Cocoa Canela

Backlog from Friday night.

I’ve heard pretty good reviews about this one, especially from a coworker, so was pretty excited to try it out! The dry tea is definitely VERY cocoa-y, so much so that the other ingredients are rather difficult to distinguish, coated in a layer of cocoa dust. I brewed it up in a filter with slightly larger holes than usual (i.e. not a Finum brew basket) to allow the cocoa to actually make it into the tea. As I’ve heard from other people, this looked like hot chocolate when brewed up, as it was brown and opaque, and smelled like cocoa and cinnamon. I can’t remember specifics, but it smelled pretty good!

Unfortunately, the taste wasn’t quite what I wanted. I liked the cocoa-y base, and the roasted mate worked well here (as in, it wasn’t overpowering, and surprisingly, also wasn’t banana-flavoured! See my other reviews of roasted mate for an explanation of that…) However, the cinnamon wasn’t quite right for me. Apparently I’m a bit picky on cinnamon in teas – I adore DT’s Glitter & Gold, but disliked Hot Lips, and I found the cinnamon here to be more on the “red hot” side than the warm, soft sort of cinnamon I prefer. I really don’t know what exactly the difference is, perhaps it’s artificial cinnamon flavouring vs. actual cinnamon? Or different types of cinnamon?

Either way, this wasn’t bad, but it didn’t really do it for me. Perhaps it could work quite nicely if sweetened, but I’d rather now. However, this is a great concept, using cocoa in a tea blend (especially with mate), and I hope another tea comes out using this same idea!

I got this as a free sample when my replacement order arrived yesterday. (I had several items missing from a previous order, but DT sent the missing items and I scored three more samples.) I’m not normally one to enjoy super chocolate-y teas nor mate, but this blend has changed my mind. The flavor is bold, but not artificial, and yet not overpowering either. I taste a subtle cinnamon flavor too – maybe that helps balance the chocolate flavor. This is delightful and fun, although dusty. I had to wipe the teaspoon free of the tea dust, but that’s a small inconvenience for bliss! :)

Apple cider! Without the apple? yummmm. Off to work now, running on just a few hrs sleep so I can’t really chat.
I love cinnamon and cocoa, and… this one just seems to work with the combo well. I shared it with a friend and she thought it was great as well!
Rating: 90

This is a new one that caught my eye – chocolate and yerba maté with a dash of cinnamon? Color me intrigued!

BoxerMama picked me up a sample of this when she made a recent DT run – bless her!

Now I’m pretty picky about chocolate in general. I’m a weird one – I don’t tend to crave it like many others do. So naturally I am very leery when it appears in tea. But this excited me. It’s not your regular black tea base. (Lately, I’ve been drawn to flavored guaysua and yerba maté.) There’s also some real chocolatey goodness here – cocoa nibs and powder, cinnamon and chocolate chips!

Brewed, this is the dirtiest tea I think I’ve ever drank. There’s a film of cocoa powder all over my mug! So if your into “neat” teas, this may not be for you.

The first few sips without any additions tasted like hot chocolate water. There was a nice balance of chocolate to cinnamon. I tend to be heavy handed with cinnamon, so this was pretty pleasing to me. Cocoa Canela got better with additions. A little rock sugar and I could start to see the potential. More rock sugar and a healthy dash of milk and it was pretty close to a lower calorie hot chocolate, but with a layer of cinnamon warmth.

DT is really killing me now because this is another tea that I will be adding to my next order. Grrrr! =D

One of the heavy ironies of my new job is that I seem to be drinking less tea. Sure, I’m surrounded by it; but I don’t drink more than the 1-3 cups I’ve long had at work, because there’s no bathroom in the back and I hate public washrooms. (Plus, I’m working!) And my hours are so much longer now…which is good, but it means less time to drink tea at home!

I like this one, yet I don’t. I don’t know. It’s chocolate-y, but not too much. It’s got a nice strong cinnamon overlay, but it’s not overwhelming. The flavours blend fairly well. It won’t exactly bowl you over, but I’ve had it as a latte, and it was really good as a latte.

And that’s really about all I have to say about it. I don’t know. I guess I’m tired today. And somewhat tired of sweet/chocolate/“cake” teas today, for reasons I can’t identify. I’m feeling the tea equivalent of blue balls at the moment. Nothing is satisfying me at the moment, and I don’t know why.

Maybe I’m just wiped out. One of our new staff has been a bit of a no-show lately, and I’ve had to pull overtime hours on top of full time. So yeah, maybe just too tired to really absorb the stuff I’m drinking lately.

