Chocolate Bacon Black Tea

I am absolutely astonished at how quickly my order from 52Teas (aka ManTeas) has arrived. I couldn’t resist their buy 3 get 1 free offer, and I was very pleased that they happened to send me a tea that I hadn’t tried yet, wasn’t peanut butter flavored, and wasn’t pu-erh. Frank must love me!

I had to order this one because not only do I love chocolate covered bacon (way yummy), but, I also really did enjoy their maple bacon tea.

Very interesting! I can taste the chocolate (although it could use more) and I can taste the bacon (this is enhanced by adding just a pinch of salt to the brewed cup), the black tea is smooth. Quite tasty… a bit odd… but tasty!

I’m staying at a friend’s house ths week and I knew she’d be up for trying anything bacon-flavored so I brought this along. We brewed some up this morning to drink with our eggs.

This tea tastes like chemically-laced chocolate and ham. We couldn’t drink more than a few sips. I know it was a novelty tea, but the chemicalness of the chocolate was just gross. Yuck!

My friend will not drink “ham water” again. Lol!

I’ll admit to being a bit nervous trying this tea. After all, bacon isn’t something I eat on a regular basis, and I’ve never had it coated in chocolate before (having a mild pork allergy doesn’t help). So really, there’s nothing that I’ve had to compare this tea to.

It’s very smoky (is the base tea a Lapsang Souchong or something similar?), and the bacon flavoring isn’t as strong as I expected it would be; meaning, it didn’t smack me in the mouth and send me crying for mama. Chocolate is very subtle, but seems to become stronger as the tea cools. I do think it’s rather salty as well (I’m going to assume from the bacon bits). The more I sip, the more I like, and though I don’t think it’ll become one of my daily go-tos, it’s definitely not going to be sitting idle in my tea cabinet.

Well-done, Frank! Have you ever thought of a chocolate-covered potato chip tea?

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 teaspoons
Water: 750ml @ 212°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell:
AmazonV: it smells like chocolate peppermint
MilitiaJim: they started with chocolate, then added bacon and then it got weeeird.
Steeped Tea Smell:
AmazonV: chocolate, mint smell then a slight toasty black tea finish
MilitiaJim: There is that weird mintiness
Flavor:
AmazonV: roasty tea, hints of chocolate and smoke
MilitiaJim: the flavor of chocolate, then something trying to be bacon but it is mint
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: mint, smoke
Liquor: translucent dark orange

I wish I could give this tea a higher rating but the odd mint (perhaps cross-contamination?) is throwing it off, plus most bacon items are not as marvelous as I imagine. I did stop half way through for a glass of orange juice and bacon.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/11/52teas-loose-leaf-black-tea-chocolate.html

Well this is interesting! Disclosure- I haven’t had real bacon in over 10 years (semi-vegetarian). I am mostly getting chocolate from this tea, with a hint of smoke. I’m actually pretty glad the bacon flavor is subtle. This is definitely not something I’d drink every day, but I was very curious to try it! Thanks again RogersCK! :)

Thank you again Jaime you are awesome!

This one is without words amazing. I just can’t believe how good this was not to mention how it tasted as I would have imagined chocolate covered bacon would taste like. I found it to be rich and deep in flavor and it looks like I need to order some of this for myself. I had a friend over when I drank it and I gave her some to try and she too was amazing at how good it was and how unexpected.

Count me as another person who couldn’t resist 52teas’ recent 4 for 3 deal. I console myself with the fact that 2 of the pouches are in fact going to my brother. That’s right! I managed to sell Mr. Monocle on the idea of Earl Grey Cheesecake! Go me! (doubt I had anything to do with it honestly, think he just read all the reviews that said that the cheesecake part wasn’t too ostentatious).

So he chose two, and I chose the last and I get to keep the free pouch because I may not have told him about the deal and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, mwahahahahahahahahaha.

Now, when choosing my one was torn between this tea and the blueberry cream cheese danish, but then I thought about it, and between coconut cream pie, cheesecake chai, and earl grey cheesecake, I kind of have enough creamy/cheesy teas for the moment. In fact, I could do with a tea that wasn’t pretending to be a dessert…a more MACHO tea. Also, the blurb (which consists solely of “yes, really.”) amused me, and I’d been wanting to try something from the Man Teas line. Also, also, any time I asked someone for their input on the matter they told me I was insane for even considering Chocolate Bacon and there is generally no better way to get me to try/do something than to tell me that I am insane for trying/doing it.

Now, not being male, I am obviously not really the target demographic for this tea, but I will do my best to be objective! It is…very interesting, particularly as the base tea is quite smooth. Smoother, I’d say than some of the other 52teas blacks that I’ve tried. I only get hints of chocolate and the bacon was, at first, only discernible as a faint hint of smoke but the more I drank, the more of it I was getting – there are even hints of saltiness about it, which, while certainly novel also kind of makes me more thirsty rather than less. Which is somewhat irritating because once I finish it I need to make MORE tea to stop being thirsty…well-played, sir, well-played.

The flavor of the chocolate comes out more as the tea cools, which is a recurring theme, I’ve found, with chocolate flavored teas, with the exception, perhaps, of the inimitable Florence.

This tea is certainly different from any other tea I own, so I am quite pleased. I think it will be excellent for those times when I want something different but can’t quite put my finger on what.

My husband got me two pouches of this for my Christmas stocking and said he hoped I liked it since I had a lot of it. No worries there! I took one sip of this at work today and imed him with, ‘holy hell, chocolate bacon tea might be the best thing evah!" So yea, I think it’s fair to say I’m a fan.

I sweeten all my teas with brown sugar splenda so I think I’m missing out a bit on the bacon taste which I’ll try to remedy with the pinch of salt suggestion from another reviewer and a bit less sugar. I’m not sure I’m brave enough to go sugarless although my waistline would probably thank me.

Thanks Frank! And I second the request for the chocolate covered potato chip tea!

I wanted to try this tea and LiberTEAS said “POOF! Here you go!” :) Maybe I need to try changing the steeping time or something because with this first cup all it tasted like was chocolate coffee-? It was good chocolate coffee though!

This tea is intereting to say the least. While I can taste the smokey bacon flavour it’s more subdued than it was in the Maple Bacon tea, though the taste lingers in the mouth for quite awhile. The chocolate is subtle, present more in the smell and as cocoa-y hints on the back on my tongue at the end of each sip. I’ll have to try the trick of adding a touch of salt, though I feel weird adding something like that to tea!