Chocolate Chamomile Curiosity Brew

Wow!
This tea exceeded my expectations. This may be my favorite blend yet from Verdant. I very much appreciate the fact that all their blends are completely natural with no added ‘natural flavor’. This particular blend has so many different flavors but it melds perfectly. I wasn’t sure I was going to like the mint but it doesn’t overpower the blend; it leaves a nice aftertaste. The chamomile I notice more as my cup cools, but again, not overpowering. The predominant flavor is chocolate. Need I say more on why this is so good? =) The chocolate is flavorful but isn’t bitter like dark chocolate. It also isn’t sweet like milk chocolate. It just struck me what this reminds me of: homemade hit chocolate mix. We used to take powdered milk, cocoa, cinnamon, nutmeg and I don’t remember what else to make homemade Mexican hot chocolate. This has that flavor! In a TEA, that’s remarkable.
2 tsp per 12 oz cup.

Mmmm. This is good. I am a little bit surprised by the mint and fennel though. For some reason, I didn’t imagine that they would be quite as prevalent here. Maybe I need to shake the bag though because it was upside down…silly me.

I LOVE getting orders in the mail. Make my day, the worst part was having it arrive while i was at work yesterday and not being able to have any until this morning! Torture!
I felt like I couldn’t figure this cup out. It was everything it promised, but I could pick a predominant flavour. Chocolate, chamomile, spearmint, licorice. I;m in love.

Had a SIP DOWN of this both hot and cold. Very relaxing and tasty. REad more at my blog.

http://tunesntea.wordpress.com/

I’ve declared the next few days Verdant sample sipdown. When my latest order came in I rounded up all my samples and realized I could drink nothing but Verdant tea for the next two weeks and probably not be through them all. I need to stop saving the tea from my favorite companies and start enjoying it.

I pulled this one out because I’m stressed out and have been craving chocolate like crazy for the last few days. Chamomile is suppose to be calming, right? I’m trying so hard to resist breaking into the bag of m&ms I bought to fill the candy dish once my family all arrives this weekend. If I open them I’m going to eat them all, I just know it, then I’m going to spend the weekend sick since I’m allergic to chocolate.

Anyway, enough babble, time for my thoughts about the tea.

I was really excited to try this one since it is a chocolate alchemy blend and I’m a huge fan of Wuyi Big Red Robe and Laoshan Black. The rest of the ingredients are a combination that I don’t normally care for, I’m just not a fan of fennel or spearmint, but they really layer well and create some great depth.

The chammomile blossoms in this blend are huge, I was really surprised when I opened up my sample package, the only problem is that for the first two steeps all I really tasted was chamomile and spearmint. I really wanted to taste more chocolate in this blend, but mostly because I’ve been craving it like mad. It starts to come out more in later steeps, but I wanted to see it from the start.

While this didn’t quite solve my chocolate craving I really enjoyed it and well wonders never cease, I’ve finally found a tea with spearmint in it that I like. I have to give Verdant huge points there because I really really dislike spearmint.

YUM! This is the last of my untasted samples from my most recent Verdant purchase. “Rich” is the first word that comes to mind. I’ve never tried Big Red Robe straight, but now I am curious about that one. The dark roasty teas and cacao nibs are nicely balanced by the cooling chamomile and mint. Man, I think this would be an excellent fall/winter blend. I could see craving it in the winter! Really quite good. I’m enjoying it without sweetener, but I bet a little bit would really kick it up a notch :)

I got this through BrewTEAlly Sweet’s stash sale. One of my side goals in tea world is to find a good chocolate tea, so this seemed like an interesting candidate.

I love how Verdant blends look – like herbal potpourri. Lots of nice big tea leaves and sizeable bits of flowers, herbs, and spices. This one smells very cinnamon heavy. I got two good steeps out of it. The third one was drinkable, but thin.

I noticed that others have really picked up on the mint here. Me, not so much. The first steep was primarily chamomile and cinnamon, as was the second. Both had a wonderfully full, silky mouthfeel. The second steep was creamier and more chocolatey.

I like this, but not so much that I feel the need to ever have it again. Which is fine, because sipdown!

Funny that this is the first of the Verdant Alchemy Blends I am trying when it was always the one I was least, ahem, curious about. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds like an interesting flavor challenge, but I don’t think chamomile and I get along. However I ordered all eight of the that were available earlier in the week and since this one is staying for the summer it would be a shame not to try it in case I do like it and want to order more.

