This is the other tea mom got me for Christmas, I tried to remember the ingredients the lady gave me on the phone but not sure if I got them all, no nuts at least! The dry leaves consist of black tea, chocolate chunks, what looks like strips of chili peppers, and red peppercorns. Interesting, kind of a version of Chocolate Chili Chai (davidstea).
So I’m not sure on steeping parameters, but I tried 2 mins with boiling water in my new little teapot. I stirred the leaves to get the chocolate to dissolve. Oh, the dry smell is wonderful, strongly chocolate with spice. A big smell for the tea flavor to live up to lol.
The steeped tea smelled kind of weird…almost a waxy smell? It could be the teapot too lol, as after I poured it it’s mellowed into a faint chocolate scent, maybe it’s the spices? Whatever it was, it’s almost gone luckily haha.
As for the taste, wow this is interesting haha. There’s a slight waxiness like a crayon….that sounds bad, but I think it’s just the chocolate being artificial. The wax fades in the middle of the sip to actual chocolate, then, pow, the spice from the chilies and peppercorns hits you and you feel a spicy burn. Definitely not just a chocolate tea haha. The chocolate flavor comes back after the heat too. The only other tea that has made me feel a burn like this was one from Della Terra, a rooibos I can’t find on their site now haha.
Oh, and as the cup cools, the waxy flavor is fading. Hurrah! What an interesting tea. I’ll have to try Davidsteas’s CCC to see how it compares. This one definitely warms me up! A good present from my mom, as it’s not one I would have picked on my own lol. Rating 81 (hard to rate on my tablet without the keyboard attached lol)
hmmmm, wonder if they used a chocolate with canuba wax in it?
That could be it lol it was definitely a bit unexpected but not too terrible at least :)