Chocolate tea can be a decadent latte, or a great dessert-replacement. But most of the chocolate teas I’ve tried, have black tea or honeybush tea as a base, mixed with chocolate chips and chocolate flavors. This tea, Cacao Tea from Mi Cacao, is a completely different chocolate experience.
You may have heard about cascara tea at your local coffee shop, which is a brew made from the husks of the coffee cherries. Similar to cascara tea, cacao tea is an herbal brew made with cacao shells. These shells are the exterior pod that hold the cacao nibs, the essential chocolate-making ingredient. But these shells still have plenty of flavor.
I brewed this once straight, and once with milk. On its own, this tea does taste like chocolate, but it is almost salty and brothy, like a nutty chocolate popcorn tea blend. The blend is enhanced by milk, making the blend feel creamier and sweeter, and more like the decadent chocolate teas with which I’m more familiar.
Do you remember liking the taste of coffee ice cream, but having a strong aversion to coffee itself? But then you tried coffee on its own out of necessity or curiosity, and you came to like the strong brew on its own? Cacao Tea feels like the chocolate equivalent. It’s easy to like sugary, chocolatey hot chocolate, but cocoa tea might be more of an acquired taste. But perhaps as your tastes or moods change, you’ll be looking for a chocolate brew that’s a little less sweet and more potent. That’s when Cacao Tea will be the perfect choice.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Mi Cacao
Description:
Herbal chocolate tea made from the shell of the cacao bean. Cacao Tea is 100% cocoa based. It is completely natural, preservative free, and without any artificial flavors or starches. Sugar-free. Organic. Gluten-Free. Vegan-friendly.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Vanilla Cacao Tea from Tisano
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Tisano
Tisane Description:
If you love chocolate cupcakes this is the tea for you… In the 19th Century Dutch settlers in South Africa created an herbal infusion from the Rooibos bush. It is a caffeine-free natural source of antioxidants with a milky and nutty flavor profile. Combining Rooibos, Vanilla Beans and Cacao Tea creates a creamy chocolate dessert in a cup minus the calories, sugar, fat and packed with antioxidant goodness.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh. My. Goodness. This is so good. Definitely one of the very best rooibos blends I’ve ever had. And it’s all because of the chocolate, baby!
To steep this tisane, I used 195°F water and steeped it for 12 minutes. I used 2 tsp. of leaf for 12 ounces of water. This produced one serious cup of YUM!
Just as the description above suggests, this tastes like a liquefied chocolate cupcake! The rooibos adds just enough of a nutty, sweet flavor to give this just the right cake-ish flavor. I like that I can taste just a bit of the natural nutty tones of the rooibos without this tasting too much like rooibos. You can taste those nutty flavors but it doesn’t taste so distinctly like rooibos.
The vanilla is a strong note too – sweet, creamy and luscious! YUM! For those of you who like the flavor of a latte but want to limit your dairy intake, the vanilla in this gives it just the right creamy, almost latte-ish like flavor that you don’t need to add milk or cream.
But the real star of this cup is – not surprisingly! – the cacao shells! By now, those that have been reading my reviews enough should be aware of how much I love cacao shells. I think that they’re the perfect component to a chocolate tea. It adds a better chocolate flavor to a cup than cacao nibs do, better than chocolate flavoring oil does, and much better than chocolate chips/chunks do. Cacao shells are the KEY to a chocolate-y tea!
And this is chocolate-y! Rich and decadent and absolutely SINFULLY chocolate. So yum! The vanilla gives it just enough of a “milk chocolate” sort of flavor and enough of a creamy texture to satisfy that craving of a chocolate-y dessert (like that aforementioned chocolate cupcake!)
I don’t usually offer a “highly recommended” recommendation to a rooibos blend … but this one has earned it. I highly recommend this one! Two thumbs up!
Mint Cacao Tea from Tisano
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Tisano
Tisane Description:
Tisano is redefining mint-chocolate. Our CACAO MINT TEA is pure and simple, we take our signature CACAO TEA and artisanally blend it with organic Egyptian peppermint, creating a rich yet refreshing chocolate experience that lingers on your lips. Great for early morning or as an after dinner delight.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Yummy!
Yeah, I say that a lot. That’s because I’m surrounded by so much delicious tea! And this … is not so much “tea” as it is a chocolate tisane, but, without getting technical, I’ll just say that I’m really enjoying this Mint Cacao Tea from Tisano! It’s so yummy!
Every time I lift my teacup to my lips, I’m greeted with a strong aroma of CHOCOLATE! That smell gets my taste buds all excited for what they’re about to experience – a deliciously decadent, sinful taste of dark chocolate and crisp, cool peppermint. Sweet, just a little bit bitter (as in bittersweet chocolate), and minty. So good!
The combination of chocolate and peppermint is a classic one, and Tisano has taken this classic combination and created a really delectable “tea” that can be steeped in water or if you really want to go for the gusto, you might try steeping it in hot milk. Personally, I don’t like steeping tea in milk because it makes a mess. I like my tea brewing experience to be as carefree as possible, and this means the less mess, the better. But if you do choose to steep it in milk, I think you’ll be rewarded with a very satisfyingly rich, “hot cocoa” kind of cup.
