Chocolate Cherry Bomb!
It’s a special day when you get to drink a tea with an exclamation mark in its name!
I loved the aroma of this one as soon as I opened the pouch. The first impression I got from this deep black tea was that it was boozy, rather than sweet candy. Then I was reminded of the smell of cherry pipe tobacco, which is one of my favorite scents ever. When I see Haley Mills sniffing her grandpa in “The Parent Trap” to ‘make a memory’ as she put it, this is the aroma I imagine, even though she said he also smelled of peppermints!
Steeped, this is a strong and brisk black base with chocolate foremost and cherry after. And hallelujah! The cherry tastes like cherry instead of like horrific cherry cough syrup!
This would be a good breakfast tea thanks to that hefty base, and can easily handle milk and sugar. I do recommend that you let it cool a little before you sip. When I sipped it piping hot, I tasted chocolate but no cherry. With just a little cooling, the cherry flavor came out very well.
Don’t overleaf this one! The base is strong enough to stick with a level teaspoon for eight ounces.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The Tea Spot
Description
Think hand-dipped chocolate cherry truffle… sweet, plump, juicy, decadent – without the calories. Its cherry scent and velvety smooth chocolate notes work to enchant, but not overwhelm. Handcrafted from two black teas this is a dessert that you can enjoy for breakfast.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate PuErh from Numi Organic Teas
Numi’s Chocolate Pu-erh bags are the perfect intro to flavored Puerh: organic yet inexpensive, and bagged for easy travel. In fact it was the very first tea I pulled from my very first sampler, an inexpensive add-on in my amazon cart. This is also sold loose leaf by the pound.
I have to admit I was skeptical because not only did I dislike chocolate, but I also had heard “fishy” things about the fermented tea. But as a scientist, I had to test these assumptions, and the evidence supported the null hypothesis. This was a light bodied, full flavor tea, that I’ve found is impossible to screw up in the brewing process.
This silky brown infusion reminds me of a hot cocoa with toasted marshmallows fresh from the campfire, and ooooooh that tiniest hint of that nutmeg. Alton Brown would be proud. As a final touch of perfection, cue a chef’s kiss, no sweetener was needed!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Flavored Pu-Erh
Where to Buy: Numi Tea
This velvety infusion combines black Pu∙erh tea and organic cocoa. Accented by whole vanilla beans and sweet orange peel, this decadent blend is rounded off with nutmeg and cinnamon for a spicy finish.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Hot Chocolate from The NecessiTeas. . .
Every so often I like to make tea packages for my friends. I go through a bunch of my teas and try to share samples of teas they might not otherwise come across themselves. Oftentimes that means I share my NecessiTea teas because NecessiTeas does not offer sample sizes so I have a lot to share and it allows my friends the opportunity to try the teas before they commit to a larger amount.
While packaging this Hot Chocolate tea to share, my mouth began to water at the smell of the dry leaf. I figured there was no better time to give it a try than when I already had the tin out and the teaspoon in hand. So, I got the kettle started and brewed this up both as a plain teas and as a concentrated version topped up with some vanilla almond milk to make a latte.
I was all prepared to get to drinking and blogging…and then food delivery arrived 20 minutes early. So by the time I got to trying the tea, I was completely stuffed from my meal, and the teas had cooled more than I intended. I only mention this because that may or may not have played a role in how I tasted the tea and I wanted to be completely transparent.
The plain tea was very murky, which was to be expected from all the various ingredients in the dry leaf including black tea, apples, cocoa beans, chocolate, barley, yogurt, freeze dried marshmallows, natural and organic flavors. The mouthfeel was surprisingly smooth for such a murky blend but the flavor was lighter than I hoped it would be. The chocolate flavor was present though it was more like cacao than a smooth milk/dark chocolate meaning it was an earthier flavor. The barley blended with that earthiness and gave it a more grainy flavor. Like chocolate cereal…in water. The smell really had me excited but this is weaker and less silky than I would have expected or hoped for from a Hot Chocolate tea.
The vanilla almond milk latte just latched on to that grain flavor from the barley and combined it with the nuttiness of the milk to give this an even earthier vibe than the plain tea. It almost tastes like unsweetened oatmeal. The chocolate is completely drowned out and honestly, it is a little bit chalky. I blame the almond milk more than the tea though because I haven’t had much success using it in lattes. Basically I am pretending like this didn’t happen because it just was not good.
