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“I melted the last of my See’s candies Scotchmallow (marshmallow topped with butterscotch caramel (see below) and covered in dark chocolate) into this, then added a splash of almond milk to smooth...” Read full tasting note
“Meh… had some more of this one, and it just doesn’t work for me. There are hints of the chocolatey flavour that I love in Cashew Turtle (and Almond Happiness), but something’s a bit off. Ah well. I...” Read full tasting note
“Okay, enough. I haven’t really read Steepster since at some point before Christmas, having been caught up in the holidays and avid reading of something else that was deemed a little more important...” Read full tasting note
“52teas 12 Days of Christmas Sampler 2012 – Day 8 YAY!!! It’s the morning and I wanted a black tea, and BAM! Frank gave me a black tea!! And not only that, but it’s a chocolate tea!!! ...” Read full tasting note
…or la petite mort.
For LiberTEAS, who wanted something EXTRA chocolatey.
Here’s our new black tea base of Chinese black tea, Assam and a hint of Darjeeling, blended with organic cacao nibs and twice the usual amount of organic flavors. This is a very heady, sensational treat you are not going to want to miss.
Our Tea of the Week for the week of June 4, 2012
At 52teas.com, you will find unique, hand-blended artisan loose leaf teas: a new limited edition creation every week of the year. We pride ourselves on offering truly unique, one-of-a-kind tea blends that you won’t find anywhere else.
I melted the last of my See’s candies Scotchmallow (marshmallow topped with butterscotch caramel (see below) and covered in dark chocolate) into this, then added a splash of almond milk to smooth it out. It’s now about the closest thing a cup of tea can be to hot chocolate. :-)
Meh… had some more of this one, and it just doesn’t work for me. There are hints of the chocolatey flavour that I love in Cashew Turtle (and Almond Happiness), but something’s a bit off. Ah well. I think I have a small cup’s worth left before this is gone (but sadly, it’s another tea that isn’t listed in my cupboard because I thought my roomie would take it… but she ended up leaving me all the 52teas Christmas sampler remnants).
You remind me of Florian Bellanger saying that it doesn’t work for you haha. So appropriate too. But I agree, this was meh for me too.
Florian Bellanger??? googles Some dude on Cupcake Wars, I see, haha. Not familiar with the show!
Yeah… it’s strange, but I’m finding the older 52teas blends, and in some cases I mean literally older, as in they’ve been sitting around for a year or more, are more to my liking than most of the newer ones. Sad :(
Yeah, I feel bad saying it, but none of the newer ones even sound interesting to me. I remember when I first discovered 52teas, I’d want almost everything on the site, and a lot of it was great. I’d impatiently wait for that new blend every week. Over the past year that’s really changed.
Ooh, the Almond Happiness is as good as the Cashew Turtle? For some reason, I still haven’t tried it yet as I keep waiting to the elusive right time to enjoy it as Almond Joy is one of my fave flavors. lol If that makes any sense at all.
@Incendiare, I hear you about 52teas. I’m actually kind of glad that this year’s blends haven’t been too enticing. I can’t afford any more tea!
Almond Happiness is definitely reminiscent of Cashew Turtle, at the very least! I really enjoy(ed) it.
Okay, enough.
I haven’t really read Steepster since at some point before Christmas, having been caught up in the holidays and avid reading of something else that was deemed a little more important to chew my way through at the time. There’s just no way I’m ever going to make it back through all of the Steepster posts I’ve missed. I’ve skimmed back a couple of days and I’m leaving it at that. If I missed anything important, please link me.
For the second tea of the new year, (the first being the orange pu-erh from Nothing But Tea, which Husband has developed an affinity for. You should have heard him try explain why earlier. He sounded like me on Steepster! LOL!) we had the next out of the 52teas Christmas box.
And once again I feel wary. I’m afraid I’ve had some sort of caveat with all the teas in box this year, although in some cases I’ve managed to overcome it. There are only two of the ones that are left that I’m actually looking forward to, so I suppose it’s been a bad 52teas year for me. I recall having better luck last year. Oh well, we can’t win them all, can we?
Anyway, the reason for my hesitation with this time is simply the fact that it’s chocolate flavoured and although I’ve had teas before with some sort of chocolate element to them, I’ve never ever found one that actually tasted properly of chocolate to me. I’m completely open to the idea of a chocolate flavoured tea, and the moment someone manages to make one that works I’ll be the first to swoon. But it hasn’t happened yet. The closest I’ve ever been are those black teas that have a strong naturally occurring note of cocoa. But those aren’t flavoured, and cocoa is not the same as chocolate.
