Valentine's Blend

So I wish i could do a comparison of this one and florence side by side, but since i only have this tea with me here – too bad so sad. This is a really nicely done chocolate tea. I have a tagalong thingy with me from winning the H&S contest on FB. I figured the sachets might do well for the travelling thing. In any case..starting to fade. Good night all…

P.S What i learned in china today. never let two men order your dinner…you’ll end up with too much food that’s nearly entirely meat. Also…deep friend whole fish? Not my thing even if it tasted good…they kept staring at me, with their mouths agape…yep. not for me lol

Thank you to Sil for this sample!!

For a chocolate tea, this isn’t bad. Verrrrry astringent and light though.
I think it’s supposed to be a darker chocolate. Sorry that’s about all I can remember as I was running around getting ready for the day while sipping away.

Looks like I won’t have much time for tea drinking this week. I’m helping an old professor of mine mark exam papers and organize her stuffs, and she is anti tea/coffee! So I’ll be able to squeeze in a morning cuppa, maybe one throughout the day, and possibly an evening herbal. Forget about logging it on Steepster, as I don’t get cell reception at the office.
Ahh well, it will be fun. My prof always dotes on her assistants so I’ll be eating lots of chocolate and mall food (uni is attached to the Eaton Centre).
And now I must go to bed. So tired and depressed after reading about the bombings :(
Makes me feel guilty for being annoyed at my shopping excursion to Home Sense today, when I got excited to see an (advertised) cast iron pot for $20! only to look inside and see that it was glazed?! I was confused… I thought the whole point was that they aren’t????
Here I am whining about glazing when there are people suffering so terribly out there.
Sending out peaceful and healing thoughts to those affected by the tragedy…

thanks Dinosara for sending some of this! I was hoping this was one of Harney’s smoother black teas, since sometimes they can be astringent, and this one smooth! Very smooth after a four minute steep. A nice chocolate flavor! Kind of like a milky, creamy hot chocolate. There are rose petals in the blend, but not too much flavor from them. I want to try mixing a bit of this with Harney’s Vanilla Comoro decaf sometime! It will make it half decaf, right? Chocolate vanilla! I’m picturing one of those chocolate/vanilla swirl ice cream cones (though I prefer the orange/vanilla.)

My tea of the afternoon.

There is a new chocolate tea in my cupboard, and it will have a permanent place as long as chocolate tea appeals. I knew that Harney’s Chocolate Tea was good, because I got a sample of it long ago from Fairyfli. I consumed that sample in record time. When it came time to replace some of my chocolate teas, it was definitely on my list, but I decided the addition of roses would be right up my alley. I am definitely not disappointed. The chocolate flavor and rich tea base is very much like I remember in the Chocolate Tea, but the addition of the roses gives a slight sweetness and light floral note. Tastes like chocolate, tea, and lightly of roses all at once. Perfection.

It is also working wonders….it kept me out of the ice cream for the afternoon! And my sweet tooth is sated.

24 oz pot, 4 1/2actual teaspoons of tea, freshly boiled water, 4 minutes.

Hello Steepster!

I’ve been gone a while. Remember how I mentioned a while ago I was trying to sell my house? Well, things FINALLY heated up, and now we should be leaving our current place and getting into a new place mid-March.

And it’s all kept me a little busy. I’ve been drinking tea, but nothing I haven’t had before, or that inspired me to log it.

But I should log this one. Bought this for my hubby for Valentine’s day. He’s a big chocolate fan, and I love roses. He was happy. I was fairly meh.

The chocolate in here is lovely. It’s got a good, rich base to it. But I can hardly taste the roses. I was hoping for a more floral OOMPH from this tea.

If I readjust my mind and tell myself it’s just a chocolate tea, then I like it better. But whenever I remember it’s supposed to be roses and chocolate? Sigh.

Thought today would be the perfect day to sample this tea. I was given some extra pink rosebuds to add to this blend so I added 3 buds to my two teaspoons of leaf. This made for pretty equal tastes of chocolate and rose with a mild black tea. I enjoyed this without sweetner, but may try with honey later this afternoon. Yum.

