Red Velvet Chocolate

Backlog from yesterday. I had this with my dinner while at Panera. At first I had my doubts about eating there but it was super convenient at the time and then I saw they carry Republic of Tea and I took it as a sign. (Have some nasty memories associated with that place, Kristaleyn, they can be replaced!)
Anyhow, this tea… Hmmm. Well it was great, I really felt as if I was drinking red velvet! with a fraction of the calories (I did add a packet of rock sugar). And no milk needed! sometimes I find milk enhances/detracts from a rooibos dessert tea. In this case, I feel it would have taken away from the natural creaminess that was already there.
When it was really hot, I found the intense astringency a bit annoying but as it cooled… it toned down significantly. Also, I wish the flavour was a bit more intense, just a tad. Otherwise, I am in love! :)
Anyhow, I’m headed to a tea tasting today!!! I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks now. Yeaaay!!

It’s he-re!!

Rushed home to find this on my doorstep, and immediately ripped into it. Brewed for 10 minutes, my standard steep for rooibos teas. It brews up a lovely red color (as well it should, considering the name!).

It tastes like red velvet cake batter. Really, it does. Sweet, with that distinct chocolate taste that’s unique to red velvet cakes. So someone at the Republic did their homework, and I’ll give them an A! There’s even the barest hint of cream cheese frosting. It’s going to be a staple in my cupboard now, and I cannot wait to get some vanilla ice cream and make either a tea float or a teashake with this!! I’ll try it as a latte soon.

You can taste the rooibos, and if you don’t like that, this might not be for you. It’s not overwhelmingly strong, but it is obvious that this tea is built upon that base.

(And, since I know you’ll ask, you can’t taste the beet root bits. Trust me, I’d tell you. I do not like beets.)

Thank you Jaime for the most wonderful package, which included this tisane (my cupboard went from 74 to 92 teas OVERNIGHT! O-M-G!)

I really enjoyed the flavor of this tea! There was definitely a chocolate cake like flavor. CAKE!! They really did the cake part!!! (neat!) I was shocked and pleased at the red velvet cake color (must be the beets!)

I took this with a touch of sugar crystals and a splash of milk, and I’m not sure if it weakened it a bit or what, but next time I would use a little less water and maybe a minute more on the steep to get a little more strength. I would also like to try it sans additions. I have two more bags left, but I need to go to Wegman’s tonight – if they have it I would pick up a tin FOR SURE! It would be a great addition to my tisane arsenal!

CAKE!

Thanks to momo for the sample.

This isn’t bad. Brewed up pure I was getting chocolate but wasn’t getting any red velvet. So I splashed some soy milk into this and it definitely helped bring out that cake creaminess. This is on par with the peppermint chocolate I tried the other night.

So I went to the doctor today and he thinks I do have plantar fasciitis, which sucks for me but at least it is treatable so I am hopeful.

On the way to work I stopped off to a little store to get some lunch for today and there they had this tea. Against my better judgment (and especially because I have a bad track record with RoT), I decided to buy this.

Because I’m used to RoT’s weak teabags I steeped this up with two teabags in a 10 oz. mug for 5 minutes. I am glad this isn’t terrible, especially because it’s roobois. :) I am getting some nice chocolate-y notes and the overall brew is very smooth and mild. I don’t love it but I don’t think I will have problems finishing the tin.

Just a healthy impulse purchase due to my self-pity – hey, at least I didn’t drink a bottle of wine (that might come later)

Wow, quite impressed by the vibrant beet color this tisane steeped up. The aroma smells of chocolate and cake, but not a plain old chocolate cake, this smells like the cake in red velvet cake. I’m very impressed with how well the cake flavor translates into liquid tea form. The chocolate is light, but I think I prefer it this way. The only thing missing is the cream cheese frosting. Maybe there is a cheesecake flavored coffee creamer I could add to get this in the tea? I love this with a few ounces of skim milk. Very bakey and delicious. I definitely have to order a tin of this! Thank you Kristen for sending me some of this to try!

I want to thank Kristen for this one! This isn’t too bad…It smells like Rooibos and chocolate. It’s very sweet but I am thinking more sweet from the rooibos than the chocolate. I can’t pick out the other flavors but it’s alright overall! I would have it again but I don’t think I would buy a HUGE tin of it tho!

Thanks again Kristen!!!!!

I saw this in Whole Foods before I saw anything about it…since I saw people say good things and I love cake, I kind of purposely just went back to get it…

O. M. G.

Adding the beetroot to color the tea more red is freakin’ genius, and just like in traditional red velvet you can’t taste it! It is delicious and chocolatey, sometimes I get a big taste of blackberry but that’s no problem.

I swear there’s even this slight tang to it like cream cheese frosting.

Entirely worth the ten bucks for the canister. And I have cake flavored vodka, can anyone say boozy tea latte when I actually buy milk sometime?