It started out quite well. When I opened the envelope, the first note I noticed was something that reminded me of honey. A strong flower honey. This note persisted after brewing, and now also had a note of chocolate to it. Dark, heavy chocolate and in combination with the strong honey, the aroma of this tea struck me most of all as something akin to a dark chocolate toblerone. Husband thought it reminded him more of stepping into a heavily scented garden, which I consider to be in the same sort of category as my strong flower honey. There was a slight note of milk and of nuts as well.
When I took the first sip, it finally dawned on me why I’ve never managed to find a chocolate flavoured tea that works. When I get something with chocolate I expect a thick and slightly sticky texture, the sort of feeling one get from real chocolate melting on the tongue. When I then get a thin, watery mouthful of tea, it’s just not the same and it breaks the illusion of chocolate quite severely.
Add to this the fact that I might have rather different ideas of what constitutes as chocolate and what doesn’t than many of you Americans. Where I live, milk chocolate must contain at least 25% dry cocoa solids and dark chocolate at least 35% dry cocoa solids. Otherwise it’s not chocolate and is not allowed to be sold under the name of chocolate. The US rules for when chocolate is chocolate are based on how much chocolate liquor it contains, so it’s not directly translatable, but when reading about both it seems, if I understand it correctly, that the US will accept what amounts to less dry cocoa solids than the EU will. This supports my experience with Hershey’s Kisses which some undoubtedly well-meaning soul sent me once. They were quite, quite foul and had little to nothing to do with chocolate. Mind you, this was about a decade or so ago, so I suppose it’s possible that the quality of the product has been increased.
And all of this is why I don’t think this tea lives up to its name. At first there was the initial disappointment that once again a chocolate flavoured tea had failed to work. After having got over that, I could start paying attention to what it actually tasted like, and I have arrived at some very dark caramel. Slightly bitter, with a strong note of burnt sugar to it, but also with just a smidge of sweetness. I discussed this with Husband and while he hadn’t thought of that by himself, he agreed with my assession. It’s nice and all, but to us nothing in this cup even remotely resembles what we understand as ‘chocolate’.
Glad to see I’m not the only one that was not that impressed with it.
I have pretty much given up on chocolate tea. I love chocolate far too much and I miss that texture. And you are quite right about Hershey’s Kisses – blech.
Chocolate teas are always a bust for me as well :(
I feel like chocolate teas are really hard mostly because so much of eating chocolate is the texture. You can’t really get that in a liquid. I haven’t had this one to say for sure or not, though.
Sigh. The US and food regulations. It really wouldn’t surprise me that we’re missing out. Is there a brand of chocolate you would recommend? I would love to try it and see how different it is.
Della Terra has a couple of nice ones but generally chocolate teas do not thrill me.
Nicole, Exactly. I agree.
JoonSusanna, I wish I could give you specific recommendations, but I don’t know what’s actually available where you live. I seem to recall having heard that you can get Lindt, though, so that’s a good place to start. In general, try to look for something which is produced by a European company, because they’re more likely to sell European chocolate. I can’t guarantee, though, that exported products aren’t modified to local tastebuds. It’s probably more expensive, but give it a go anyway if you find some.
Tor Ince, I don’t think I’ve tried very many almond teas that I can remember. I know there has been some nut ones, but not just off the top of my head. I had a walnut green once, though, which was super sweet, almost to the point of being undrinkable.
I’d like to try that, but I must warn you that I’m currently likely to be a little slow with return parcels. I’ll follow you, so shoot me a message whenever.
I gave my mother some cinnamon flavoured coffee one year for Christmas. My father thought it was dreadful, but she and I quite liked it. (Probably especially me)
Strangely enough, I don’t really care for cinnamon in tea, but I like it in cooking and baking. I think for me it just doesn’t mix well with tea. I’m searching high and low for the Perfect Vanilla Tea, though. No luck yet.
Quince is not super popular here, I don’t think. Husband is English too and if I remember correctly he only had very superficial knowledge of it until I gave him some quince rooibos that I had. I didn’t like it at all, but he loved it. Once upon a time I had a rather enjoyable black tea with quince, but I can’t remember where I got it from and haven’t seen it since. I must admit that I had kind of forgotten about it until you reminded me just now, so I think I’ll keep an eye out now.
‘When I then get a thin, watery mouthful of tea, it’s just not the same and it breaks the illusion of chocolate quite severely"
- YES. THIS!!! I’ve given up on chocolate in teas.
As an American, I think Hershey sucks as well. It has a kinda icky taste. Personally I think it is if you combined real chocolate and bakers chocolate; also it seems to taste better if it is used for baking.
So far, my favorite vanilla black is colonille from serendipitea. We drink a fairly large amount of said tea. Plus, they’re super nice people.
