Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Upton Tea Imports
Product Description:
A premium black tea combining the popular tastes of bergamot and chocolate with a hint of lemon. Decorated with flower petals and lemon peel for a delightful presentation.
Ingredients: black tea, chocolate pieces (sugar, cocoa, soy lecithin), cacao beans, lemongrass, lemon peel, corn flowers, jasmine flowers, sunflower blossoms, natural & artificial flavor
Taster’s Review:
When I saw this Chocolate Earl Grey on Upton’s website, I knew I had to try it. A chocolate flavored Earl Grey? Of course I had to try it! Fortunately, Upton Tea Imports offers their teas in sampler sizes that are very affordable.
The aroma of the dry leaf is very interesting – the combination of bergamot and chocolate creates a very unique scent, making it very difficult to describe. I mean, usually, when I take a whiff of a bergamot flavored tea, I *know* it! The scent is very distinctive – usually overwhelmingly so – but in a very good way! But when sharing the stage with the also distinctive fragrance of chocolate, the bergamot becomes a bit subdued, smelling a bit less like citrus and a bit more like the floral note that makes gives bergamot it’s “not just any citrus-y” scent. Combine that with an oh-so-subtle hint of jasmine as well as some lemon-y notes from lemongrass and lemon peel. The jasmine and lemon are very subtle, but there, and it adds a sense of intrigue to this blend. I could not wait to taste it!
The chocolate is the dominant flavor of this blend. The bergamot becomes more like “wallpaper” in this tea – you know it’s there, and sometimes it catches your attention, but, for the most part, it kind of blends in with the rest of flavors. It is the lemon essence that really adds some definition to the citrus flavor of the bergamot and helps to bring it out. I can even taste a pleasant lemon-y tang on the tip of my tongue in the finish.
There is no bitterness to this tea: just a deliciously sweet chocolate note at the start, a beautiful floral note in the middle, and a sweet-and-tangy citrus note at the finish with a slight astringency that lingers on the palate. The second infusion is quite different. The bergamot emerges with the second infusion, and the chocolate flavor has become more of a savory cacao flavor. Still very delicious – just different.
This is one of my all time favorite blends from Upton Tea Imports. It combines my top three favorite tea flavors – chocolate, Earl Grey and even jasmine! – in one exciting flavor.
