Checkmate

Sipdown, 247. I could have sworn that I tried this tea before, but apparently not. Apparently I was thinking of Salted Caramel, for some reason. This sample comes from a swap I did a while ago with Faith. Thanks!

A blend of black tea and white tea seems challenging to steep, temperature-wise, but I did as I usually do and went for a mid-temp. It seems like everyone steeps this one for 4 minutes or more, but I could not bring myself to do that. The aroma is… odd. Not bad odd, just hard to place odd. Coconut, ok. A hint of burnt-sugar caramel. A hint of apple-y chamomile? Taste is iiiinteresting. Definitely toasted coconut, and maybe I can kind of see chocolate but I don’t really taste it very strongly. I don’t really know what to make of this one! There is also a bitterness that is more coffee-like than tea-like, and it has the sensation of coffee, though not really the flavor. I’m not a fan of coffee, so that aspect isn’t my favorite. But all in all it’s a pretty decent cup.

So after my horrible experiences with Second Cup, I desperately needed good tea. Plus, I had an hour to kill, so I stopped in to DavidsTea. Surprise, surprise, they had their new teas available on the counter for sniffing. Oh man, guys. You’re going to love them. This one in particular caught my sniffer. It’s a black/white tea blend with chocolate…it smells out of this world. It tastes even better. They couldn’t sell me a bag, but I did get some to go and saved the bag from that for resteeping at home. It’s delicious. I can’t wait to get more.

I got this as a nice extra surprise in a swap with Indigobloom! I was really happy with this extra tidbit since I have been wanting to try it! Somehow, I believe Indigobloom read my mid because I hadn’t included it in my shopping list… Yay! Thanks soo much!

My first impression when I sniffed it was white chocolate tea. Interesting considering I believe that this has no white chocolate in it… But, luckily I love white. Hoc plate, so I hoped that they the smell would hold up in the flavor.

Once steeped, I smelled Bai Mu Dan, some chocolate sweetness and an afterthought of black tea. I was surprised that the black tea didn’t take over. Unsweetened the tea was light but had something artificial going on… There was something chemical that didn’t let me enjoy this tea fully. Sweetened, it was smoother and it tasted something like what I imagine white chocolate Bai Mu Dan would taste like. There was an astringent note that I assume was contribution mainly of the black tea. I couldn’t quite find the chamomile, but this was ok with me considering I don’t love it.

Over all, it was unimpressive but not bad. It was just not one of those teas that blows you away and immediately has you wondering how you can get your hands on more. I am very very happy I got to try it. Now I know that I don’t like it enough to but it. Oh well….

Coconut and chamomile are two of my favourite things, but together, I wasn’t so sure how this would pan out. The scent of the dry leaves doesn’t have a single trace of chamomile, but rather, a mixture of coconut and white chocolate.

I love how the scent morphs into a much toastier coconut when this is steeped. It even tastes like a toasted coconut macaroon. I also don’t taste any chamomile. Hmm, perhaps it blends in with the coconut to create that chocolatey vibe. The tea base is nice and smooth here. Not bitter or overpowering. I find that there is a perfect balance between the tea base and the coconut & friends.

I purchased 18g of this and will definitely pick up more once this is done. It’s the kind of tea that’s great to sip on when you’re not in the mood for anything too bold.

Thank You to TeaNSympathy for a very intriguing sample.

When I opened the bag, the aromas blew me away! The tea smelled AHHH….MAY…ZING!! If I could do backflips, I would’ve rounded out a couple. :)) I sensed the aroma of coconut and vanilla, and there is a chocolate aroma to this blend. Could it have been coffee? I have read and seen blends where coffee is blended with tea. Maybe it was roasted mate. I remember drinking roasted mate, which gave me a similar sensation when drinking it.