Me, I steep it in hot water – 195°F to be exact. This tends to be my go-to temperature setting for tisanes, as I find the slightly lower than boiling temperature works best to extract the best flavor from herbs. I let it steep for 12 minutes as there are no Camellia Sinensis leaves in this – so I don’t have to worry about oversteeping or tannins. Rather than just 1 tsp. of dry leaf for 12 ounces of hot water, I go with 2 tsp. because the way I see it, more chocolate = better. These parameters produce a very flavorful cuppa that satisfies this chocoholic when the chocolate cravings set in. It’s a little like a thinned hot cocoa that’s full of dark chocolate flavor with a refreshing note of mint.
And even though this is not a true “tea” – this beverage definitely brings a smile to my face. It’s sweet and chocolate-y and just … oh-so-good!!!
Original Cacao Tea from Tisano
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane (I wasn’t sure how I should categorize this!)
Where to Buy: Tisano
Tisane Description:
Tisano CACAO TEA is an award winning herbal chocolate tea. We don’t use artificial flavorings – just 100% of world’s best organic cacao – creating a rich, natural and one-of-a-kind chocolate experience. Tisano is the innovator behind real chocolate infusions – join our adventure.
This healthy addiction is rich in antioxidants and has zero fat or calories. Cacao Tea contains Theobromine, a natural mood booster and with less caffeine than green tea or decaf coffee it is an ideal healthy alternative. Give it a try and unlock the wisdom of cacao, the original fruit of the gods.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
One word is all that is needed to really describe the flavor of this tea: CHOCOLATE! Yes, I said chocolate.
I previously reviewed this tisane on another tea review site – unfortunately, the archives are not available at this time (I don’t know if this is a permanent situation or not!) so I can’t route you there with a link. But, even though I’ve already tried this tisane, it doesn’t mean that I’m not willing and eager to sample it again and write more about it. I mean, hey, we’re talking CHOCOLATE here! Well, cacao shells. But once they’re brewed, they taste like a great big mug of sweet, sinful, indulgent hot chocolate.
The consistency of this drink is a little thinner than my “usual” hot cocoa because I like to make my hot chocolate with hot milk rather than water. But, this has all the rich, chocolate-y flavor of a hot cocoa. In fact, I prefer the flavor of this to a hot cocoa because it is more like the dark chocolate that I prefer. I get that dark, bittersweet flavor of dark chocolate that I love and there is a wonderful contrast between the bitter and the sweet.
If you prefer a creamier or (milkier) chocolate, you can add a splash of milk or cream to the cup. I would recommend brewing this a little stronger if you plan to go latte though so that you get a stronger impact from the chocolate. Because let’s face it, if you’re going to be drinking a product that is 100% cacao shells, you’re looking for some decadent chocolate flavor!
And that’s exactly what Tisano delivers. This product is 100% cacao shells – nothing else! – and it delivers a rich, delicious chocolate-y flavor that’s sure to please even the most particular of chocoholics out there.
There are few things out there that I love more than chocolate. And this Cacao Tea from Tisano makes me a very happy chocolate lover.
Chai Cacao Tea from Tisano
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tisano
Tea Description:
In India tea has it’s roots in Ayurveda, a wholestic approach to medicine focusing on food and lifestyle. From there, India’s most popular beverage – Masala Chai, “Spiced Tea,” was born. Tisano takes this 5,000 year old tradition into the 21st Century – we source estate grown Assam Black Tea leaves, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and other spices to create a unique sweet and spicy chocolate Chai Cacao Tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was so excited when this tea was offered on sale on the Tisano website recently, because I’ve been wanting to try it ever since I heard that it had been added to the Tisano line of teas and tisanes. I’m really fond of Tisano’s original cacao tea which I reviewed previously (and plan to review again for this site soon!) That moment when I first sampled the original was my first introduction to cacao shells (rather than nibs) as a source for chocolate-y infused drinks. And seriously, there’s nothing better to infuse than cacao shells to get a rich, true, chocolate-y flavor!
When I visited the Tisano website to start prepping for this review, I learned that this wasn’t just a simple blend of cacao shells with spices like I first thought it was! No! This is actually a tea with camellia sinensis leaves, as well as cacao shells and spices.
Mmm! This is so yummy! The chocolate note is rich and prominent. It’s the first note that I taste when I take a sip. Decadent, rich, delicious chocolate! Just beneath the chocolate-y surface is a satisfyingly smooth, malty note of Assam. Then I pick up on the spices.
The spices here are not strong or “spicy.” The spice notes are warm and I love the dimension that the spices add to this cup. There is a really nice balance of the spices. No one spice takes center stage, it is a well-rounded collection of spices that add warmth to the cup without overpowering the cacao. Instead, the spices elevate the earthy notes of the cacao.
The cacao shells are the perfect representation of chocolate. It’s rich and intensely flavorful. It tastes like true chocolate much more so than any chocolate flavoring that I’ve experienced with flavored teas, and it’s also a better chocolate-y representation than cacao nibs. This tastes like a deep, dark, rich chocolate with notes of bitter and sweet. It tastes amazing as a latte too. Perfect!
This is THE CHAI for chocolate lovers. If you love chocolate, you really must try this tea!