Chocolate Chai Pu-Erh

It’s a beautiful morning! I just looked outside and it’s really bright! When you live at a higher altitude, the Winter sunshine warms everything up even though the temperature might read 55 degrees. People wear shorts and a light sweater. The heater stays off in the house during the day because the house is heated by the sun.

When I first moved to Fort Collins, I was so surprised at how warm it was in this dry climate in the Fall and Winter. The jackets come out at night, and the boots when it snows (which isn’t often and melts quickly).

From the beginning of Fall through Winter, Old Town is transformed into a Fairyland of glittering lights, street performers (I love the tuba bands), and free carriage rides. There’s a small ice rink for the wee skaters. http://flic.kr/p/dtcfsy http://flic.kr/p/dtcfQA

‘Tis the Season’ for Thanksgiving in the U.S. next week and the day after is ‘Black Friday’ (a mega huge, shopping frenzy day). I don’t know about the rest of the World, but this is fun in many communities. Some cities, if you wear black you get discounts or goodies from merchants.

In Fort Collins we don’t have "Black Friday’, we have ‘PLAID’ Friday. If you wear plaid you get free tea, cookies, prizes and discounts all around Old Town.
With the glittering lights, street performers, free tea at my Pub and Waffle Hut sandwiches, it sounds like I’ll have fun and I’m going to be there! Wish you could all join me!

Tea:
I brewed a small pot of Chocolate Chai Pu-Erh this morning hoping that this tea sample would be a redemption after the sour chocolate sample I reviewed last evening.
I do love chocolate but I don’t like too much artificial flavoring.
Thankfully This tea has no artificial flavoring listed on the package! Phew!

My steep time was 4 minutes and the scent of the wet leaves with cinnamon and mini chocolate pieces was amazing. The wafting aroma was like warm chocolate, cinnamon streusel straight from the oven.

I poured a cup of tea and was relieved that the flavor was yummy cocoa with a good amount of cinnamon pop and a bite that must have come from the clove (which you can’t taste, just feel).
The list of ingredients mentioned cardamom but I didn’t taste that spice, and the orange was very light but delicious. I don’t prefer overly orange flavored tea.
If you want Pu-erh flavor, you won’t find it in this tea. The only thing it contributes is a richness. The health benefit is important though. Too many people have a horrible fear of Pu-erh and could easily drink this and never know the Pu-erh is there at all.

My first Pu-erh tea was Davids Tea Chocolate Orange which now tastes a bit off to me because of the artificial flavoring. This Della Terra Chocolate Chai Pu-erh is a step up and away from that sour artificial taste.

This is one of the best flavored Pu-erh’s blends for people who don’t want to taste the actual Pu-erh tea.

BTW Is Black Friday just something here in the U.S. or are there versions of the same thing in Canada and Paris and the UK and Denmark and Ecuador and so on?

Hooray for me! I finally bit the bullet and decided to try my very first Pu-Erh!

I’d been simultaneously intrigued and dissuaded from trying Pu-Erh by the many descriptions I’ve read on Steepster. Some exalting the rich earthy flavor, while others describe the taste as having fishy qualities – ick!

I thought the best way to get me to try Pu-Erh, is to gently dip my toe in the water, with a tea that covers the base with plenty of flavors. I needed the Pu-Erh to be hidden like how my parents would hide zucchini in spaghetti sauce when I was a kid (and wouldn’t you know it, I like zucchini now). When I saw that the Della Terra Fall Try Me Pack had a sample of a Chocolate Chai Pu-Erh, it was a no-brainer.

I placed my order last Fall, and I happily sampled their teas, pulling this one out of the box, imagining a cartoon fish (you know the silver-gray kind, that looks a bit haggard, with the x for an eye), and I would quickly shove it back in the box to be passed by for something more “familiar”. For months, this packet was more of an obstacle to other teas than a tea destination. A tea pylon.

Well, Fall turned into Winter, and Winter into Spring, and I decided that I should stop being a chicken and give it a go…

…of course, another month passed…

…and a few more weeks…

…then a few more days…

“buck, buck…buck…BuckAHH!” I could practically hear the package taunting me. So I mustered up the nerve, grabbed the packet and headed for the kettle. As I poured the hot water over the tea, I snickered with a villainous grin (no…not really, but how great would that have been?)

