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Well, I wish I liked this as much as most folks seem to but unfortunately…Thank you to Darby for sharing this with me before I placed an order and ended up with a lot of this. :)

I will say this: it is exactly as chocolate as the description implies. Like drinking the aroma of chocolate, if that makes any sense. Notes of burned caramel in the background. And later steepings did indeed have more of a raw cacao flavor with more spices – what ones I’m not sure but they seemed odd to me.

This is just not going to be my thing. I am not a big chocolate tea person at all and this is completely a chocolate tea. Not sweetened but not bitter – just chocolate tea with an earthiness to it. I can see where the devotion to this tea comes from. If this kind of taste were to your liking, it’d be all that and a bag of chips. If you are looking for a tea that truly does taste like chocolate – this is it.

I passed this on to a Tea Club member with no review other than to say that it wasn’t my thing and I’m anxious to see what he thinks of it.

I hesitate to rate this since it is indeed what Verdant describes it as – it just isn’t for me.

Thanks to Emilie for sharing this!

Not super wild about the dry smell. Very strong and somewhat unnaturally caramel.

OMG… this is amazing. Still smells super strongly of caramelized brown sugar. I don’t taste pineapple very much, but wow, does this ever taste like cake. This is the only dessert tea I’ve had that tastes so much like a dessert that I could have it and fool myself into thinking I am having a real dessert. I would definitely order some of this.

Now I need to make pineapple upside down cake…

2 teaspoons tea/16 ounces water per steeping.

I made the mistake of drinking 32 ounces of this on Monday night between dinner and bedtime and I was awake All. Night. Long. Caffeine normally doesn’t bother me but that sure did! But the leaves were so neat as they completely unfurled on the 2nd steep – I just couldn’t help myself.

This tea has grown on me. I like the dark, malty, natural taste. It is a thick tasting tea. Second steep was equally good. I could have gotten another 16 ounce steep out of it without appreciable loss of taste. I won’t drink that much of it in the evening again, but I will be replacing it in the cupboard when I run out. :)

Steeping at boiling definitely makes a difference. Taking rating off as it is unchanged from my previous 84.

Perfumey. Very floral, very jasmine. But dark. Not a black jasmine, but stronger than a green or white jasmine. So, yeah. Oolong jasmine – yup, that’s what this is, alright. :)

I like it. It is a bold jasmine.

Trying a slightly less caffeinated tea tonight. Also limiting this to 16 ounces tonight so no resteep. :)

This is a very light tea. Which, after waaaaay oversteeping some Yunnan Royal this morning, was exactly what was called for.

A pretty leaf that unfurls nicely and steeps a light golden color. Mild dryness as I expect from most darjeelings. Not really astringency, just a little dry. One of the tea club guys said he tasted something smokey. I didn’t get any smokiness at all, but everyone is different.

Very interesting.

It is much lighter in taste. A thin liquor. Refreshing.

Pretty steeped leaves – several different colors of greens and browns. I’m not sure I’ve had much experience with Ceylons so I can’t really compare or vouch for the description as being like a Ceylon.

I like this a lot better than the other African teas I’ve had. Though it doesn’t resteep well.

First, this is very, very pretty as it steeps. The leaves and flowers falling through the water as they get heavy with liquid look like autumn in a glass.

This tastes very similar to other teas I’ve had with jackfruit so I’m pretty confident in saying they nailed this. Whatever the “flavors” are, one of them is jackfruit. There is a mild creamy note to it as well, maybe from the almond. I can’t pick out almond specifically. It all blends nicely together, as Momo noted, under the heading “exotic fruit.” As it cools, it is getting better and better. I think this will be a nice tea to keep around for summer as an iced blend. There will likely be more of this ordered.

I have been looking for something to approximate the Shangrila house blend I had at tea at the Willard Intercontinental in DC last year. I wish I had bought more than one tin while I was there! This comes close, as best memory serves me at this time.

I’m glad Mahamosa has small sample sizes available. I might not have ordered a large size taste unseen, so to speak.

Finally got my hands on one of these. After Em’s review, I had to try one!

It keeps things just as hot as they go in for hours and hours and hours. A great thing to have at your desk if you work where you can’t get up often to get more hot water. My mom wanted one for just that reason and I believe she’ll love this.

The only downside for me with this is that when I take tea on the road (which is when I have the most issue with not being able to get more hot water readily) is that it isn’t a thermos you can drink from. You do need a cup or something to pour into. (Duh – been since grade school since I had a thermos – there is a cup built in as the cap) Also I’d like for it to hold more than 2 cups to be a viable travel thermos.

And it is very thin. Going to have to buy a bottle brush to clean it.

Another purchased with a half price certificate that would otherwise be out of the normal range of consideration for me to buy without tasting first.

Malty and smooth with a hint of sour hiding in the background. Not overwhelming sour, but definitely there.

This is good. Not sure it justifies the price tag for me. There are other tippy and nontippy yunnans that I like as well or better. But this is a good, high quality tea and I’m glad it is in my cupboard. I’ll enjoy it till it’s gone!

My palate is probably not refined enough to pick out the white tea here. But everything seems to go well together.

Bergamot, a bit of cream and floral. I notice a sharp something in here, maybe it’s the rose. Something that makes my tongue kind of numb and the rose lingers.

Nothing I will keep on hand, but I think it will be enjoyed until it’s gone.

EDIT: This doesn’t resteep well.