Cherry Chocolate Tea

So I love anything chocolate cherry and when it was posted you could get a tin of this for $6.50 shipped I figured why not?

I have two other chocolate cherry teas, one from The Tea Spot, which was okay, and then Griottes from Della Terra that I haven’t tried yet.

I think this actually ranks above the Tea Spot one, though I have only had it with additions. I drank this plain and it was soooo perfect. I drank it while watching the series finale of 30 Rock as I cried at the end. Of course.

The chocolate isn’t super strong, but it tastes real enough. The cherry is perfect though. I don’t think it tastes medicinal at all, it tastes like a maraschino cherry.

Of course the only downside of this tea is a) you have to use 2 teabags to make a decent sized cup and b) it’s actually only available from World Market. But if I could get it at such a low price again, I’d get it. I have to try my other two again and see which one really prevails.

Now I must go check on course 2 of our coffee oatmeal stout night. First up was stout mac and cheese (I’m now dying earlier than ever) and next is chocolate stout brownies. My arms are tired from all the whisking and grating.

I must be in a Valentine’s day mood – when I saw this at World Market I had to pick it up! This is an exclusive tea to World Market, so a little hard to find, but I recommend it!

The tea bags smell of chocolate, and as usual they have a puny amount of tea in them, so I used 2 bags for one large cup. The bags smell nicely of both chocolate and cherry. While steeping the cherry scent comes out sharply. I got worried – it was a bit like Robitussin! I steeped 4 minutes and then tried the tea. It’s mostly cherry when drunk plain. I added milk and sugar, because I do that with all dessert teas. I think the milk was the missing note – adding that, I suddenly tasted cherry cordials – even the cream centers! I love them, but I don’t buy them because I have a problem with eating all of them. So I’m glad to find a tea that answers that craving!

I like that the tea base is a black tea, rather than the rooibos in many chocolate teas. It’s not distinctive, but I can taste it in the backdrop. I absolutely love this tea, and I might have to go back for another tin before it disappears!

I’m not fond of the scent of this tea in the can, which I took as a bad omen. Sort of a strident, sickly-sweet cherry… and it takes a lot for me to describe something as “sickly-sweet”. It doesn’t smell much better when brewed either, and I only used one bag. A heaping teaspoon of sugar and a generous splash of milk later, I took a sip and immediately questioned that gratuitous use of sweetener; “If it smells sweet already, dummy!” My first impression was that a sugared cherry-bomb had gone off in my mouth.

Subsequent sips had me reevaluating though – once the initial shock had worn off, I found it to be very pleasant. As others have noted, it does taste a lot like a cherry cordial candy. I’m very glad this has a base of black tea and not rooibos (as many other Republic of Tea chocolate blends do), so that makes it stand out in my cupboard. Too bad the scent is so off-putting to me, otherwise I might’ve rated it higher.

Right now, this is my absolute favorite tea in the world. As it steeps, an intoxicating fragrance reminiscent of fine chocolate cherry cordials or cherry pipe tobacco fills the room. The flavor is equally impressive. The light cherry and chocolate essence lingers on your tongue for minutes after your final sip. The color of the steeped tea has an elegant light reddish hue. My only complaint about this tea is that it is a limited World Market exclusive offering. It is only available In World Market stores from about January through Valentine’s Day. Next January I intend to buy as many containers of this tea as possible so I can enjoy it throughout the year.

I believe this tea isn’t available online anymore, so it really excited me when I found this at the local World Market.

Compared to the single other cherry flavored black tea that I used to drink, this cherry flavor is quite a bit more prominent. In fact, it is so prominent, that one may at first be inclined to say the flavor is slightly artificial solely because of the concentration of cherry flavor. I can’t say I very much enjoy the black tea base, however; bitters up very easily.

There isn’t much in the way of chocolate taste, at least typical caocao taste, in my opinion. It can perhaps be better augmented with a bit of sugar.

I just found this tea today at Cost Plus and I think I’m in love. I’ve had a bit of a fascination with chocolate teas lately, but it’s tricky to find the good varieties. So many of them include chicory and as someone who can’t stand the taste of coffee, chicory is really just too close in flavor.
This is a black tea and it lacks that extra earthiness that many of the rooibos-based chocolate teas have. I used just one bag in a giant mug with a little raw sugar and had a perfect early evening cuppa. I expect it will also be delicious with a little milk or better yet, a little chocolate liqueur for a nightcap. I love the way the canister smells, like someone just opened a box of Queen Anne Cordials. If you’re expecting it to taste just like the cordials, you’ll be disappointed, but it is wonderfully reminiscent and almost a good substitute for a sweet treat.