I ordered a tin of this because I am a Valentine Baby and could not resist trying this tea. (I also liked the red tin and valentine label :) Upon opening the can this tea smells strongly of chocolate. Very pleasant smelling. After steeping, the taste is more subtle chocolate with a touch of sweetness. I did not add any sugar to this and I am getting a nice cup of black tea with hints of chocolate and sweetness. Enjoyable while I have the tin but not something I need to keep a constant supply of.

The flavor of this reminds me of Della Terra’s Dubbele Chocolade, but back in its younger days when it was Single Chocolade and hadn’t yet shacked up with more chocolate. It’s less sweet and in-your-face, but has a similar chocolate flavor. But I’m not tasting any rose at all.

The lack of floral flavor is the only reason I didn’t rate it higher, but as a purely chocolate tea this is pretty solid. Thank you whatshesaid for the sample!

This tea has an amazing tea base which I’ve come to expect from Harney and Sons. I’m enjoying the delicious aroma and the rich, deep chocolate taste that plays a delightful backdrop to the tea base. The rose is very slight but the floral sweetness comes out in the aftertaste of the tea. I’m sad that I waited so long to order this! I’m loving it! I would have usually put milk and sugar automatically in this tea, but it is honestly great as is. I think I’ll always drink this plain. This is a perfect mid-morning relaxing cup.

I am sad because when I ordered this tea I only ordered a tagalong tin to try, and now this is my second to last sachet. I am really loving this tea. I love a chocolate black tea where the chocolate flavor is deep and complex, and this one fits the bill. Some chocolate teas scream milk chocolate (and smell like you might be having a cup of hot cocoa!), and I certainly love those teas too, but this one is a darker, nuttier, almost a more savory (as long as you don’t add sugar that is) chocolate. I love the hint of rose layered on top, and the solid, delicious tea base that comes through. It’s a Valentines blend but I could drink this any time. I will definitely have to order more of this when I next order from Harney!

My 1st H&S order! Feb 12th is one of the hardest days of the year for me so I decided to give myself a lil extra tea therapy and bought a sample tin of this as well as sample tins of White Christmas and Holiday Blend. Boy was I surprised when the FedEx truck arrived at 9am! I’ve never had anything delivered by FedEx before so I’m used to things coming late morning/early afternoon.

I decided to try this 1st as dessert after lunch. The bottom of the tin says 1 sachet makes 2 cups so this is perfect. 2 cups is a lot at once for me so I split it w/ my mom. 1 sachet weighs 2.62g which to me seems extremely light for 2 cups, but I’ll try it anyway. 1 sachet/12oz water just below boiling.

Whoa… hello! Can you say “liquid chocolate”? That’s exactly what the raw leaf smells like! Makes me wanna eat it w/ a spoon.;)

Based on the weight I’m surprised at the darkness of the liquor, it’s a dark brown color w/ red tints. The aroma is not nearly as strong as that of the raw leaf which is a disappointment, much more of the black tea base comes thru.

The flavor surprises me as well. It doesn’t taste like liquid chocolate as I would have expected based on the aroma of the raw leaf, but It is a good, substantial tea. The base is strongest followed by the chocolate w/ a hint of rose. I’m going to steep it in 8oz water before making my final conclusion.

It was a combination of the dreary weather (what summer?) and the spare $7 I had rattling around in my purse, that had me wandering down the road for a treat. It was either this or a log of marzipan. The tea won this time…
Now, I love chocolate but chocolate tea always has that weird sickly sweet artificial “chocolate flavour” taste. This valentines blend was still quite sweet but it’s definitely the smoothest and lightest of the chocolate teas. There’s the sliiiiightest hint of rose, so I popped a few rosebuds in for an extra rose kick.
Drink it plain, its the perfect late afternoon treat (and much better for you than a log of marzipan).