I took my first sip…

…Chai!…mmm…chocolate. I can’t say that I detect anything fishy at all. The aftertaste sits on my tongue a little differently than a regular chai. A little drier at the back of the tongue, almost salty, but not quite. It’s mostly Chai. I was almost disappointed at how anticlimactic the whole thing was. I pictured the cartoon fish coming back to life and swimming away, and laughed at my over-active imagination.

Overall this tea is not bad, but it’s not one that I’d necessarily need to try again. However, it was the perfect stepping stone to a whole new area of teas that I had always shied away from. It was the perfect way to hide zucchini in spaghetti sauce.

Here’s another sample from the Della Terra dessert sampler pack.

I have to say that this reminds me a lot of the Numi Chocolate pu-erh, which I’ve had before in teabag form. For me personally it’s a bit hard to taste a lot of pu-erh in here, which mostly makes a nice backdrop for the flavorings. I added some soymilk to mine and it reminds me a of a spicy chocolate milk. It doesn’t remind me a LOT of chai per se, but I am picking up a lot on the gentle flavorings of orange, cardamom and cinnamon. Not totally what I was expecting but pretty good. I would like a little ginger, perhaps. I s’pose I could always add some in!

pretty good for a dessert/after lunch tea and I’m listening to this along with Bobby McFerrin this afternoon.

Just finishing up a cup of this now. It’s pretty darned good. Sweet, chocolate-y, warmly spiced … with just a hint of orange. The Pu-erh brings out the earthy notes in the spices … I like how well this blend works together … it’s not overly energizing (I don’t feel really caffeinated after drinking it) so it’s nice to drink later in the day. It’s good as a latte, but I like it even better without the dairy.

Another one that is to be sent off into the wild world of stamped envelopes and parcels.

Out of all the places that I ordered from I was least excited about getting my package from Della Terra. I should’ve been more enthusiastic; the few of their blends that I have tried so far have been great!

I attempted a pathetic rinse of this in my DT’s perfect mug. I’d like to think it made a difference. (Goof EDIT: this chocolate Puerh shouldn’t be rinsed!)

This is a lovely earthy tea with a finish of pepper that one could imagine coming from either/or the Yunnan and the few spices present. The main aroma and flavour is one of dark chocolate with a dabbing of honey. The spices are subtle but present, like a worldly gent who knows they don’t need to flaunt all their wealth in a gaudy array. It has “the air” of richness.

I added some milk in, because chais always beg for milk in my mind, but it could have honestly held up well without. Somewhat coffee-like.

Apologies for the backlogging. Steepster was down for a bit.

Anyway, my boyfriend actually won this tea from Della Terra Tea facebook contest, but I borrowed some anyway to see what it was all aobut. I enjoy a good pu-erh tea blend if it’s done right.

Even though the reviews of this are mixed, this is definitely a very good pu-erh blend. I’m getting chocolate notes and it blends well with the pu-erh base (which I can definitely taste). As the tea cools off, it’s enjoyable hot OR cold. I was expecting to have to add some milk to round this out but it didn’t need anything in my opinion. Maybe next time I’ll throw in just to see how it goes.

On the chai side, this does fall a little bit short, though. Which is fine by me since I’m not really a OMG SPICY CHAI person. However, if someone wanted chocolate pu-erh with a little kick? Eh, don’t expect to much. This probably could have benefited from more spices if that’s what they were going for.

It’s still very enjoyable, though, and definitely one of the best pu-erh blends I’ve tried.

Go go first tasting note! Looks like another sample that i’m first to hit. I’ll be honest, part of why I chose this one in my samplepack/facebook win is because i’m fairly close to deciding that “pu” is just not for me. I’m zero for five now? I’m hoping that this one might be one that works for me.

I added a bit of extra to this one, to make it a bit stronger as I’m finding Della Terra teas a little on the soft side for flavours. Not a bad thing, I’m just trying to adjust accordingly.

