About Bad Girl Chocolates:
Learn about Bad Girl Chocolates on their Facebook Page.
Product Description:
These little beauties are our latest creation – Citrus Earl Grey Tea Caramels. We made them for our newest friend Amoda Tea.
Bad Girl won’t be selling these delicious caramels ourselves, so the only way to get them is to hop on over to Amoda Tea and subscribe to their subscription tea service this month.
(Note: these were in the May Tea Tasting Box from Amoda Tea)
Taster’s Review:
As I mentioned in my Rooibos Chocolate Tisane from Forsman Tea company review, May’s tea tasting box from Amoda Tea is my favorite box that I’ve received from them thus far. But really, I’ve enjoyed just about every box I’ve gotten from them. It’s a lot of fun to receive the subscription box, too! To learn more about subscribing, click here.
One of the reasons why I enjoyed this box so much is that in addition to three really great teas/tisanes, there were four tasty caramels from Bad Girl Chocolates. These caramels were infused with the Citrus Earl Grey tea from Naked Teas Galore – which was featured in Amoda’s April Tea Tasting Box. And I have a sweet tooth, so, one of the easiest ways for a tea company to make me happy is to add sweets to the box when they ship something to me.
These caramels are smooth and creamy and caramel-y delicious. The Citrus Earl Grey tea notes are subtle at first, but as I continue to allow the flavors of the chewy caramel to develop on my palate, I notice more of the citrus-y, bergamot-y flavor, with notes of black tea in the background. The tea adds a nice depth of flavor to the caramel.
Absolutely YUMMY! Thank you, Amoda Tea, for this lovely Mother’s Day “gift” inclusion in my May box! I wouldn’t be sad if there were more in my June box, because I want more!
Birthday Cake from David’s Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: David’s Tea
Tisane Description:
What’s the best thing about birthdays? It could be the presents, or spending time with loved ones, but let’s be honest. It’s all about the cake. With vanilla icing, and lots of sprinkles. And this sweet and festive rooibos blend brings the taste of birthday cake to your cup any day of the year – sprinkles and all. Best of all, not only is it low in calories, it also has all the goodness of rooibos. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this here before, but, those that know me well know that I have a thing for cupcakes. I see a cupcake shop, I get all giddy – and even giddier when my husband indulges me and stops to let me shop for one or two. I even have a cupcake scented lotion that I use daily and it smells so much like cupcakes that my family perks up when they smell it, asking “something smells good. Did you make cupcakes?” Of course, they’re disappointed when they find out that I’m just softening my hands and not baking dessert.
And there’s no doubt in my mind that if I were not the only one awake in the house at the moment, that my family would be coming in here asking me where the cupcakes are … because this tisane SMELLS like cupcakes!
It tastes like a vanilla cupcake, too! It tastes sweet, creamy and like it should be about a thousand calories! However, according to the little nutrition label on the back of this pouch, it is about 1% of that – Just 10 calories! (If my math is way off, forgive me, mathematics has never been my strength). Of course, if you are one who generally sweetens your tea, you’ll be adding more calories to that count – but with just 10 calories in the tea and just 16 calories in a teaspoon of sugar, you’re still at just 26 calories! All that said, the truth is, you don’t NEED to sweeten this. It is sweet and delicious without the sugar.
I’m thrilled that I don’t taste much from the rooibos. Maybe a hint of nutty flavor in the background, but nothing too overwhelming. The same is true of the honeybush. I don’t get a lot of the woody/nutty taste of the honeybush, but I do taste a slight honey-like tone, which enhances the flavors.
But mostly, what I taste is CUPCAKE! This has a rich, creamy vanilla flavor, maybe just a hint of butter, and a distinct freshly baked kind of taste that rounds out the overall birthday cake flavor.
I like this. I like this a lot!
Custard-Filled Maple Long John Honeybush from 52Teas
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
Continuing our tradition of bringing you guilty-pleasure baked goods in tea form, here’s our take on a custard-filled maple long john (one of my personal guilty-pleasures). Sweet, caffeine-free honeybush blended with marigold petals and natural flavors. Sweet, maple-y, bake-y goodness in a guilt-free, caffeine-free and 100% vegan treat!
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This is one that I’ve really been looking forward to. I love maple bars, and while I’m sure that I’ve had a custard-filled maple long john before, it hasn’t been recently. Maple bars are easy to find, I usually find them in my grocery store bakery. But custard-filled maple long johns, are not quite so easy to find unless I happen to visit an actual donut shop, and I try to avoid those, as I cannot resist temptation when it’s right there in front of me, you know what I mean?
But, a Custard-Filled Maple Long John flavored tisane is another thing altogether. This will – I hope! – allow me to enjoy the flavor of one those “irresistible temptations” without feeling guilty. Which is why I had been so looking forward to trying this!
