Red Velvet Chocolate

I, like Jaime, was really excited to try this tea. The thought of rooibos + the flavor of red velvet was just too marvelous to pass up! This is my second cup of this today.. and I’m trying to get a grasp on the flavor. It does brew to a pretty red color and still has that distinctive wood flavor rooibos always seems to have. The chocolate scent reminds me of a scratch-and-sniff sticker from my childhood. It’s not completely artificial, but is on the border of being so. The flavor is sweet and balanced with the rooibos. I do very much like this tea and think it’s quite yummy.. but I wouldn’t necessarily call it red velvet chocolate. There are moments when I think “yes! That’s definitely it!” but it keeps slipping away. There are layers of chocolate, almost a berry tone and the rooibos. Overall, a very nice cup. Lots of flavors to keep your tongue occupied and your belly happy!

I was feeling overwhelmed by all the patient notes I have to write before I can get home, so I needed a distraction. I found a sample bag of this in the Republic of Tea sample box in my desk drawer so I decided to give it a try. I am pleasantly surprised by this little wonder. The rooibos blends nicely with the chocolate flavors. It’s not too “beety” either. Not sure I would buy a box of this as I am not a big “Red Velvet” person, but I’m glad to be enjoying it. If only it could write these notes for me….

And here I find yet another rooibos blend that I don’t hate! I actually like this one pretty well. Added milk and sugar to enhance the ‘dessert’ feel of this tea and it tastes actually really good. I’m not sure I’d say ‘red velvet cake’ if someone asked me the flavour in a blind taste test, but it is still quite pleasing. Chocolate and vanilla and creaminess is what I taste.

Huh. Interesting. A friend of mine gave me a couple of bags of this tea to try and it’s okay. I definitely get the chocolate and just a tad of fruitiness and, yes, cake. Definitely red velvet. Not something I’d want to drink every day, but a tasty little experiment nonetheless! Had mine with a bit of milk and honey.

I adore red velvet….and make a really good red velvet cupcake. Red Velvet fried chicken with mashed potatoes with a cream cheese ribbon is a staple in my house.
When I saw this tea, I got really excited and was like “Shut up and take my money!”
I brewed a cup as soon as I got it home but was not impressed and shelved it until now (because everyone needs tea at 2:30 in the morning).
I steeped two bags in a big ol’ mug for…a while. After about 5 minutes I started smelling a little bit of chocolate in the air. When I took my first sip, I was not real impressed. The flavor was not bad, it just does not scream red velvet to me. I did not taste very much chocolate, but real red velvet is not very chocolaty either.
I added a little vanilla coffee creamer (because that was what I could grab) in hopes that it might bring out the sweetness. It helped a little, but not much.
I will finish the can, but doubt that I would buy it again, at least not unless it was a lot cheaper.

Edit: I bought some on the little coffee mate shots in creamy chocolate. I threw one of those in there…..more delicious. Gives it a little more chocolate flavor. I would give it a 70 when prepared that way!

I really want to try this one. Don’t have the nerve to buy a whole tin though!

I really wanted to love this one! I’m a sucker for red velvet cake, but something about the formulation here is just off. There’s a weirdly sour note here, like they isolated that aspect of the recipe so there’s a sour cream tang like cream cheese frosting except not good. I think it must be the beetroot, I can’t figure out what else could be screwing it up.

I have a whole canister of it though, so I just add chocolate soy milk or cut it with another tea with more chocolate flavoring.

It’s a nice tea but I just love red velvet so much that my expectations were really high. I agree with some one else who said maybe if there was a cream cheese frosting creamer it would really taste like red velvet. It tastes more chocolate than anything. The color steep a really nice red. It’s enjoyable but each time the smell does not match what I think it will taste like.

I’m an elementary school teacher, so I have some interesting mental associations with the smell of cake (think classroom parties with 25+ overly-stimulated, frosting-covered children). This tea immediately brought to mind our recent Valentine’s Day celebration and the multitude of confections I was force-fed. Not a good start for me.

I used two bags in my travel mug along with my customary milk and sugar. I was pleasantly surprised by the deep pink color the milk revealed in my dark mug. The scent was strong in my car as I drove to work – not terribly unpleasant, but persistent.