Soooo first smell? Cinnamon. Kinda reminds me of cinnamon hearts. After a few sips, conclusion is…i’m missing the chocolate and this is more of a cinnamon tea than anything. Someone more versed in Pu would be able to comment on how well it does that aspect of it..but this is not such much chocolate or the chai that i’m used to. It’s not a bad tea, since I happen to like cinnamon, but it’s totally not what i expected from this one.

This one sounded like an amazing combination — pu-erh, chocolate, chai? But then when I took the package out to steep it, I noticed orange peels. I really don’t like the idea of anything with chocolate and citrus. It’s just too weird. Well, I steeped it anyway. The flavors are there, equally accounted for, but there isn’t MUCH flavor there. The orange and chocolate combo isn’t as terrible as I would have thought. I really have no idea how it would seem so spicy anyway, since there is hardly any spices here. The chocolate melted a bit. And Della Terra’s pu-erh is mild tasting like their black tea, so any of the DT pu-erhs are perfect to start with. It seems I’ve been drinking many DT teas lately, and not just the ones I just bought.

della terra really kinda can’t lose.
they do every tea right.
(at least from what i’ve had so far.)

I love chocolate, I love pu erh and I have to be in the right frame of mind for chai. Still 2 out of 3 is enough to peak my interest in this blend making it my next drink.

The tea whilst raw smells deliciously chocolatey with a touch of cinnamon and spice. I could note seeing chocolate drops and orange rind amongst the leaves.

Once brewed the tea increases it’s chocolate essence to an almost double chocolate level and the spices make it sweet yet spicy.

An interesting blend, the chocolate is quite dark but definitely chocolatey while the cinnamon gives it spice and cardamom a touch of citrus to lighten. I cannot taste that this is a pu erh blend but I think it goes very well with the flavours. It’s almost like one of those special chocolates you buy from expensive little shops as a treat.

I’m drinking this without any added sweetener or milk but I would imagine the chocolate could be enhanced by adding a little of both. I think it’s tasty just the way it is. A wonderful blend. :)

I absolutely LOVE this tea! Perfectly balanced chocolate & chai naturally tasting flavors in this pu erh tea. Wonderful hot, as well as iced. I have already ordered more!

Backlog and making sure I rate and review everything in my cupboard. I got this as a sample from Della Terra and this was also my first pu-erh tea ever. At first, the smell really turned me off but the flavor was enjoyable. I tried again a week later after going through a bunch of other tastings and found that I love this. The chai spice is warm and cozy, plenty of cinnamon and cardamom without being painfully spicy, and the chocolate is so well balanced with the spice. No artificial chocolate flavor at all. I’m still a little weirded by the smell, but maybe it’s a pu-erh thing so I’m really interested in trying more pu-erh teas.

(Backlog)
To calm my night I decided to steam some milk and steep it in that. It was perfect for right before bed. The mixture of the orange peel and cinnamon and chai I loved. I’m all about the spices in teas. Keep them coming. The chocolate was hidden probably seeing as there were only 3 mini chocolate chips in the whole same bag. Other than that I was a happy camper:)

I purchased this tea because I am looking for a substitute for my genuine love for Mexican Hot Chocolate. I love the combination of bittersweet chocolate mixed with the canela, cloves and other spices in a good Mexican Hot Chocolate. But, when I am in the middle of a workday, I don’t have access to my chocolate melter and frother, and so I am Mexican Hot Chocolate-deprived.

This tea actually did a nice job of filling that need for me. I drank it straight—without adding any milk or sugar. I think it would have worked even better with a bit of both. The chocolate bits come through subtly, but distinctly, and there is a nice balance of the other herbs. I don’t know much about Pu-Erh tea in general, but I was pleased that I didn’t get any of the astringency that I dislike when I steep many black teas for longer than a minute. All in all a pleasant cup of tea.

I think I like this one! It smells and tastes very cinnamony, but not in an overpowering way that will give me heartburn and curdle my tongue. I get a hearty full base flavor that I like. Could it be the pu erh? I can’t detect chocolate when the tea is hot, but maybe that is part of the base I am tasting? When it cools, I think I can pick out the cloves and cardamon as well as chocolate on the aftertaste, but cinnamon is still the predominant flavor. I do wish there was more chocolate.