Mmm! This is really yummy. My first couple of sips – while it was still quite hot – were a bit more like a “deconstructed” custard-filled maple long john more than the entirety of the treat: I could taste each flavor but they didn’t really come together as seamlessly as I would have liked. But after allowing this to cool for a few minutes (about five minutes or so … it’s still hot but not steaming hot) I notice the flavors start to come together in a lip-smacking, delicious way.
THIS TASTES LIKE A CUSTARD-FILLED MAPLE LONG JOHN!
Frank, you did it again. This is absolutely amazing. Of course, I guess anyone COULD create this flavor. All they’d need to do is drop a custard-filled maple long john into a blender, add some brewed honeybush and blend it until it’s completely liquid. But then, why go through all that trouble (and mess), when you can just as easily brew a cup of this for that same goodness!
Dark Chocolate with Earl Grey Tea from Dolfin
Information:
Dark Chocolate Bar
Where to Buy: The Meadow and other locations where Dolfin Chocolates are sold.
Chocolate Bar Description:
A perfect mix of contrasts: the refreshing sweetness of the bergamot blends perfectly with the strong taste of the chocolate. For afternoon tea, a chocolate with a British accent.
Learn more about Dolfin here.
Taster’s Review:
Recently, I visited the North Portland location of Little Big Burger, and as I walked toward Little Big Burger, I couldn’t help but notice this little shop called The Meadow. They sell flowers, an array of finishing salts, bitters and chocolate. Yes, I said CHOCOLATE! How could I ignore this little shop? It begged me to stop in and at least take a look around.
But, of course, if I am around chocolate, I can hardly just “look around.” I must have chocolate! They have an entire wall dedicated to high quality chocolates from around the world. I can feel myself start to drool just thinking about it!
While it was difficult to settle upon just one (or two) chocolate bars, I knew my husband was waiting for me so I needed to hurry! Finally, I settled upon this Dark Chocolate Bar with Earl Grey Tea! This is a 52% Belgian dark chocolate bar with crushed Earl Grey Tea leaves. Not an “infused” chocolate, but, a chocolate bar with real bits of tea leaves.
The first thing I notice about this bar is the packaging. Very impressive! The package is a double folded “envelope” that keeps the left over chocolate (it’s quite a large bar!) fresh until you’re ready to eat more. I really like the package, it is clear that Dolfin is committed to maintaining their product’s integrity even after the package has been opened!
Breaking off a piece of the chocolate, I notice the snap of dark chocolate. Allowing the flavors to melt on my tongue, I can taste the smooth, rich flavor of bittersweet dark chocolate meld with the tangy citrus notes of bergamot. As I eat this chocolate, I can feel the tiny bits of tea leaf in the chocolate. The leaves add a little bit of crunch without feeling gritty and because the tea has been finely ground, it won’t leave leaf particles stuck in between the teeth!
While I don’t taste a lot of black tea flavor (there is some, just not a lot), I definitely taste the bergamot, and when it comes to Earl Grey tea, I want to taste BERGAMOT. The black tea becomes more distinct as I continue to enjoy the chocolate bar, and it is more prominent when I allow the chocolate to melt on the tongue as opposed to biting into it.
This chocolate bar from Dolfin provides an amazing chocolate experience for the tea lover! And if your Valentine loves chocolate and Earl Grey … you should consider adding this to their gift. (How about a Chocolate and Earl Grey Gift Basket?) They’ll LOVE you for it!
On The Sixth Day of Christmas, 52Teas sent to me …
Wow, already halfway through this sampler box! It seems weird to me that Christmas is less than a week away. Time flies. This is going to be a very strange holiday for me. Without going into details and making this a sappy, sordid story, I will just say that it is going to be different, and I’m glad that I have tea and the fun of this sampler box to make things a little easier.
So… for the sixth day of Christmas, 52Teas sent me this tea:
MARSHMALLOW TREAT FLAVORED GENMAICHA
I was one of the “lucky” customers that managed to get a pouch of the very first batch of this that Frank blended. His later batches were not mixed with mini-marshmallows and instead have marshmallow root. In addition, his later batches (including this one) did not include Uji-Genmaicha (Genmaicha with Matcha).
And that certainly does make a difference from the Marshmallow Treat tea that I reviewed back in June. The green tea flavor is softer, as is the marshmallow flavor. I find that as the tea cools slightly (still hot, just not fresh from the teapot hot), the marshmallow flavor develops a bit, and as I continue to sip, it develops even more. But, it doesn’t ever really become quite as memorable as that first batch was for me. The overall cup is lighter in flavor, and I think that this has just as much to do with the lack of Matcha as it does the lack of real marshmallows, if not more.
That being said, this is still really good.