Yep. Tastes just about like red velvet cupcakes. Perhaps I’ll give it another shot this summer when my classroom associations aren’t so vivid. I finished the cup by mostly ignoring the taste. I’m glad I only have a few bags of this – I got it in a Republic of Tea sampler cube. Perhaps part of the problem is that it suffers in comparison to yesterday’s Coconut Cocoa, which came in the same cube.

It’s a chilly afternoon and the perfect time to enjoy this Red Velvet Chocolate tea. It’s a delicious rooibos and hebal blend that’s perfect with a dash of turbinado sugar and coconut cream. The chocolate flavor could be a bit stonger in my opinion, but perhaphs I need to let it steep a bit longer than I typically do.

On my first cup I made the mistake of using only one teabag and steeping for only 5 minutes and the result was terrible. For some reason that artificial chocolatey taste was super noticeable in that brew. However I did give it another go tonight and this time used 2 bags and steeped for double the time and it came out much much better. Still by no means a favorite but enjoyable enough to not make me regret buying the tin.

Red velvet cake is my favorite dessert, so when I saw this today at Whole Foods I had to buy the tin! I was a little hesitant because I haven’t always loved rooibos in the past, but – red velvet! in tea form! I am usually pleased with Republic of Teas, and they did not let me down.

I don’t think the tea smells overwhelmingly like cake, but the taste comes out after brewing. I cut open the teabags and used my infuser. I like large cups, and find I need 2 teabags from most of their teas. I steeped for 5 minutes, and I think it could even have gone a little longer.

The color is beautiful. After adding a splash of milk (1%) it did turn a slightly odd looking pink color. The taste is very smooth. I can taste vanilla, with a slight tang like cream cheese frosting. The chocolate taste is light (but that’s ok, because I find it light in the cake too!) There is a slight citrus flavor in the background. I finished my cup and had to hold myself back from immediately making more!

I think I’m going to have to give Rooibos teas another try. I always thought I disliked them, but I’ve recently realized that I actually dislike the hibiscus that was in the rooibos I had before!

This was another tea that somehow followed me home from vacation. I was so excited to find this at Central Market and not have to pay shipping. Made both myself and my husband a cup with two bags (12 oz mugs), he took his straight, I added a bit of splenda. At times I got the red velvet taste from it, other times less so, but either way, it was yummy and smooth.

Mmmm… this is good!

Nice chocolate flavour, interesting other taste-hints (bit of tang or tart), and the rooibos is nicely in the background. I would buy this one. Thanks, Starfevre!

Steeped for 8 minutes, added sugar and milk.

This is a nice sweet and fun tea. I drank it as “dessert” this evening, and that is kind of what it’s perfect for.

I usually try to avoid bagged tea, but this one intrigued me so I figured I’d give it a try. One bag per 6 ounces of water is recommended, but since I was using a larger mug (around 9-10 ounces of water) I threw two bags in for more flavor. I think one and a half bags would have been sufficient, but two bags was nice and robust.

There was not too much of a medicinal flavor that can sometimes happen with rooibos. Not to mention that, plus the beet bits, gave the tea a lovely deep red color. The added flavoring gave sweetness without tasting too artificial, which is always a gamble. While I drank it plain, adding a touch of milk or cream and sugar would make it pretty decadent.

I had first gotten a small tin of this tea, containing two bags as a gift on Valentines day. Lets say, I drank those two bags right away, and I had to get more. This is defiantly in my top 5 of my favourite teas. I recommend it to any tea enthusiast.

The greater part of the chocolate effect is in the aroma. I like to breathe in the chocolate and follow with a sip for the rooibos and vanilla. Yum yum yum yum yum!

I had very high expectations with this tea, but I’m not really happy with the taste. The chocolate flavor feels very artificial for me.

I drink it with milk and sugar to make it more tasty.

I was able to taste this wonderful tea thanks to a friend who carried it from US to Italy. We cannot find such a tasty tea in our country (as far as I know).

My thoughts upon it? It’s great, tasty and delicious. Perfect for any time of the day, from breakfast to after dinner. If you have it with red velvet cupcakes you’ll have the perfect mix of sweetness!

A little fruitier than I was expecting; it doesn’t REALLY taste like Red Velvet cake, but it works fine as a dessert tea on its own. I added a little sweetener, sea salt, and hot chocolate mix to (hopefully) bring out the chocolatey taste elements; they do make it sweeter, at least.