Not that I’m complaining! Work has mostly been fantastic. Although yesterday was so slow that I don’t know if we even made enough to cover staffing costs. It’s not even like we could really sample much, because the mall was so dead that pretty much only FedEx and UPS guys were walking by in the hall! I’m scared we could get into trouble for that, but I don’t know what else we could have done. We only got a shipment of one box, and ran out of things to clean. So I just worked on my training manual, my coworker read some Sherlock Holmes, and I said to him at one point, “You realize we’re getting paid to sit and drink tea? What a great job.”

Then the most awesome customers came in! A white guy and his [presumably] Chinese wife who told us that they’d been living in China for 10 years before coming back to Canada. They were curious about Japanese tea – especially matcha – and looking for a variable temp kettle. I tried hard to sell them on either the Breville One-Touch or the Zojirushi. They seriously considered both, but agreed that neither worked because they need something with a longer spout for the Chinese tea ceremony they do, which I’m afraid I didn’t recognise.

Then they spent an age talking to us about tea! They told us horror stories from other tea shops they’d tried farther north in the city, then we talked about matcha. I was blunt about the quality of mall tea, and the fact that our matcha is not exactly top grade – which they didn’t seem surprised by, haha – but they wanted to try it anyway. So we did them up a couple of matchas on the house to show them how it works. I made the husband a ceremonial bowl (and I was super stoked to get really pro foam when I was explaining it!) and my mix master co-worker whipped up some flavoured combo of oolong and matcha. They thanked us and told us we were doing really good for people so new to tea and working in a tea store, way more professional than other tea shops in the city, that they appreciated “all you do,” and that they’d be back with some Chinese greens for us to try. YAY!

They didn’t buy anything, but you can tell the difference between a customer who truly wasted an hour of your time with no intention to ever buy, and a customer who will definitely be back. They’ll be back, and I look forward to seeing them again.

So begins the backlogging of tea. I was a little busy this weekend with my sisters wedding. This was a sample with my latest order. It smelled super sweet. It tasted to me even sweeter and I LOVE chocolate. But there just seemed to be too much chocolate for me. I know too much, but there really was even for my tastes. It wasn’t bad but not something I’d keep on hand all the time.

Mmm this smells delicious.
Taste is slightly earthy from the mate. Chocolate-y but not fake or overly sweet.
The cinnamon gives in a nice smooth finish but adds a nice kick. There is maybe a tad bit too much cinnamon for my liking, but it is still really good.

I think my go-to chocolate mate is still Chocolate Rocket

Loved this! It was the tea of the day, which they feature iced. I opted to order it hot, with skim milk. It is very nice. Naturally has a sweetness to it, the cinnamon is strong. cocoa is smooth, definitely going to buy this one!

Ahhhh I really should have used the entire sample and added milk. This seems like one of those that’s just flat and nasty unless there’s a stronger background for it.

It wasn’t too bad like say, cococaramel sea salt, but it just seemed like it could have been so much better if there was something creamy about it. For chocolate cinnamon, it really would have made sense but I wasn’t really awake yet when I made it. Bah.

I guess I can do it with the tiny bit I have left, mixed with something else.

Thanks Kittenna for the sample~

Licorice notes. Strong chocolate in the background. Creamy finish. Cinnamon taste compliments the flavour very well.

As I predicted, this tisane does not do very well on a second infusion. The flavour is noticeably diluted. This tisane is very powdery and a lot of the ingredients likely dissolve in the first brew.

Rating: 91

Dry Leaf Nose: Very aromatic with cinnamon and chocolate.

Liquor: Dark and rich, warm brown character.

Flavour: Full and rich with the aroma and flavour of cinnamon and chocolate. The roasted mate and carob add body and a natural sweetness with a deliciously rich flavour.

This poor tea sat on my counter for a week before I finally got to try it. I try to drink my mates in the morning to wake myself up, but I prefer my chocolate teas later in the day. It left me not quite ever craving it or willing to risk the mate.

Finally one day my sleep schedule got all messed up and I was waking up at about 2 in the afternoon one day. It was the perfect time for this one, and I brewed it eagerly.

When I pulled the infuser out I was very glad to have used the one I have which is best at capturing floating debris. The cocoa powder does make this one messy, although nowhere near as bad as say, Southern Belle. The tea is delicious, and I drank it without adding any sugar or milk. Next time I think I’ll add milk just to round out the flavour a bit and lose that dash of watered down aspect (its a tea, I can’t expect it to be thick like milk, right?). The flavour is definitely that of cocoa powder, spiced up. I can see myself getting this one in the winter more so than summer, as it is the perfect tea for skating parties and coming in after tobogganing. Definitely a great Canadian December tea!

