4 Tasting Notes
If you drink tea and hot chocolate instead of coffee because you don’t bloody like the taste of coffee, don’t drink this tea. The tea smells just wonderful in the can and you definitely get both the chocolate and coconut aroma, but it contains chicory. I personally don’t think chicory belongs in tea because if I wanted to drink something that bitter and reminiscent of coffee, I would just drink coffee. If you like coffee, you might like this tea.
Personally, I gave my can to a friend who mainlines coffee. She thought it was a little strange, but not bad.
I love, love, love this tea! This is my go-to tea first thing in the morning at work, so I drink it four times a week with two packets of raw sugar. Hot or room-temp, I will drink every last drop of this tea. I can’t really say I’ve ever had black currants (at least not in a way where I could distinguish and describe their specific flavor), but this tea definitely doesn’t taste like your average berry-flavored tea. The fruitiness is subtle and this tea has that lovely Twinings black tea base.
Preparation
Another RoT chocolate tea I am actually a fan of. This truly does smell like chocolate-covered strawberries and the taste is pretty darn close to the smell. For someone is trying to pay more attention to what I eat, having a dessert-like tea without caffeine is kind of a nice stand-in. Granted I’d rather actually eat a chocolate-covered strawberry than drink this tea, but I can’t eat those as often as I can drink the tea. It’s a nice trade-off.
I do get that rooibos sourness I see other reviewers commenting on, but I don’t feel like it breaks the tea. I don’t generally drink much rooibos tea, so my experience is limited and this is one of two that I’ve tried which I actually like.
One thing: definitely add sweetener. I use Sugar-in-the-Raw pretty much exclusively for tea because I think it dissolves better and isn’t as sweet as regular sugar. In this cup, the sweetener brings out the sweetness you expect from a chocolate-covered strawberry. I usually use about a teaspoon (three small sugar bowl scoops) and I always put the sugar in the cup before pouring the water so it has the most time to dissolve.
Preparation
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.