Then I read the ingredients. I couldn’t believe it! There is no chocolate, coffee, or roasted mate listed. Maybe they just didn’t list all of the ingredients?! Yet the choco-coffee, mate aroma is there! Coconut is the obvious and dominant aroma. Then there is the chamomile. Any chamomile I’ve ever had didn’t look quite like the flower in this blend. And I didn’t recognize any part of the aroma as chamomile. The teas listed are Bai Mu Dan and a black tea-probably an Assam. At any rate, these aromas are a dance for the senses (or sense).

The cup aroma was a coconut concoction, filled with choco-nutty goodness, and a sweetness, all of which emanated from the cup. The flavor was really good. Delicious….yes…but, not to the extent the dry aroma would lead you to believe. Still, coconut and that choco-nuttiness played on my tongue! Bai Mu Dan whites tend to have a nutty character to them. The creamy sweetness was brought forth by the chamomile, but I can’t believe when blended, it is responsible for this tea’s chocolate notes.

Check Mate’s shortfall for me is the lack of strength in the base teas. The wonderful coconut and chamomile overpower the base teas for me. Yes, they are present and noticeable, but I just prefer more balance between the teas and the other ingredients in this case.

It is really a very nice, quite delicious dessert tea. If the game of Chess was strictly based on aromas, I would concede to Check Mate, and a match well played. But the base teas didn’t bring their A Game, so I’d have to call this one a draw, and demand a rematch. In this case a rematch (another cup of this tea) is an event worth savoring!

Cupped and Reviewed: Tuesday, March 13, 2012.

This is is super yummy (Not as 100% awesome as I was expecting… see my note on Cranberry Pear!), however, what a cool tea!

They classify it as a white tea, and although it looks black and I can’t pick out the white tea, I will trust that it’s there. lol.

The smell is divine, and the taste… tastes like chocolate! It’s kind of crazy.. the girl who sold it to me said she was allergic to chocolate, so I thought this tea must have been made for her! Of course, not for our favorite mew brew because of the coconut :( So that is a sad note.

I find it slightly light on flavour, but that may have been my steeping time. All in all, a very unique tea, but not my favorite. :)

Black tea predominant at the end of the sip- leathery taste, reminds me of the musty smell of a barn. I think that the coconut comes out most on the aftertaste and gives sweetness throughout. The white tea seems to be coming in closer to the beginning of the sip. The chamomile sweetness is mostly present in the after taste with a sticky-sweet feeling.

For the second infusion (5 minutes), the black tea taste is subdued and the flavour of the brew takes on a somewhat creamy feel.

Rating: 72

I have always been curious about this tea! I love the idea of ingredients tasting like something else entirely.

Brewed up, I get a coffee-chocolate smell. I don’t really like chamomile so this is promising.

I can taste chocolate, but I’m also really glad I can definitely taste the base teas! It’s not hot chocolate heavy on the chocolate flavor, but it’s there.

Thanks for the sample, Krystaleyn!

Not much time to rate this but I like this. It’s warm and toasty and a touch creamy and it does somehow remind me of chocolate. I’m happy I grabbed a little pack,and it turned out great even with DavidsTea standard brewing instructions.

Do I store it with my black or white teas? :O

Received this in a swap from Vanilla Beans
I’ve been wanting to try this for a while, alas I have no nearby store. But when I get to one, watch the f out!!!

I didn’t realize this was a white blend (or rather I forgot) until I read the reviwes. I used boiling water & it steeped much longer than I usually would. I was in a rush to get to work & it steeped all the way there.

Anyways… babbling
This is super yummy. Chocolate but not overly so, I’m thinking the other flavour I am getting is the coconut, but I’m not sure. Eitherway everything works really well together. I loved how the chamomile flowers perked back up after steeping. Very pretty.

This had a light fragrance of coconut and pipe tobacco. This is a bulky blend so I used 3 tsp to ensure I had a representative mix of all components.

This brewed to a very light champagne color with a faint slick from the coconut oil. This tea has been compared to chocolate a lot but I didn’t get that at all. I found the flavor to be simply coconut with a slight tart, grassiness from the teas.