Batrachoid sent me a sample of this one. It’s yummy… like sucking on a dark chocolate bar. I thankfully do not taste the roses. This is a nice tea to drink while sitting on the couch in my pajamas watching it dump snow and watching a movie.

2 tsp/12 oz, and a smidge of agave nectar.

Update: Oh wait, there is the rose. Not too terribly strong though. This is a nice treat, but I don’t think I’d order it.

This morning I am trying the sample that H&S sent wth my order.
It IS a good cup of tea for chocolate tea lovers. A full bodied cup of tea and lovely aroma without milk and sugar, but ‘with’ and it tastes like hot chocolate (a bit on the watery side) but enjoyable. I like it. I will have to try it side by side with Metro’s Chocolate before I decide whether or not to switch.

Hmmm. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this one, I definitely don’t love it! I’ve only had it once so far though. It smells really good in the tin, similar to Florence (but without the hazelnut of course).

I love Davidstea’s English Rose, which is pretty floral but balanced off with the white chocolate. I thought this one might be similar as it is also a black tea with chocolate and roses, but it’s not very flowery at all. I’m also not convinced I love H&S’s chocolate tea, because I was also unsure of the Florence one and will have to try it again. So far my favorite of the three chocolate ones I’ve tried is SoHo.

If anyone wants to swap to try some of this I’m definitely open!
Will update after round two.

A co-worker gave me a sachet of this in a plastic sandwich bag to take home and try. I put it in my shirt pocket. The rest of the afternoon I kept catching whiffs of a bitter, musty, cocoa smell before remembering the tea. The sachet smelled like dark chocolate and that pungent floral smell that the little rosebuds used in tea blends have. The chocolate aroma is definitely dominant over the rose aroma.

The tea under the chocolate here is a smooth tasting black tea (not a sharp, bright, bitter black tea). The bitterness from the tea and the bitterness from the chocolate seem to trade with each other which one is in control. The floral notes from the roses are hard to find. The chocolate is satisfying. I would buy some of this. The chocolate lover in my house thought this was the cat’s pajamas.

Backlogging now that I’ve played around with this a few times .. Testing with less water, a longer steep time etc, but the flavour other reviews have written about continues to be somewhat elusive or at best too wishy-washy for my liking ..

The aroma of both dry leaves and steeped brew is a distinctive sweet chocolate/fruity/vanilla that I now associate with a lot of the H&S’s range (Paris, London, Florence, Blackcurrant, Valentine al have similar aromatic notes imho) ..

Though sadly, while I can smell the chocolate I can’t taste any – not even with the addition of milk & sugar .. There’s also no sight, smell, nor taste of any Rose in my sample :(

I’d personally pass on this and go for H&S Florence or Vanilla Comoro instead!

http://i53.tinypic.com/59ucm8.jpg

Some how my sore throat has morphed into a cold. In 90 degree weather. Go figure…
In lieu of chocolate I can only have this. It occurs to me that it would probably be best to stock a decaffeinated chocolate tea, but this is the best one I’ve tried so far. It tastes like liquid dark chocolate with a hint of floral levity. Miss Sweet has the right idea adding a couple rosebuds for extra rose flavor. And vitamin C, of course. =)

It’s Valentine’s Day, and I’m a sucker for seasonal/holiday teas! A pretty tin, a pretty blend, a pretty aroma, and a pretty good tea. Deep, dark chocolate aroma to the dark, dark leaves. The flavor of the infused tea is more muted but very smooth with pleasant cocoa notes and a shadow of rose scent; subsequent infusions have only chocolate hints but are still quite good.
Later—infused for 5 minutes, as recommended on tin: More flavorful cocoa flavor; chocolate notes remain with definite sweetness in second infusion. This is the way to go—

Mmm, I was attracted to the pretty tin, I must admit. But I tried some in a tea shop and loved it, even without sweetener (which is unusual for me). Rich, but not overpowering chocolate scented leaves that carries over to the cup. Doesn’t seem quite as heavy as the average chocolate tea.