I ordered this a few weeks ago when I stumbled on the site and found they had Pineapple Upside Down Cake on a 50% off sale.. & I’m a sucker for a sale. I just had to try it because I love Della Terra’s version and had to see how someone else did it. Anyway, this note isn’t for that.. so I’ll move on.
This tea was also on sale so I thought I would give it a try. I thought it might be fun as an iced blend, although I wasn’t sure how the chocolate would come through in a cold brew. Hubby likes fruit teas, wasn’t sure how he’d feel about the addition of chocolate, but thought it might work for him too.
Dry leaf smells mainly of rich chocolate with a hint of strawberry. The first attempt was at a cold steep. I wish I could tell you how long it steeped but I forgot to keep track.. :( I was surprised when I tried it how refreshing it was. The chocolate came through well and the strawberry and base was present also, although the strawberry was maybe a touch artificial. I’m guessing it is hard to do strawberry combined with rich chocolate w/o losing the strawberry.
Today I tried it as a hot cuppa to see how it turned out. My kitchen is chilly today and I felt like a hot cup would be a treat. I was surprised to find that the strawberry came out more pronounced and genuine in the hot cup when I had expected the chocolate to take center stage ( the chocolate is in the form of what looks like little chocolate chips which I assumed would melt). I’m wondering if I should hot steep this one and let it cool for an even better iced tea version of this than the cold steep.
I’ve enjoyed this more than I thought I might since I don’t often reach for fruit teas like my Hubby.. Maybe the chocolate helped? Or, maybe because I bought it primarily w/iced tea intentions. I will be sad if I go looking for this again and it’s not on sale… count me a frugal sale shopper. I guess that would give me an excuse to try something else instead. :)
Flavors: Berries, Chocolate