As for why it was the first one I tried of all the blends, well I suppose thats not quite true actually, I tried the complimentary sample David included as soon as my package arrived this morning. I was trying decide what tea to brew to start off the day and kind of hoping there was some Imperial Breakfast tucked in there for me. This Laoshan Earl Grey prototype fit the bill well. I’m guessing it is the prototype for the Bergamot Rose Laoshan they released yesterday, just sans rose. It was light on the bergamot which is a very good thing for me and so very very chocolately. I seriously loved it and I’m sure what they released is amazing as well. I’ve never tried a chocolate earl grey and though I know they are available, I probably never will. This seemed like the natural version of that and I would take it any day, it was a truly delightful cup(s) I had four or five of them :)

So that put me in the mood for this tea, as well as the Lavender Earl Green. I thought surely the latter would be my evening cup but we had pizza for dinner so Laoshan Black and Big Red Robe sounded much more stout than potentially dainty perfume (I’m sure it actually wont be). In fact I think an after pizza needs to be made from Big Red Robe, a nice Pu’erh and Laoshan Black (again should have ordered the Imperial Breakfast when I had the chance, new one sounds great as well).

I’m rambling too much and I haven’t even described this. Well it smells wonderful, I love mint and the scent from the loose leaf was both soothing and stimulating. When the leaf hits the warm mug I get more of the Laoshan aroma, but not nearly as strong as the sample this afternoon. Once brewed the aroma leaves remind me of some decadent dessert more than any one ingredient. Hot I get all chamomile and mint and twinge of astringency and I thought following the 2 min suggestion was a mistake. As it sits a bit though I can pick out more of the chocolate and it is honestly very nice. Something I will have to experiment a bit on, I loved the shorter steeps with the Laoshan Earl Grey.

I’m looking forward to diving into the rest of these samples, I feel less intimidated by then than say the Golden Fleece that remains unopened. Also my Verdant drawer is officially too full, I’m keeping these eight blends in the kitchen in a nice divided gift box with Upton, Teavirve and swap samples. This should also promote drinking. Right now I wish someone would reinfuses my tea for me, I have a sleeping toddler on my lap.

This is hands down my favorite blend ever. There are so many distinct tastes that have melded into a single superb fusion. The flavors you will notice immediately are the tastes of chocolate milk, cinnamon and candy apple. Beyond that there is marigold, chinese 5 spice, a tiny hint of root beer, and even an ancient pu’erh flavor (I’m guessing this is the “curiosity”). There is even a slightly crisp vegetal taste hidden in there as well. And at the bottom of the cup: a syrupy bitterness like the last sip of a fine espresso. Another sparkling flavor combination!

What is sparkling flavor, you ask? It has been a continuing exploration for me to find out what this tasting note actually means, and here is my latest update: First off, I drink a lot of sparkling water, soda water, etc. Not only does it satisfy my thirst, but it also gives me that relaxing effervescence in my chest as it goes down. I have heard that sparkling water also aids digestion because the bubbles help to break down your food. While I am no expert, I am inclined to believe this is true based on personal experience. And although I have never associated this same feeling with tea, now that I am aware of it, I have shared this experience in a slightly modified way. However, certain symptoms remain: The saturated savor at the tip of your tongue and the soothing sparkle throughout your body.

It’s hard to explain, but for me, there is something beyond inspiriting in this blend. While the caffeine combination of the teas plus cacoa nibs gets your blood pumping, the flavors send pleasant but conflicting signals of relaxation to your brain. Your heart skips a beat and suddenly you find that you can only breathe out but not back in again. We all know this feeling – but in a tea?? If this tea was a very attractive kitty cat, then yes of course all of this would make sense. But alas it is not. It’s a beverage – we consume it and five minutes later it’s gone. But thankfully these leaves are most certainly built for multiple steeps… Sorry Triple-C, I’m quite fond of you, but it’s back into the boiling hot water for now!

Other tasting notes: Licorice, molasses, sugar snap pea, acorn squash, taro chip

Thanks Ze_Teamaker! I’m having a serious laundry day and I saw the word ‘chocolate’, So I thought eh, why not? The smell of this lovely brew is very minty and herbal. That is exactly the flavor too. Except as it cools I’m getting more and more little hints of the dark chocolate. I really can’t decide if I like this or not. It’s got so much going on with it. I just can’t decide if I like the chamomile and chocolate together…. Hmmm….