This was really mild and would pair well with a light dessert but would be lost in traditional American or English breakfast fare.

Courtney sent me a sample of this forever ago, it seems, and I totally forgot about it. I pulled it out the other day and decided to give it a shot this afternoon.

I don’t know why I waited so long! It’s so yummy. I don’t get chocolate like everyone else seems to, to me, this tastes like caramel or toffee or something equally sweet and delicious. I very much enjoyed this cup, and I am going to prepare a second infusion right now.

Thanks, Courtney! I’m looking forward to drinking some more of this one.

So a friend gave me this sample… and the cran-pear! but I was pretty sure this wouldn’t do much to wow me, and I was right. Now, I don’t really like white chocolate (which this reminds me of) and coconut shavings are bad for me so this review is a bit biased!
Still, it was just ok. I could kinda taste the white, but not enough to make me swoon. I prefer the tea-ness to come out just a bit more. I gave the rest of the sample away to another friend…

When I heard about a blend of White and Black tea I was really not sure about this mix…
But i’ve wanted so much to try this one.

I was much pleased by this one! DAMN.
It’s fully satisfying because I can catch all the White and Black tea flavor.
It’s a little creamy, but not too much creamy like Vanilla Oolong or Buttered rum.
Chocolate you say? Yes, there’s a little of it, but not the ugly steeped taste, the sweet
light flavor of cocoa here. :)

Dry Leaf Nose: Chocolate coconut mocha.

Liquor: Medium golden clear with a definite chocolate coconut aroma and hints of mocha.

Flavour: A sweet chocolate-coconut flavour with a mocha background, brought to us through a combination of white Bai Mudan tea and open China black tea, plus the coconut. The effect is a rich and satisfying cup.

This was another one of my samples from Bonnie, and I quite enjoyed it. I added a little sweetener and it was smooth and creamy, with a mellow coconut flavor and a hint of savory spices. Good stuff.

This doesn’t taste so much like hot chocolate, as it stated in the description… more like a kind of caramel?

I mean, I can taste the hints of coconut & chamomile, but not really the chocolate flavour that they are supposed to create. This is not to say that’s a bad thing, this tea is rich and creamy tasting, without the addition of milk or sugar. I am sure you could make an interesting tea latte out of it if you felt so led—might have to try that next time.

The mixture of white and black tea lends an interesting body to this tea, with the black bulking up the flavour of the white, while the white ensures that the black doesn’t turn too bitter. I would have thought that mixing white and black would lead to the white being overwhelmed considerably, but somehow in this tea is just works! How do they do it? I have no idea…

My order arrived yesterday! I say my order, but in all honesty I’ve been sharing the DT love with others that 7 over people went in on it with me. Pretty impressive stuff from the other side of the planet.

But on to checkmate! I got is one based on the description and people’s reviews, it sounded pretty tasty. I had my first cup last night, steeped for around 5 minutes at 90oC. Was really quite yummy, I could taste a prominent malt flavour, with a slight aftertaste of chocolate. I can also still identify the white and black teas, both of which are very nice to drink. Was an enjoyable first cup.

Resteeped the leaves this morning at boiling for around the same time. The coconut is more prominent on the nose at the higher temperature. The flavours are actually more subtle at the higher temp.

I quite like this one. Not a mind blowing experience, but still very tasty. Will enjoy finishing my 50g bag.

Mmmm!!! I will edit this later, because I really should go to my bus and get to my site..

So GOOD!! So good!!

Interesting. Dry, it does smell like chocolate. It doesn’t taste strongly of chocolate, mostly of black tea with a nice hint of malt, but at the same time I can taste the Bai Mu Dan. It’s pretty odd. I didn’t expect to taste the white in there. I do have a bitter but mellow cocoa taste at the back of my mouth on the end of the sip. I actually can’t pick out the coconut and/or chamomile flavours, so I think this is pretty successful in its goal of blending them seamlessly. I am left with a chocolate taste in my mouth after drinking it, which is pretty cool.