The differences between US and European chocolate are even deeper than percentage of cocoa solids. Speculation was when they started to make chocolate in the USA they did not know exactly how to process the milk and the process they used was different, leading to production of butyric acid. The wikipedia explains it better
""Hershey process" milk chocolate is popular in North America. It was invented by Milton S. Hershey, founder of The Hershey Company, and can be produced more cheaply than other processes since it is less sensitive to the freshness of the milk. The process is a trade secret, but experts speculate that the milk is partially lipolyzed, producing butyric acid, which stabilizes the milk from further fermentation. This compound gives the product a particular sour, “tangy” taste, to which the American public has become accustomed, to the point that other manufacturers now simply add butyric acid to their milk chocolates."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_chocolate
I really do not like american chocolate and was glad when I was able to understand the whys of it.
About quinces, never had any tea. Beware of one thing though, the ornamental quinces are not nearly as glorious as real ones! They grow very easily in my country and are very popular to make a sort of jam (true marmelada, which gave origin to marmalade). But they need a lot of sun to ripen properly, not sure if the ones growing in England are not the japanese ornamental ones whose fruit is not great. Even the fruit ones have the most beautiful blooms!
I agree…real chocolate, dark and lush…or forget it…it rarely balances well with tea and those few lucky and skillful enough to do it proper, realize that its a balancing act….
Hershey’s might be the most widely available chocolate in the United States, but it is certainly not the only kind made here. Skip the Hershey’s and go for the Scharffen Berger or Green & Black’s.
Green and Black´s is nice, though IMO a bit pricey for what it is and the fairtrade thing apparently slightly dodgy, but it´s a british company isn´t it?
Apparently it was originally … it’s now owned by Kraft Foods, and my current bar was manufactured in Poland. It’s global chocolate now. :)
Everything is sort of global now, Twinings is made in Poland I hear. American candy bars sold in Europe are usually made in Europe and would not be surprised if some brands are owned by Unilever. But I tend to associate the nationality with the original one, so G&B is to my mind british chocolate (as is Cadbury´s which is I think also now owned by the same company or some other boring conglomerate).
52teas 12 Days of Christmas Sampler 2012 – Day 8
YAY!!! It’s the morning and I wanted a black tea, and BAM! Frank gave me a black tea!! And not only that, but it’s a chocolate tea!!! EEEEEEEH!!!
I quickly brewed this up while an incredibly annoying kitty meowed incessantly. Seriously, what do you want??! He has food and water and I even tried to pick him up and pet him and give him attention. But no, he just walks off and keeps meowing like he hasn’t eaten in days. Ugh.
I need an especially delicious treat this morning to put up with him, so I added Truvia and unsweetened almond milk to my cup. The result? A really sweet, really chocolaty elixir of +20 to ignore kitty sounds. Aaaah, ignorance is bliss.
This is a seriously yummy dark chocolate tea. I’m getting dark cocoa and a hint of bittersweetness. Yum yum yum! It’s like death by chocolate! Which consequently is a lot more pleasant than death by annoying kitty sounds. ;)
Not sure if I’m translating this correctly, but doesn’t “la petit mort” mean “the little death”? Hmmm…Maybe it’s a play on death by chocolate? lol
This is one of those teas that I would repurchase if there was a decaffeinated version. I enjoy how the dark chocolate and the black tea complement each other. But I know if I had to choose between this one and some of my other favorite blacks (i.e. Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake or Cotton Candy), this one could never win. I’m happy I got to try it though, it’s still quite good.
I won’t be writing a full-length review for this one yet, because I just finished a root beer that had the most remarkable set of spices (I don’t say that often about a soda, as I don’t usually like soda) and I can still taste the anise lingering on my palate, and it is giving this deliciously chocolate-y blend just a hint of licorice-y goodness … which leads me to think that at some point when enjoying this tea, I might need to drop a piece or two of star anise in the teapot to alter the flavor a bit. Would definitely be tasty (I do love anise).
First of all, I’ve got to mention this one more time – FRANK: I love the new base. The old base was hit or miss for me sometimes, but this one is really good. Rich, hearty but with a nice roundness so that it doesn’t come off as too heavy. Very good.
Is this chocolate-y enough? Well, truth be told, I don’t know that there can ever be enough chocolate. That’s like saying a person has enough tea. That statement simply does not make any sense to me. You might as well be speaking gibbily-gook because there is never really “enough” chocolate nor is there “enough tea” in the world to satisfy me.
However, in terms of tea and chocolate enjoyment, I am really enjoying the level of chocolate in this. Rich and deliciously smooth chocolate, not some flimsy, namby-pamby milk chocolate, this is dark and decadent. Yummy. Yes, it is that. It is definitely Yummy.
