56
drank Chocolate by Kusmi Tea
2036 tasting notes

I talked myself into a French flavored tea while I’m waiting for my chai to steep.

This smelled incredibly promising in the tin, very chocolatey. Like bakery chocolate.

However, that didn’t translate into the steeped product, unfortunately. It’s a suggestion of chocolate in the aroma, and less of one in the flavor. I wonder if I need to boost the amount of leaf? Will try that next time.

It’s hard to believe Kusmi could do such a wonderful caramel and not be able to repeat that feat with chocolate. This isn’t even approaching the Harney chocolate tea in terms of depth of chocolate flavor. Which leads me to believe it may be user error.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
Angrboda

Given my own dreadful dreadful chocolate tea experience recently, I’m beginning to suspect chocolate is quite simply a touch and go flavour.

__Morgana__

Yes, I think so too. Which seems a little strange to me. I was on the Mariage Freres web site yesterday and I noticed they don’t seem to even have a chocolate tea. I found that interesting.

Angrboda

I was sort of reminded about this last autumn where everybody got all excited about Thanksgiving and Halloween themed teas and then got disappointed because they didn’t think any of them really tasted like pumpkins.

ashmanra

I have just ordered Harney and Sons Chocolate. It should be here Wednesday. I had have Florence and like it a lot. I am hoping this new one will be a hit, also!

__Morgana__

I liked the H&S for plain chocolate. Also liked the TeaFrog. They’re different, but both good in their own ways.

Andreastt

I think this tea is full of chocolate flavour. The chocolate gets heavy and dominating if you add sugar!! Try it.

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Comments

Angrboda

Given my own dreadful dreadful chocolate tea experience recently, I’m beginning to suspect chocolate is quite simply a touch and go flavour.

__Morgana__

Yes, I think so too. Which seems a little strange to me. I was on the Mariage Freres web site yesterday and I noticed they don’t seem to even have a chocolate tea. I found that interesting.

Angrboda

I was sort of reminded about this last autumn where everybody got all excited about Thanksgiving and Halloween themed teas and then got disappointed because they didn’t think any of them really tasted like pumpkins.

ashmanra

I have just ordered Harney and Sons Chocolate. It should be here Wednesday. I had have Florence and like it a lot. I am hoping this new one will be a hit, also!

__Morgana__

I liked the H&S for plain chocolate. Also liked the TeaFrog. They’re different, but both good in their own ways.

Andreastt

I think this tea is full of chocolate flavour. The chocolate gets heavy and dominating if you add sugar!! Try it.

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Profile

Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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