This tea sounds soooo fancy! I kept mixing up which one this was, as it just smells like chocolatey tea to me!
Praline De Champagne as dried tea leaves looks impressive and Valentinesy. Sexy black leaves, heart shaped chocolate, chunks of strawberry – YUM! And pralines in it? Oh man – I can pig out on this tea without the calories.
Interestingly the sales guy mentioned that this tea has more calories as well as the act of drinking tea burns more calories (concept I know of called negative calories).
There is a rooibos version, which they had a sample at the store – but I found it too rooibosy overpowering, thus I went with the black tea one. That and I like my caffeine… and black tea.
So, I’m home making a cup of this tea. I try to get a nice scoop to get a bit of everything – this proves difficult as the strawberries are HUGE slices so I can see additional cups I make might lack the strawberry flavour. There is a fair amount of chocolate bits and pralines, but alas, I could see at the end I’ll just be drinking black tea. I think it would be nicer to have smaller chocolates and strawberries for flavour spread, but visually what they did here is nice.
Leaves steeped – very strawberry smell, hint of chocolate and a sweet sting of candy sweet like praline. 65% of the chocolates has melted down. Hot damn I’m ready to chug this beast (hopefully not burn my face off)
Taste wise – smooth caramelly, tart strawberries – not too sweet. Nice aftertaste of black tea and tart strawberry. Not so much chocolate taste, it’s more in the smell. Pretty simple yet effective.
Valentines tea? Check. This be a great tea to buy to impress that special someone that likes tea. Or make a pot in a clear teapot, making sure to show them the leaves first.
Me? I’m still sad over the huge chunks of chocolate and strawberries being gone when I’m at the end of this tea and I’m stuck drinking black tea with praline stumps. With that said, I think this tea would go over great steeped for bigger batches (heh, to share with someone).
Since I drink quite a bit of DAVIDsTeas.. lets compare this to “Love Tea #7” another strawberry choco tea. Praline De Champagne is more smoother with the pralines and stronger strawberry taste (pending, as I made sure I had a chunk of strawberry in this cup) and a stronger after taste of tartness. Love Tea #7 has MUCH more chocolately flavour and a floral punch with the rose reducing tart a bit.
Presentation wise, Praline De Champagne wins… but that I think taste should win.
So – not bad of a tea. Simple, strawberrly, praliney without the crazy sweet. I think this tea is ment to be shared to ensure optimal flavor spread vs for a single person. For me, since my fiance hates tea, sinful teas like this is like curling up with a bucket of ice cream, without the guilt. I don’t think I’ll buy more once my 50 grams is gone.
This tea might make a good latte though… mmmmm