I tried this iced since all the teas of the day seem iced for summer, though this one begged to be drunk hot, in my opinion, as a latte. I did get it hot today, but just with milk and agave. It was pretty mild, though the cinnamon flavor was the most present flavor, but not in an overbearing spicy way…the chocolate definitely blends well and is balanced.

I bought 16g to play with at home and see if I can make it a latte now that I have mastered the art of the microwaved frothed milk.

Bottom line, I like it, but I’m not sure I love it just yet. I think it might be a nice fall tea…

I slept in a bit this morning, and was craving mate when I woke up. And since it wasn’t super early, I decided to give this one a try.

Courtney sent me a sample of it a while ago, but I never found the right time to have it. Too early in the morning, and I don’t want chocolate. Too late in the day, and I don’t want mate. But it worked this morning, and I am quite glad.

I love the cocoa / cinnamon combination, it’s reminding me a lot of apple cider. The first steep was very flavorful, and even though the second steep is a bit watered down, I might like it a little better. I don’t think it will hold up to a third infusion, though… it’s so powdery, it seems like everything dissolves pretty quickly.

Very tasty, though!

This was the tea of the day that they were featuring iced. I’ve never had iced mate before, but it turns out well evidently. I have been searching for a chocolate mate to replace my beloved chocolate rocket. I am starting to find that the raspberries are overwhelming the chocolaty-almond goodness :(
Anyways, I think I may just have found it! Chocolate and cinnamon and roasted mate make an excellent combination. Hot, I think it will taste just like cinnamon hot chocolate!

1 TB in a gourd with 250 mL water @ 98, drunk bare.

First, I gotta warm ya: the new ceramic mate gourd with bombilla at DavidsTea is a design FAILURE. It looks cute, but it gets WAYYYY too hot to touch. Seriously, there is no safe way to pick it up. The ceramic gets extremely hot. This could easily result in a bad scald.My hand has a slight burn from trying not to drop the damn thing.

The new Cocoa Canela mate blend, however, is quite good. Lots of cinnamon. Lots of chocolate. Some mate. Makes a very murky brew in the gourd, but that’s to be expected with the chcooclate and cinnamon. It’s a sweetish, mily chooclate flavour, and the cinnamon is fresh and penetrating.

this is my get the day started right tea. iced with a matcha shot poured on top it revs me up without any crash afterwards. i love it.

I tried this neat – not bad, a little heavy on the chocolate powder. I added milk and honey. It was surprisingly thin bodied. The flavor was kind of boring and uninspiring. Meh.

Yet another tea I picked up yesterday. Yeesh.

ShayneBear was right. This is way better cooked in some milk. I did 50/50 soy milk and water, and left it on the stove for about 15 minutes. It’s cinnamon and chocolate – mostly cinnamon, though. I don’t need to add anything else to it because it’s sweet and flavourful enough.

I couldn’t imagine drinking this just steeped in water. So I won’t. I also probably won’t buy any more, because it’s more of a novelty tea for me!

Love sent to BoxerMama for a sample of this tea!

Since my tea pot broke, I started using the other small tea pot I got for my birthday last year. However, I discovered it leaks when I pour, BOOO! I’m probably going to convince the husband to buy me a new tea pot. I can do it myself, but I’ll probably come back with lots of teas! I’m saving up for big DT, Butiki and Verdant orders.

DRY: Very strong chocolately spicy cinnamon. The tea is coated in a dust of cocoa, oooh yeah!

STEEPED: Murky cloudy dark brown tea, still smelling of spicy chocolate cinnamon.

BTW, i went heavy on the leaves, so 2tsp for a cup of tea because I’m crazy!

TASTE: Straight strong cocoa with a hit of cinnamon that warms down my throat. Really cocoa. Holy cow this is chocolately!
Sweetened, this is really good and pretty much hot chocolate with spicy cinnamon. I can hardly taste the earthy mate though.

There lots of remnants on the bottom of my cup, despite using a DT Steeper, which usually does a good job. The closer I get to the bottom of the cup, the more spicy and grainy the tea becomes. Also gets slightly bitter towards the end of the cup.

The cinnamon lingers in my throat after drinking CC!

WHO’D LIKE THIS TEA: Chocolate lovers who like cinnamon in their cup. Spicy cinnamon tea lovers. CC also doesn’t taste very mate like, good someone who wants to try a mate for the stimulant hit or for someone who doesn’t like the grassy mate taste.

COMMENTS: Phew, I feel VERY awake after drinking that! Overall, amazingly chocolately and I love a good spicy hit and the cinnamon was great! I didn’t like the grainyness at the end of the cup.
I could see this being an amazing latte! OOOh yeah, next time!