.
If you’re a fan of chocolate teas – put this at the top of your must try list!
Chocolate Frost Black Tea from Petali Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Tea Information:
Of all the mint chocolate teas we’ve tasted, this one is at the top. This is a dessert tea for pure tea lovers. The mint is gentle and the chocolate is natural. Think rich dark chocolate rather than sweet milk chocolate. Simply delicious.
This tea is available from Amoda Tea.
It’s also part of Amoda Tea’s Holiday Box!
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m trying the second tea from the Holiday Box that Amoda sent me. It took a lot of willpower to save this tea for second instead of trying it immediately, but because I didn’t get the mail until after my ‘black tea’ time in the day, I decided to hold off and try this when it would be more suitable for me to drink a black tea.
I have found that when I drink black teas late at night, I end up lying in bed awake and unable to drift off. I can drink some other teas without experiencing this so I’ve come to realize that it’s the caffeine level of the black tea that keeps me more alert at night and unable to get drowsy. So, I find that I need to stop drinking black teas about four or five hours before I plan to head to bed.
But this is one of the teas in the Holiday Box that I was especially eager to try! Chocolate! Yes please!
And when it comes to chocolate teas, I find it difficult to wait until the tea cools. I have to have just a sip of what’s to come! So I took a small sip and even though it was too hot to keep on drinking, I could definitely taste chocolate and mint. Mmm!
This is very crisp and minty. A bit more minty than it is chocolate-y, in my opinion. But there is a nice amount of chocolate to this tea. If I were to adjust anything about the tea, it would be to lighten up on the peppermint just a tad and add more chocolate.
But what I’m enjoying most about this is that the black tea base is solid. It’s a strong background of flavor. It’s well-rounded and the flavor of the tea complements the flavors of mint and chocolate nicely. The chocolate is rich and tastes of dark chocolate to me. It’s smooth and has a deep, deliciously chocolate flavor.
The three components all work very well together and it’s a well crafted cup of tea. It’s strong – robust enough for early morning if you need a flavorful boost. But it’s also flavorful enough that it tastes like dessert. So it’d be like having dessert first thing in the morning and as far as I’m concerned, that would make everything right with the world so early in the day!
Chocolate Toffee Black Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Here’s our premium black teas blended with cacao nibs, marigold petals and organic chocolate and toffee flavors. This is a rich, decadent treat.
Learn more about this blend here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh yum! Yum, yum, yum!
Well, I had no doubt whatsoever that I’d enjoy this blend. Chocolate and Toffee in a tea? Oh, yes, please! And I’m happy to say that the chocoholic in me is even satisfied with the level of chocolate-y-ness in this blend. Oh, sure, more chocolate WOULD be better but I’m quite happy with what I’m tasting.
I brewed this in my Breville One-Touch, measuring 2 bamboo scoops into the basket and adding 500ml of water to the jug. Then I set the temperature for 205°F and the time for 2 1/2 minutes. This produced a very delicious cup – well, actually, I fill my favorite mug twice with the 500ml of brewed tea – and bonus! The Breville keeps the tea warm for me. No tea cozy needed.
The black tea base is prominent and that just may be why I find this tea so enjoyable. I like it when I taste the tea base of a blend (especially when it’s actually TEA and not rooibos or honeybush.) The black tea here is a solid, full-flavored tea. It tastes rich and there is a hint of malt to it and this complements the toffee notes. This is a bold enough tea that this would make a really nice first cup of the day. (A little treat for breakfast?) There is some astringency to this, but I’m not finding it to be a strong astringency. It falls somewhere between very mild and moderate.
The chocolate notes are really nice here. As I said, I’d love to have more chocolate, but I find that the level of chocolate to be good here. I think that’s because there is a really good proportion of flavors. The black tea is the most prominent flavor, with the chocolate and toffee notes standing at about equal levels – maybe just a little more chocolate than toffee.
The toffee is sweet and buttery. The combination of the chocolate and the toffee here is incredibly decadent. This may just be one of Frank’s best “confectionery” type of teas yet. This is really yum. It reminds me a lot of a gourmet chocolate toffee candy like these from Valerie Confections, all that’s missing is that crunch. And these might even be a little bit BETTER because there’s also tea. And tea always makes things better.
Sweet Cinnamon Maté Tisane from Because UR Priceless
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Yerba Maté
Where to Buy: Because UR Priceless on Etsy
Tisane Description:
Yerba Matế (pronounced mah-tay) has long been recommended for promoting vitality, clarity and well-being. Not only does it contain 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, and a host of antioxidants, but it is traditionally used as a catalyst to help your body take in the benefits of other herbs.
Our SWEET CINNAMON MATẾ combines this wonderful leaf with spicy cinnamon and sweet cacao nibs to make for an unforgettable tea drinking experience.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This tisane is delightful!
The Yerba Mate appears to be a “green” (rather than a roasted) Yerba Mate and it lends a fresh crisp taste to the cup. Yerba Mate is a very invigorating drink and I love the refreshing flavor of the green Mate in this. It is a nice contrast to the warm, spicy-sweet cinnamon and the rich notes of cacao.
The cinnamon here adds a gentle heat. It’s not overly spicy, but it’s warming and it’s especially nice to be drinking on a cool autumn morning like this. Cozy, like a warm fluffy blanket but less likely to lull you into a sleepy state because we’re drinking Mate here! The Mate gives you a swift kick in the butt to get you going and keep you alert!
The cacao nibs are a nice touch. It gives a slight chocolate-y sweetness to the cup to soften the edge of the cinnamon and enhance the earthy quality of the Mate in a favorable way. (Mate can sometimes be a little more on the vegetal earthy side, the cacao ensures a more chocolate-y earthiness which I like much better.)
To brew this tea, I grabbed my Kati Tumbler and added the contents of the sampler packet to the basket. That’s probably a tad more than was needed for a 12 ounce cuppa, but, I tend to prefer my tisanes to be brewed strong because they tend to be somewhat “thinner” in body.
I added hot water (195°F) and steeped the tisane for 10 minutes. I have found that Yerba Mate can become a little bitter if you either: a) bring the water to boiling, or; b) steep too long. If you eliminate one of these factors, in this case, I brought the water to just boil, then you don’t get that unpleasant bitterness from the Mate and you can steep the blend a little longer to ensure a strong flavor from the infusion.
It’s a very satisfying beverage that’s a little sweet, a little spicy and a whole lot energizing!