Chocolate Delight

Thank you Dhart 1214 for this Sample Tea!

Last night I was getting ready to meet up with my daughter’s big van for the 50 mile trek to St. Luke in Erie for Vesper’s with Bishop Basil. (It’s the eve of the beginning of the New Year on the Orthodox liturgical calendar which is celebrated with the Vespers and a picnic today.)
It can be a long drive with lots of grandkids bumping along calling requests from the back of the van to the front (although last night there were only 2 toddlers, 2 little boys, 2 teenagers and 2 mom/grandma’s).
I planned well, brewing a double tall insulated mug of this Chocolate Delight Tea. It would be my grandmother medicinal that could calm my nerves come what may. I would be prepared to sit in my seat and sip away, off in my own tea world while havoc reigned behind me.
For five minutes or so I tried to have a civil conversation with my daughter about how little sleep she was getting with the 18 month waking up at 3am ready to play.
Soon, a little voice over my left ear kept saying
“Is it pretty my precious?”, and other creepy phrases like that.
“Oh, I remarked, The Hobbit?” Ah yes.
The rest of the journey was quiet on my part, with little voices over my left ear and a big mug of tea to sip.

The tea was…PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE!

I picked the right tea for the right occasion. (Pat on back)
There had been no fooling around when I brewed the tea.
I didn’t taste the hot tea when I ran out the door…but I had sweetened it, steeped it a little long and added cream.
I’m so glad that I added both because it was soooo goood!
The chocolate flavor wasn’t sour or fake tasting but rich and deep like a chocolate Sacher Torte.
The barley adds a warm fullness to the tea and the apples are something I usually don’t like, but here I think they add sweetness without being detected as apple flavor. The cocoa flakes and beans…no complaints! Ha! The more the merrier!
(I especially love the barley in the tea…such a good move!)

I couldn’t resist giving my daughter a sip (and I’m a germ-a-phobe…I don’t share cups!!!) and she said she would buy this tea too because of the barley with the chocolate!

Very nice.

So, I order from these guys periodically. They started here in the town I’m living in, after all (Boston) and I’m pretty sure their base of operations is still out of this state, so it’d be regional loyalty on my part if nothing else! Fortunately, some of their tea blends are so lovely that it’s hardly twisting my arm to browse their catalogue.

They really focus on flavored teas, as one glance at their catalogue can tell you. This is always tricky for me, because so many flavored blends (from any and all companies) try MUCH too hard.

I AM A STRAWBERRY TEA, it will scream at your nose where you stand, easily five feet away from the cannister. I KNOW THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TASTE MY STRAWBERRIES ON YOUR UNCOMPLICATED AMERICAN PALATE!

Anyway, this is not a strawberry tea. This one is chocolate. Of note, I didn’t order this tea…they tossed it in with another of my orders (for the Earl Grey Cream, which I love) in a sample pack for free. The sample isn’t a bad size, either…good for a few cups at 9g, and this is hardly the first sample they’ve sent me.

I don’t often feel the burning desire to consume chocolate, but every now and then I want some. The fact that I’ve had this opened (I must have tried a cup before? I don’t remember doing so) in my cupboard for months is testament to that fact, and perhaps worth remembering in my review…I rolled the top of the foil but didn’t seal it.

The blurb up top is different from the blurb on the back of my sample…it says ‘cocoa beans, vanilla, barley and yogurt bits’, just as a heads-up.

Either way, I’m finding I really like it. I wanted something other than chai today (expected the world to end, there) but needed the caffeine and some kind of perk to my mood. Usually for my chocolate fix I go straight to the hard stuff — Dagoba’s organic Xocolatl hot cocoa with spicy chili and cinnamon, yum yum yum — but I’m clean out of the stuff, and I spotted this while I was rummaging around unsatisfied through my other options…so I decided to give it a go.

