I don’t know what I think about this. I didn’t notice before making it that it has licorice in it, and my reason for feeling unsure about it might be because of that. Cocoa and licorice? Hmmm. This smells weird and tastes weird. In a way, it’s a good thing, but it also kind of tastes like someone went crazy with mixing spices into a weak chocolate milk, and to me, that’s not really an appetising thing. It might have been better with some ginger, as well. That’s just speculation, though (mostly based on the fact that I think ginger is one of those spices that can make a tea really fantastic.) I’ve never actually had ginger with cocoa. But my dad thinks it’s amazing, and he has good taste.
I wish I could be more descriptive about this but, not thinking, I had a strongly flavoured dinner before drinking this, and I’m having a hard time breaking down the elements of the taste, which is even more complicated because I added soy milk to it, diluting the essence of the flavour. I added it because I thought it went with the taste, but I had tasted it beforehand and there was nothing necessarily lacking, so maybe it wasn’t the best choice. I’ve got a whole box of this, so it’s not a disaster that I can’t be more descriptive about it at this point. From the slightly muddy, kind of mismatched flavour I’m getting from this now, I’d say this is one of those “just okay” teas. I got it because I like spices and haven’t had a spice and cocoa tea before (I don’t even really like cocoa or chocolate, so it was pretty much an experiment from the get-go [though the chocolate flavour isn’t what I haven’t liked about the tea]), and also, I’m auditioning teas without caffeine for drinking on these cold nights in Germany. When it first gets into your mouth and you get that combination of the spices and cocoa (when you take a sip, the cocoa and cinnamon are the most prominent tastes at the very beginning of the mouthful), it works very well, but some element is holding it back by dragging it down into a mess of overly herbal flavour. This is really annoying, because with the soy milk in it and that initial mixture of the cocoa and cinnamon flavour, this seems like an original and quite tasty tea. Then that gross thing pops its head around the corner and offers greetings while my tastebuds shrink away.
Basically, I don’t like the way this tea smells, and when I think of combining spices with chocolate, I think of a rich, flavourful result, which this s not. It’s not bad, and as someone who isn’t that into combining chocolate and spices, I find it drinkable, but I wouldn’t buy more packages of it.
Oh, also I had this tea with my dessert, which was a snack bar made out of dates, sultanas, coconut, and oats. It really went with the overarching coconut flavour of the bar, and I think it’s the spices that matched it. If you haven’t tried having chai (or other spiced teas) with a coconut-y dessert, or even with coconut milk in it, that might be something to consider in future. Chai’s pretty heavy with coconut milk in it, though. It might be a good idea to use the lower fat one.
