Wonderberry Chocolate Truffle Oolong Tea

Me thinks this should be called Elderberry (Chocolate) Truffle Oolong as elderberry is clearly the dominant note here and WonderBerry… Really? So funny story on how I came to try this the day after the release. I had planned to visit Teavana later in the week to try some teas when Michelle was working (I knew she had Mon-Wed off), she could brew a few and we could both sample. I thought about texting Barista Boy to ask if he was working, but didn’t want to seem desperate. It was the toddler that came up with the idea of going to Teavana today, all on his own. I hadn’t mentioned anything to him, we hadn’t talked about Teavana in a long time (he used to love going there a year ago). I asked him why and told him we had lots of tea here at home, but he was insistent about it. Okay, then.

I was nervous driving there, funny how the mind can have such a reaction on the body. Not sure what about really, not like I’ve been banned from the store and there are only three people left working there that I knew, none of them management (our manager quit a few weeks ago, supposedly before they could fire or demote her). So I was going to either see one of two people I like and get a free beverage or someone I didn’t know and just order a drink. Well turns out it was the former and he showed me everything new, all of it I had seen online, but I humored him. Then I got to smell some of the new teas and settled on trying this one.

I actually had a craving for cherries and chocolates yesterday that I satisfied at first with a cold cup of Sakura Allure and then with dried cherries the husband brought home. I’m glad I did not run out for this as it probably wouldn’t have satisfied that craving. This is very elderberry as Barista Boy noted, he apparently has elderberry trees in his backyard and they freeze them and put them on top of ice cream, yum! I tried it unsweetened, against his recommendations but knew I could ask for some melted rock sugar later, however the toddler was dragging me out to the escalator which we rode down, then rode the elevator, the ordered him a ho dog from Dairy Queen at which point he told me he really had to pee.

So with my hands I led him to the “Family Lounge” and after we had both washed our hands we sat down at the small kids table and I sipped on my tea in the glorified restroom while Rowan watched old black & white cartoons. Sigh. It was pretty weak hot and only rounded its self out a bit as it cooled, tart elderberry and hibiscus, yep tasted like a Teavana blend, but truffle? Rowan gave up on his hotdog and was ready to leave the lounge. We stopped by Teavana on the way out to get my splash of rock sugar. Barista Boy said I knew it or he knew me so well or something. The sugar did bring forward the chocolate, but it was still subtle, nothing decadent, which is fine, but I feel like their were more chocolate notes in the Aged Tieguanyin I tried earlier.

I saved some of the cup for the husband who pulled into the driveway right behind me. He said it tasted like chocolate and wasn’t bad. I had my last few sips in a bone china cup, which improved things slightly, but I’m drinking the Aged Tieguanyin right now and it is just so much more satisfying and naturally sweet. No these two teas cannot be compared even remotely, but I do think it says a lot about how far I’ve come.

Hibiscus?!

In a chocolate tea?! What was I just saying about Teavana and hibiscus? Seriously, do the blenders for this company have any idea that not everyone loves for everything to taste like sour gummies?! Arrgh!

This is my last cup before bed, and I was initially going to have this with some Purdy’s fruit creme chocolates I have, but I decided to downgrade at the last moment to some chocolate cake instead. Boy, am I glad I didn’t waste those chocolates now. I’ve heard our new Caramel Sea Salt or whatever is a great chocolate tea, maybe I’ll save those chocolates to have with that instead.

I just don’t know what to say about this tea. The name is great, and immediately raises your expectations that this is going to be an amazing chocolate-y blend with an overlay of fruitiness.

Alas! No. Is there even chocolate in this?!

I can taste berries, yeah. (Ooh, is that what elderberry tastes like? Since I just had this back-to-back with Very Berry White, it’s easier to distinguish the notes they have in common.) I can taste hibiscus. I can even taste mate (more so than oolong, and I thought I might be imagining things until I saw that Amanda had noticed this in the ingredients), but chocolate? Dude, where?

…Oh wait, I think I caught some chocolate notes there when I burped. No seriously, the only chocolate is at the back!

It’s not that this tastes bad, but who on earth decided to market it as a chocolate tea and not a berry tea? It’s actually got a berry-flavoured chocolate taste to it at the back and in the aftertaste, but you can’t market a tea on the aftertaste and not what the sip is riding on. What a mess. FAIL.

(More tomorrow! Maybe I’ll get to some of the ones I actually really like, hah.)

