Chocolate Rocket

Last of the Mate Sunday, and I wasn’t a fan of this one.

Dominant flavors were chocolate, nuts, and some kind of fruity flavor mixed together in a way that was overwhelmingly artificial. There was also something a little alcohol-tasting about the brew.

I just couldn’t drink it. Had to dump it out.

I am sampling this before I serve it to everyone at my tea book club tomorrow night. I’ve only had one or two mate teas before this one and I’ve always came away feeling a bit let down.

I did a heaping TBSP of this into my teapot with about 10 oz of water. Steeped it at 185 for 5 minutes. First thing is that I love the smell of the dry leaves. Very aromatic. The smell of the tea liquor is VERY much a chocolate dipped raspberry. The taste still has the chocolate there though the upfront flavor is tangy raspberry. There might be a bit of a nutty undertone as well.

Either way, this is a good tea and I’m sure my book club base is going to really enjoy this. SuperStarling!, if you are reading this, I think you would also enjoy it.

I tend to drink tea to stave off sugar cravings, so you’ll notice I just gab joyfully about sweet teas like this. It’s got the richness without a weird aftertaste or that horrid trill-y high note. Every note is in the mid and deep range.
It kind of reminds me of listening to a well-tuned string quartet. No flutes or cymbals or other frou-frou. Just a nice experience.
I’m getting pretty close to a sipdown on this one, and will be re-ordering it.

This is another tea that’s in our cupboard because my fiance really likes it. I probably never would have picked it out for myself, because I’m not a huge fan of chocolate and I haven’t had much experience with mates. However, I was pleasantly surprised. With milk, it’s creamy with a bit of a roasted quality to it. The chocolate flavor isn’t overpowering or cloyingly sweet; it reminds me more of a slightly bitter dark chocolate. (which, when I do it eat chocolate, is what I eat).

I think this would be a good tea for converting coffee drinkers. It’s got a richness to it I normally associate with coffee. And of course, the extra caffeine boost from the mate would help.

Advent day 8! I had tried this tea a few years ago, and apparently didn’t care for it, but don’t remember that experience at all. This time around, I primarily got chicory and chocolate, with some nice tart raspberry. Chicory isn’t my favorite, but the raspberry balanced it out nicely.

I haven’t had a cup of this in a good long while. The first couple cups were magical. It reminds me of those Ghirredellie(sp?) dark chocolate and raspberry squares. Yummy, yummy. My next few I didn’t like… buuuuut I was pregnant, and my taste went all wacky, so I’m basing my review off those first few cups that I loved.

Sipdown! This was one of the very first teas I got as I was getting into tea over 3 years ago. It is about time I used it up.

Even after all this time, it brews a thick, strong cup of brew. Notes of generic milk chocolate or cocoa (artificial in flavour), vanilla, nutty notes from almond, and a creamy thick taste that ties it all together. There are undertones of dried apple and dried herbs? bark? It might be the yerba mate or the cocoa husks. Overall, I really like the flavour of this blend, even though I can never buy it again due to the highly caffeinated mate.

This tea is really good! I find it gives me energy without the annoying caffeine crash of coffee. Plus the combination of the slight tart raspberry taste and nutty almond goes really well with the matté taste. :D Really good if you want to stay awake!

I bought 25g but this tea was just ok for me. I got my coworkers to try it and they loved it so they can have the rest lol

*Update: I tried this as a hot tea latte and it is amazing! Tastes like bananas and raspberries. I brewed it for 4 minutes at a white tea setting on my kettle. I also tried it as an iced tea latte but I found it better in hot form rather than iced.

I’ve heard so much about this tea, but somehow none of my friends thought to mention the raspberry ingredient to me. Raspberries don’t ruin the taste, but I am usually against strong fruity flavours in my cups of tea. I blend with other teas (or with matcha powder) to tone down the sweetness. I don’t necessarily feel a strong boost of energy after drinking this tea, but perhaps due to the placebo effect, I might feel “less” tired.