The smell of the tea is fantastic, if you like the smell of nutty cocoa. They recommend preparing it as a latte, which is what I did. I simmered approximately 3 teaspoons of it in a cup of water as per the recommendation on the packet, but instead of adding 1/2 cup (1%) milk when that was done with, I added the full cup to stretch it a little, and heated it again. The smell while it was simmering in the water was very tea-strong, probably unsurprisingly. Once I added the milk, though, it smelled lightly like baking, tea-infused chocolate-chip cookies. That sounds almost gross to me to write, but was actually sort of nice. A little bit of german rock sugar finished it off. In the end, it wasn’t quite as dark as a chai, but still had that pretty caramel-like color.

The actual latte is pretty nice. It differs yet again from its smell by being more tea-flavored on the tongue than the smell suggests it’s going to be, but the taste of the chocolate is easily detectable. It reminds me a little bit of those chocolate-striped cookies that usually have chocolate all on the bottom…but without that much sweetness, with a little bit of nuttiness, and with a definite black tea base.

I could see myself ordering this as a way to scratch the occasional sweet-tooth itch I get, for certain, though as I say chocolate isn’t usually what tickles my fancy, so the rest of the time it’d be likely to stay on the shelf.

you guys are right! this is a very nice chocolate cup!
the slight touch of vanilla really rounds out the chocolate flavor. warm and nutty is a good and accurate description. and i’m glad i have more of this left so i can make it with a little milk and agave.

Ok, just wow. Not only does this tea smell amazingly rich, it IS amazingly rich! It is like drinking a nice, sweet chocolate syrup. I’ve never had a tea that had so much of a chocolate taste and I love that you can still find the tea underneath the richness. I was planning on trying the other 2 teas that I received today from Tea Guys, but I may just have to stick with this gem for awhile. It is blowing my mind! Chocolate without the guilt? Yes please!

Got this from Dark Moon Tea when they closed but I believe it bore a different name from them (it does mention it’s The Tea Guys at the bottom).

Ever since I’ve had Joy’s Teaspoon’s Chocolate Pot du Tea sample I’ve been trying all kinds of chocolate teas trying to find one as good. The bad news is I haven’t found it yet, but the good news is I’ve got to have lots of chocolate tea.

To say that this doesn’t live up to Joy’s chocolate tea is not to say this is bad, just different. The description is right on, it is more aztec than hershey’s. Seems to have more of a dark chocolate taste than milk, which can make it a bit heavy at times. A splash of milk and my standby brown sugar splenda and I’m a happy camper.

But today? Today was very special. After trying Teavana’s cocoa mint and lamenting the shy cocoa flavor I had a brainchild and mixed these two teas together. NOW I get the ‘thin mint in a cup’ taste that so many on Teavana’s website mention. Perfect balance and I love the little mint tingle sensation I get after a sip.

It’s going to be a long afternoon when this runs out.

Wow. This is another that was sent to me by DOULTON, and it is another fabulous tea! Though the name is chocolate delight, the ingredient list gives away how complex the flavor of this tea is going to be. Black tea, green tea, cocoa beans, vanilla, barley, apple, toasted rice, and yogurt, all combined in one lovely cup. This does not taste at all like Harney and Sons Chocolate Tea or Florence. I think I am tasting the toasted rice and barley, two ingredients i have never had in tea before. There is a depth of flavor to this tea, and though it is chocolate and rich, this is a grown up tea, not a kid’s treat. The tea is very smooth, the aroma is strongly of chocolate, but the flavor is far more complex than tea and chocolate!

No additions. This tea is perfect just the way it is. It needs neither milk nor sugar to be enjoyed. For some reason I feel like putting on high heels and a long strand of pearls, looking aloof and bored and waving people about to fetch me things.

This tea was a true delight. I loved the strong Chocolate flavor that brought a Big Smile to my face as I steeped this first thing this morning.
If you are looking for a wonderful chocolate tea…..This is a Must Have!!!!!!!

I am taking tea with Ruth (ashmanra), again, today and this was one of our selections. It is a very nice chocolate tea. It brews up a medium brown and both dried and brewed smells deliciously chocolatey. It is more of a bitter-sweet and nutty chocolate to me when tasted without milk. Adding a bit of milk blunted some of the nuttiness to me but did bring out more of the chocolate. Adding a bit of sugar makes it a sweet chocolate treat.