While at a coffee/tea house Saturday night I decided to check out the Red Velvet Chocolate they had on the menu. I loved the chocolate and vanilla flavors and the color was almost spot on with the slice of cake I had for comparison. I will have to get some of this to make at home though as I don’t think I had a long enough steep and therefore don’t want to judge completely on the one experience

I a few samples of The Republic of Tea’s chocolate rooibos blends that I am excited to try. I have a hard time making myself switch from strong black teas to caffeine-free teas in the evening, and I am hoping that these delicious-looking blends will help. The teabag smells chocolatey and has that sweet odd scent from the rooibos. (I’m not a huge fan of rooibos, but am trying to be open minded!) The flavor is alright, it is kind of subtle. I added a little sweetener as I hoped it would enhance the sweeter flavors and also some milk as suggested, but both of these overwhelmed the tea. I was hoping for a more smooth and creamy cup. Although it’s not as good as I hoped, it’s still a nice caffeine-free cuppa for before bed, but probably one that I wouldn’t necessarily purchase a full tin of.

-Round natural unbleached teabag.
-Teabag smells of chocolate and rooibos. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet, warm red velvet cake and icing.
-Tea liquor is a deep reddish-brown color.
-Light chocolate flavor with a mellow red velvet finish.
-Best with a small amount of sweetener. (Milk overwhelms the delicate flavor.)
-Fair tea. Very thin and weak flavor. No creamy cake-like flavor as expected.

I received this tea as part of a Christmas present from a friend who knows how much I love tea. I love Red Velvet & had high hopes for this tea. Luckily, it did not disappoint me!

Everyone saying it tastes like red velvet cake batter is right…it does. And the vanilla flavor leaves a hint of cream cheese frosting. I enjoyed this from the first sip.

Definitely adding this as a favorite to always have on hand. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Really delightful cuppa tea.

I’ve been wanting to try this tea forever and finally got a couple bags in a swap. I’m not totally blown away by this tea, but it is pretty good. It has a good berry flavor mixed with some chocolate cake-iness. The mouthfeel seems very juicy and refreshing. The rooibos does come through quite a bit, but for me that’s a good thing. As much as I enjoyed this tea, I’m probably not going to buy it since it is only available in bags. If this was offered in a loose version, I would purchase it in a heartbeat. Prepared with almond milk and stevia.

Kristen sent me a sample of this! And, I was so excited to get to try it. Red Velvet Cake might be my favorite thing on the planet (damn… now I might have to make cupcakes just from thinking about it). I tried this last night so I am backlogging.

It does taste like red velvet cake which really surprised me. I even feel like I get a taste of cream cheese frosting.

BUT… as much as I want to love this tea, there is something weird about it. I had to drink almost the whole cup before I figured out what the strange flavor was. It’s almost like the chocolate is artificial, but then it occurred to me that it’s actually akin to the flavor that low-calorie sweeteners give off. It’s more of an aftertaste that you can’t get out of your mouth, kind of like saccharin (for those of you old enough to remember what sweet and low tastes like).

So, it’s definitely worth a try, but I don’t think I’d want to buy a whole tin.

Thank you Jaime for sending me this special treat. The best way to describe it is as follows…Creamy Chocolate Cake. Need I say more? :-) Yummy!

This was a thoughtful and welcome treat from a friend. I am neither a huge fan nor a not-a-fan of red velvet; but this didn’t seem to have quite the chocolatey richness of red velvet cake I expected. Maybe next time a double bag and a little sweetening.

(But on the plus side, caffeine free and surely the beets have to be good for something that ails me!)

I was excited to try this tea but unsure of how I would like it as I am not normally a rooibos fan. I am going to try another cup before I make any rash decisions but the cup I had did not remind me of red velvet anything! It had some berry taste to it??!!! And something else was coming through but I am not exactly sure what it was… going to try it again.

Delicious. This tea goes beyond just chocolate and rooibos flavors – there are vanilla notes that add to the richness. With some soymilk, this is a perfect tea to have for dessert.

Backlogging: I picked up a tin of this a couple of weeks ago from Cardullo’s, being too overwhelmed by the awesomeness to decide on anything else. (They carry Golden Moon! And Kusmi! I have never seen so many great teas in one store O_O)

I’ll add a rating later, since the slider doesn’t want to cooperate with my phone. This was a little too tart/rooibos-y plain, but tasty with a bit of sugar. Also good chilled! I haven’t decided yet whether it’s better with or without milk.

I wanted to love this.. I really did. But no matter how I prepare it I’m just not impressed. I have to say it’s not a horrible chocolate tea; I’ve had some that were so artificial they made me sick. It’s just not doing much for me. Dry it smells nice, a mild rooibos smell laced with chocolate, berries and a hint of citrus. Without sweetener or milk it’s a mild rooibos tea with a hint of chocolate aroma. I think with a bit of sugar and cream it’s more akin to red velvet cake, but even then it’s weak. It makes me want to go make chocolate cupcakes right now at 10:53 pm. And if I happened to have a box of Miss Crocker’s in the cupboard I would go do just that. This also made me want some Florence, in my opinion a better chocolate tea. Or even a better rooibos tea, as I love rooibos and this isn’t one of the better rooibos teas I’ve had. Meh. I am dying for some good tea.

I have tried this several times with various brew times and cannot get past the rooibos flavor. Meh.