As this cools to a drinkable temperature, the chocolate notes begin to really intensify, becoming creamier and richer.
Lovely “non-review”! I really need to brew up this one this weekend.
@Janefan: Well, when I actually write a review for the SororiTea Sisters blog, I like to have a clean palate so that I can really try to interpret what I’m tasting to the best of my ability. This tasting note is more rambling than anything else. :)
Mini Sipdown! This is the last of the Christmas advent 52teas and probably one of my least favourites from the dozen. That being said, I appreciate the fudgieness (can I just make up words?) that this cup sometimes mimics.
Just got back of the mainland for the long weekend only to be united with some new parcels. I was doing pretty well there for a moment but now it looks like I’m just shy of 100 teas again. Hmm.
Things like this can amuse me for a good hour. http://www.flickr.com/photos/konabish/8567019851/in/pool-funnyphotos/ Spoiler. It’s a crow.
Cool beans, my parcel finally arrived. Despite staying up until 3am last night, I made sure I got up this morning and retrieved the chocolate madness.
The scent of the dry is pleasantly chocolatey. Not prominent, but not weak either. The best description I can really give it is sweetened cocoa nibs. I was hoping for Fry’s cocoa intense but it’s not quite there.
The first steep was for four minutes. The aroma was a light cocoa. Not rich nor creamy. When it comes to the taste, I’m really enjoying the tea base. It adds a depth to the chocolate. It’s stronger than the chocolate itself, but it’s not bitter at all. Very smooth and soulful.
The second steep was for five minutes. It’s weaker than expected. I added a splash of milk and the dairy totally took over.
I didn’t precisely measure, but basically filled one half of a standard-sized tea ball and brewed a pot. I think I’ll just steep one individual cup next time to see if I could extract more intense flavour out of this. Not the most chocolatey tea I’ve tried, but it’s still very good, though. The tea base alone makes this worthwhile.
Haha 3 am for me too. Night owl or fun times?
Night owl! There’s not much to do in a 400-person village. I’m guessing it was the latter for you?
Night owl too! I work best at night… and since I am doing a self-paced online course, night has become my best friend. Though, that’s not to say it’s not due to occasional fun times.
Awe, too bad it is school-related. I am most productive at night too. Not a morning person at all!
I second that! (Or third that?) ;)
I used 1 tablespoon of dry leaf for 375 ml of water.
The dry leaf smells like a very authentic rich and chocolatey chocolate cake batter. The authentic chocolate cake batter quality transfers to the brewed tea scent as well.
The chocolatey richness is present near the end of the sip in the background. The main flavour is a bit thin. The black tea taste is strong but there is no bitterness. The astringency of the black tea carries into the chocolate flavour and complements it, making it taste more like a dark chocolate.
Rating: 85
This is the eighth of the 12 days of Christmas Teas! I am happy this one was included because I was very curios about it. Chocolate and tea sound like a great idea, but unfortunately, I have only tried 1 chocolate tea that really made me think “Wow, this really tastes like chocolate”! So I am very skeptical when I see a new chocolate tea.
The little packet smelled a whole lot like Malted ChocoMatte. If had a hint of fruitiness to it, but in all honesty, it did smell quite a bit like chocolate. The black tea leaves had a few cocoa nibs in it that worked nicely with the idea of chocolate flavored tea.
Once brewed (in my marvelous, best purchase ever!) Breville, the chocolate smell dissipated just a bit and the black tea scent appeared. Unsweetened it was a bit too bitter for a chocolate tea, so I added a bit of sweetener. Once again, it reminded me of Malted ChocoMatte. The taste is very similar, except that it is black tea rather than matte. All in all, a pretty good chocolate tea. Not quite hot chocolate, but a tasty dessert tea that I really enjoyed!
also now slightly buzzing from the caffeine and sugar and chocolate. RAWR!
Holy moly does that sound amazing…
OK… this scotchmallow thing sounds like something I need to try. I used to be an avid customer of Sees but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the scotchmallow… (since moving up here to the pacific northwest, I’ve discovered the joy of Moonstruck chocolate. But… this scotchmallow seems a reason to visit Sees the next time I’m in the mall)
FWIW, See’s says it’s caramel (I just assumed butterscotch since it’s called “scotch”). I bought them from the See’s outlet that was next to the hotel I stayed at near the SFO airport last month. Evil (but conveniently located!) Here’s a link:
http://www.sees.com/prod.cfm/Dark_Chocolates/scotchmallow
;-) you’re welcome!
They are delicious!
Sounds yummy. :D
Well I crashed hard from the sugar high (and/or hunger) just before dinner. But it was totally worth it!