I am determined to make Brioche work for me since I had such high hopes for this tea. My last review of Brioche was less than stellar. I didn’t get the French pastry flavor everyone was raving about. I only got the taste of Lipton. A lightbulb in my head went off, “What if I mix Brioche and Choco*Late together?”. I mix Equal part Brioche and equal part Choco*Late like a mad scientist. The aroma of the dry leaf was bitter all around, bitter chocolate and bitter black tea. This could be disaster, I thought.
Brewed I got the most decadent smell. This is it! The French pastry smell. Not only did the aroma conjure images of croissants but a chocolate croissant! I can pick up ever so slight notes from the nuttiness of almond, buttery flakiness of pastry underneath a dominant bittersweet chocolate note. And the flavor, the notes seamlessly blend together into a chocolate croissant. This is chocolate croissant in a cup I tell ya! The aftertaste does have a bitter astringency, although it is tolerable. I found that adding sweetner and a drop of milk takes the bitterness away. I find the creaminess of the milk lifts the buttery notes of the pastry more and brings out the cinnamon, the sweetner enhances the flavor of chocolate. I’m quite proud of my ingenuity. I created a masterpiece. Ingredients: black tea, sliced almonds, cinnamon, safflower blossoms, cacao husk, vanilla, rooibos.
