There is a tree outside! Ok, that was a little vague, there is a five foot balsam fir sitting on the porch waiting to be brought inside for decorating. There is also a stash of gluten free flour and accouterments for baking, exciting! I might be a real Grinch when it comes to Christmas (so much so that I am cancelling it after this year in favor of a new holiday of my own invention) but that does not stop my enjoyment of baking and coniferous trees. I really need to get a tiny needly tree to live on my desk, or at the very least a candle that smells EXACTLY like a fir tree…also I need to pick up some blue and purple lights for my bedroom, the little lights make me immensely happy. Also, guys, I really need a dainty snow themed teacup or teapot for my collection, it is of extreme importance.
So today we are having another visit with Trader Leaf, specifically we are taking a little looksie at Chocolate Coconut Bon Bon a blend of black tea, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, broken cocoa bits, coconut flakes, and flavoring, some of my favorite ingredients…I do just adore chocolate and coconut. The aroma, oddly enough, is really loaded with almonds! Maybe that is what the flavoring is, because it is super nutty. There are also strong notes of chocolate and slightly toasted coconut. It reminds me a little of a bon bon, but it has been so long since I had one, which is tragic with my great love of chocolate. Really though, the aroma reminds me of cookies with a malt and molasses finish, so it might be a slightly different dessert, but it is sweet regardless.
The brewed tea is super duper sweet! No surprise with it being a dessert tea, but wow, that aroma is so sweet. It is a blend of rich sweet chocolate, molasses, coconut, and almond cookies. The liquid is nigh inseparable from the brewed leaves, the only real difference is the aroma gains sugary sweetness from the melted chocolate.
Of course the tea has a delightful oily film which makes for an excellent mouthfeel, but it is annoying to clean off the teacup! I know some people get really grossed out by the texture of melted chocolate and coconut in tea, but I find it soothing, it reminds me of my childhood tradition of getting a spoonful of goose-grease when I had a sore throat. My grandmother would give it too many and for some reason I always got a sore throat when visiting! Ok, greasiness aside, the taste is surprisingly not that sweet, which is fine by me. Oh don’t get me wrong, it is sweet, but not the sweet of biting into a bon bon, it is the sweetness of coconut and a small amount of chocolate. The coconut is very pronounced, there are also notes of cocoa butter and of course chocolate, especially into the aftertaste where it mixes a bit with malt and molasses. This tea was enjoyable, but it did lack potency, I wish either the black tea would have been stronger or possibly the chocolate, but I am never opposed to more chocolate. If you have an interest in trying this tea yourself, Trader Leaf very awesomely has a pair of coupons for my readers: for free shipping use code ‘amanda’ and for $10 off all orders over $40 use code ‘butterflies’ so yay for discounts!
For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/12/trader-leaf-chocolate-coconut-bon-bon.html