So I caved and went into Teavana again tonight. They’re always so enthusiastic about showing me a billion things and then I hope that I don’t crush them by only buying two items…I know that it is really competitive so normally I try and not take up too much of their time. We ended up getting this and some white chai because my husband wanted to pick something out for me that he’d think I’d like. :p He accidentally cheated because we’ve had it before.
This brews a strange purple color. To be honest, I know a lot of people are wanting a big POW of chocolate, but when I think of truffles, they may be chocolaty, but that isn’t everything that is going on. These smell just like these truffles that my mom used to get at restaurants when I was little. They had gold wrappers if anyone remembers them.
I always get confused by Teavana’s naming. I think they should fire their naming person because they’re always so weird and off what I think of when I smell/taste the blends. Why wonderberry I have to wonder. I would think that just hearing elderberries sounds exotic enough to get the blend sold. shrug that’s just me.
Huh. Someone mentioned this tasting like cherry cordials and I think they hit it on the nose! I used to hate them when I was a child, but my dad bought them all the time, we got little time together, so to save face I always gobbled them anyways! There is really not very much chocolate in this and I wouldn’t say that it is a bad thing; except the name says chocolate in it! Maybe adding more leaf will help that out. I’m not getting too much hibiscus in here either so that’s a good surprise. I just realized what this reminds me of: chocolate dipped jelly sticks. Like the ones that they sell around Christmas! I love those! This is an ok tea and I don’t know if I’d buy more, but I’ll play around with it a little.
edit
I’m lowering this just a few notches because you know what? The roasted flavors are coming out more as it cools and they are really throwing off the chocolate/fruity vibe. I dislike that a lot!

TART. That’s the first thing. It seems like a mix of the hibiscus tartness and the berries. There’s a vague sweetness there too, that I think is the chocolate hanging around the edges. The aftertaste actually tastes like some berry filled chocolate thing, but I was really wanting the whole tea to taste like that. I’ve had good luck with cold-brewing overly hibiscus teas, so I may try that out later. For now, I’m not overly impressed. I feel like this tea could actually possibly taste like it’s supposed to if the hibiscus was removed

A sharp, clear berry scent. This tea seemed a bit too busy for my liking. Too many flavours competing for the spotlight made this tea confusing to the palate. A bright, acidic berry taste and chocolaty backnotes with a lingering dark green vegetable note. This tea was much better sweetened, cutting out the sharpness of the acidic berries.

21 down – 479 to go!

I really thought I would love this tea. Unfortunately that’s not the case. I’m not quite sure what it is that’s wrong with it for me. It’s unbalanced somehow, and I’m not really experienced enough to describe it more than that. The flavors seems to be fighting each other rather than being complimentary. It’s really strong flavored, kind of in your face, normally I like that, but this is just too much. Not for me.

I had such high hopes for this tea. I was intrigued by the Chocolate Truffle so in my last trip to Teavana, I picked up a few ounces.
The smell of the dried tea is intoxicating! There are definite chocolate and berry notes, so I was quite excited to brew it this morning.
Unfortunately, that’s where the chocolate ends. I definitely taste the oolong and the berry, but that’s about it.

It was better than the last time I tried it. It has a certain chocolately taste just barely there, with a tiny hint of some sort of berries. I’m terrible at rating tea. Haha! But I do know that I liked it, and the tastes weren’t very strong but kind of subtle and well blended. I enjoyed it with sugar, while my fiance had his with honey.

I had it on Valentine’s Day in place of real chocolate.

Okay, I’ve just started getting into drinking tea, and I must say I really am starting to love it. I’m not to the point where I can taste ingredients or anything like that. I’m not drinking anything unsweetened or anything flavorless because I’m not there yet. But, I must say this tea is good for a beginner such as myself. The only thing I have against this tea is the fruity taste. It’s a little strong in my opinion, but not horribly. I like the chocolaty after taste of this tea, but that part could be a little stronger. This is my first “desert tea”-not sure if that’s the correct name for this tea, but I was overall satisfied and would recommend this tea to a beginner, and will most likely be purchasing this again soon. (This is my second cup today!)

I really want to love this tea, but every time I’ve tried it I’ve been disappointed. It’s a decent tea, but I feel it’s lacking a fullness in flavor and I don’t really get as much chocolate as I do tart fruit. It’s a nice deep violet color when it steeps and smells delicious, but doesn’t make a particular impact, even sweetened.

DIVINE. Like a chocolate covered cherry in a cup.

I know several people who had mixed thoughts on this one, and I wasn’t so sure about this one based on the description myself. This one has a lot going on, but overall the flavor is pleasant.

The smell of this tea dry is very true to it’s name. LOTS of rich berries with chocolate undertones. The smell of the tea brewed is pretty good too, but when I tasted it the power and flavor that I was expecting just wasn’t there. It seemed watered down and bland. A very small chocolate taste with a couple tart berries. I hate it when teas don’t live up to their smell! After trying it again at a higher concentration I gave up. This one was returned.