All in all, the smell of this tea is amazing but a little misleading. It seems like it should be rich and creamy but I found this had a much lighter/weak flavor than one would expect. It has so many amazing ingredients and yet I didn’t get much of them. I wanted more from the marshmallow. More from the yogurt. Those flavors would have helped as they would have contributed some much needed sweetness and creaminess into this blend.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
Description
What’s not to love about hot chocolate? It’s hot, sweet and chocolate-y goodness never does me wrong! The best part is licking the creamy marshmallows that have turned into a thick frothy cream! And that’s where my idea for this tea blend came about.. I combined flavorful black tea with cocoa beans, decadent chocolate, a touch of vanilla and topped it with mini marshmallows.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate from Pu-Erh Numi Teas. . . .
I’ve found that sometimes pu-erh teas can be a bit complicated, there’s a lot of history and process that’s worth knowing if you take your pu-erh seriously. However, I had a completely different experience with Chocolate Pu -Erh from Numi, which is one of the most approachable pu-erh teas I’ve tried.
Pu-erh teas are known for their exceptionally smooth mouthfeel and their earthy taste. Adding chocolate to that combination sounds like a great idea. This Chocolate Pu-Erh came in an easy-to-use sample tea bag, not in a big tea cake, so no special tools or teapots were necessary. Just add hot water and a mug. The dry tea smelled a little sour with a hint of vinegar. However, once I brewed the tea, the flavors were far more inviting, with a strong fragrance of cocoa and roasted nuts.
This tea had a forward chocolate flavor, but it was rounded out by the more savory, earthiness of the pu erh tea underneath. There is a hint of fermentation flavors that I expect from pu-erh teas; a subtle undertone, almost like wet leaves or flowers, slightly sweet and slightly sour. The richness of the pu-erh leaves and the decadence of the chocolate are only enhanced by the creamy, velvety mouthfeel as I sipped this tea.
If you are tired of the bright and biting flavors of breakfast black teas, try a pu-erh tea like Chocolate Pu-Erh from Numi. The rich, smooth, taste and texture are a completely different experience that may open the door to a new world of teas to try.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Pu erh
Where to Buy: Numi Teas
Description: This velvety infusion combines black Pu∙erh tea and organic cocoa. Accented by whole vanilla beans and sweet orange peel, this decadent blend is rounded off with nutmeg and cinnamon for a spicy finish.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Coconut Truffle from The NecessiTeas. . .
First things first, let’s Google: Chocolate truffles vs pig-found mushroom truffles…. because I’ve seen mushroom teas out there, and i just want to be ready for it…. but verdict says: they are called the same name because of how they LOOK, not taste. Phew, ok. Both good eats but not anything I’d want to taste together, I don’t think…
I see almond slices and rooibos playing among the coconut slivers and black tea leaves whilst I brewed at 180 F. After 3 min, there was so much coconut oil on top that even JP Sears would be jealous. Then it literally sparkled on its way out of my gravity strainer, oh how I would love to drop it through again. The infusion looks like a translucent milk chocolate bar, it smells mostly like dark chocolate with hints of that sweet earthy coconut. Mmmmmm!
At first it Tastes of coconut, Tropical and luxurious. The aftertaste for about a minute is seriously so chocolatey – that feeling after you eat the last morsel and the last bits of melted heaven swirl around your tastebuds on their way down. Pleasant without sweetener, which for me is saying something! As the tea gets cooler, the aftertaste then becomes very juicy and refreshing. This would also be fantastic cold brewed as an iced tea, No wonder it’s currently sold out!
The second steep is enjoyable though not as oily or sparkly, which is understandable. It reminds me of my Dad’s favorite candy bar, Almond Joy. I’d share this tea with him but he’s on a Hawaiian vacation so I guess this is how I live vicariously through it.
Kiddo and I have only watched Moana six times since Friday, so this irrefutable inspiration to end by re-appropriating the lyrics of her song can be blamed on him … (and you’re welcome for the earworm… google that!)
“Every spoon I scoop, every cup I pour, Every sip I take, I keep wanting more, I keep looking back to that tea webstore, and no one knows… how my stash grows….”
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
From first sip, this marvelous blended black tea tastes like an exotic tropic night–dark, playful, with the perfect amount of warm chocolate, creamy coconut, and hints of bright notes that are reminiscent of the coming sunrise. You can almost hear the trade winds blowing through the palm trees! Add a little coconut milk to take this lovely tea blend from delicious to decadent!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!