Cocoa Canela (Organic)

I think this is my first Yerbe Mate tea… Whoo Hoo… Might need the energy today anyway… Gonna be a long one!

Chocolate sounded good this morning and I have been sleeping weird lately, so this looked like a blessing in my sample box. You know how you sleep all night and get up feeling like you just crawled into bed and don’t remember sleeping… Yeah, that… Ugh! I’ve done that for several days lately and most afternoons wish I could just catch a small nap, and I am not a nap taker.

Anyway, this is the first blend I’ve had that looks like a cocoa powder mess. I wasn’t sure how that would translate to the cup, and didn’t bother to smell it as I was afraid of the sneezing it may start.

Steeped I get a nice chocolate looking cup, a bit watery to the taste, but I think I might have under leafed a bit. Some of the cocoa settles as it sits, and I probably only notice this because I’m using a glass mug this morning. The combination of chocolate and cinnamon confuses me. In a chocolate cake dessert, forgo the cinnamon please, but in a tea so far I seem to be ok with it. This tastes of chocolate and cinnamon, and as it cools I almost lose some of the spice and get caramel… which I like as well.

The bottom of the cup is a bit murky and off putting w/all the cocoa left behind, but I simply left that to rinse out of my cup. I imagine this would be great as a latte… I have a bit left and might have to just try that. Thanks MissB for sending some of this my way!

I had this one plain today. All while I was drinking it I was thinking how else could I prepare this? With milk? Should I add any sugar? I think it’ll be fun to experiment with this one! That said I like it all on it’s own.

This is what I now drink on the weekend instead of coffee. I try to stay away from caffeine, but if I’m going to do it, I may as well do it right. It’s alright steeped in water, but it’s much better steeped in hot almond milk. Normally I would just use my regular 3.25% milk, but I was out, and had the almond milk handy. Really great. I like the natural sweetness of the cinnamon that comes out in this one, and the cocoa is great. Agreed that this is not a clean looking tea, but that’s alright. I steeped this one in water for about 20 minutes and found the mate flavor a bit strong; I’m used to drinking mates with a bombilla though, so it wasn’t all that unpleasant. Steeped for 20 minutes in the hot almond milk, though, made it something really special. I also use about a tbsp of this in my nordic mug, so much more than recommended. I like it strong.

I’m not going to drink this one every day, but when I need a little bit of a boost, I’d reach for this over coffee any day.

Oh Cocoa Canela, how I love you so so so much! This tea does not look like tea at all when you look at it. It is a variety of twig like shapes, flakes, chocolate chips and other unidentified objects covered in cocoa powder. I have to admit, that I have not had this tea straight; I have only ever had as a latte or with milk and a bit of agave, regardless, its absolutely amazing; so much so I have 350g stored away… Shhhh don’t tell.

UPDATE: I had this straight this morning, not as good… best to just stick with a tried and true method of having it as a latte or with milk. Still I absolutely love it!

Alright now, I’m a little confused about how this is a mate tea. Where are the yerba mate leaves? Really. Where? They are coated with cinnamon, I think. That’s my best guess, because everything in thus tea here is covered in cinnamon.

Now I’m not the kind of person who likes concentrated amounts of cinnamon that can get really hot and spicy. I actually hate that. But this tea is not like that at all! It has the perfect amount of cinnamon to give a great flavor, without being unpleasantly spicy! Perfect. The only thing I don’t like is that the cinnamon leaves a gooey residue at the bottom of the cup when it settles. It’s kind of gross so I just didn’t drink that part.

Aha! Another year-old tea put to pasture..Found this sucker in my cupboard today.. It was in a sample pack.. The dry leafs are covered in powder (probably cinnamon) and there are huge chocolate chips.. I’m worried about the chocolate creating a film on top of my tea.. Extremely worried..

Dry Aroma: For some reason all I smell is chocolate covered raisins.. There are no raisins in this blend.. Smells yummy though!

Tea Aroma:Roasted mate with chocolate and raisin.. Seriously why do I smell raisins..

Color: Murky medium brown.

Taste: A deep roasted flavor with notes that are reminiscent of a mocha. I taste no raisins (yay!).

There is a light layer of film on top, I can see it but I can’t feel it in my mouth (double yay!). I would definitely repurchase this tea..

This tea is really disappointing. Such high hopes.

1. There’s hardly any maté in it.
2. It tastes like apple cider. I don’t know how. But if I wanted a spiced apple cider, I’d order something that had “apple” in the title.
3. Did I mention there’s hardly any maté in it? Nary a buzz to be found one hour later.

Perfect chocolate maté, I’m sure you’re out there somewhere. This tastes good, but calling it cocoa is an insult to the hot chocolate traditions of both Spain and Mexico. I’ll save my churros for something that actually tastes like chocolate.

Yay!

Cinnamon, cocoa, maté…

Smells and taste like a hot cocoa, only lighter. I love it!

Might keep this one for when I have a chocolate craving.

Definitely like Chocolate Rocket more, but I did buy 50g of this (I thought I’d definitely love it) sooo I must finish that before stocking up on my favourite…
The smell, I dislike. The taste is sweet and chocolate-y, and kind of fruit-y. Not what I expected. However it does get the mate job done. I wouldn’t buy it again.

This one goes one of two ways. If I steep it for the perfect amount of time, and not a second more, it tastes like cinnamon-chocolate deliciousness… almost like hot chocolate, actually. But, if left to steep too long, it takes on that artificial, Valentine’s candy heart flavour that I get out of so many teas that feature cinnamon. This is a good tea, but I’m too imprecise (and lazy) to be bothered to stand around timing it, so it’s not really for me.