Chocolate Rocket

Well… my morning had started out well…. until I found out that the freeze-dryer was again broken at work. This suuuuuucks…. but at least I’m out of bed, and it’s not 9am yet!

Anyways, I have tried this one before as part of last year’s Advent Calendar, but apparently that was pre-Steepster for me, so now I get to review it for real! (I should have actually tried to find the Advent Calendar sample… this was from a new bag I purchased not too long ago, whereas the other stuff was from 10-11 months ago… Oh well.)

The aroma is practically identical to the chocolate raspberry Lip Smackers I used to have (and may still have, somewhere). It was never my favourite, but somehow it’s one of the few I remember the aroma of most vividly. Hopefully the tea actually tastes like the aroma, instead of the lip gloss.

Thankfully, no lip gloss flavour here. However, also not as flavourful as I was hoping. I can taste the banana-y roasted mate, and definitely chocolate, but the raspberry is kind of eluding me. Or at least, it’s not tasting like real raspberry, and more like an artificial version of it, if anything. It’s also a bit thin-tasting. I’m pretty sure I used enough tea (probably nearly 2tsp for my mug, which I think is maybe 10oz?

Not bad, but… not super tasty, either. Oh well! I feel like a comparison between this one and Butiki’s Raspberry Truffle is required. Different tea bases, of course, but similar flavouring intentions. I think Butiki’s tastes better…

ETA: Second infusion waayyyy too much later is actually surprisingly tasty. Somewhat chocolatey, but not really much raspberry flavour. Well worth it IMO, though.

Mmmmmm. Not quite what I wanted (A nice bold, complex, black kick in the pants with milk!) but seeing as that never seems to work at this office, I’ll settle for this chocolate concoction :)
This will be missed when it’s gone, sorely! but I’m not sure replacing it is in my budget *sighs

Yum, Chocolate Rocket… you are pretty dang tasty. I really despised the second steep, though, but I’m not blaming that on the tea. I made it at work, and I had to use a shitty microwave and awful tap water. I was hoping it would be alright, but I was disappointed.

Not your fault, Chocolate Rocket. I still love you.

Yay Traveling Tea Box many thanks to Amanda for coordinating and to Sare for including this one. This initially found itself in the pass pile on two accounts I haven’t had the best experience with chocolate blends and I thought it was a rooibos (silly its dark brown not orange). However I found myself starting with a chocolate mint tea so that opened myself up for this, try all the tea!

So this is actually a mate! That makes so much more sense and explains why I am filled with rocket fuel and the nice smokeyness I noticed from the very first sip. This is a very interesting blend and I actually kinda like it. The only teas I didn’t try at Teavana were a couple of mates: My Morning, MateVana and JavaVana except when my co-workers included them in blends that they wanted everyone else to try and they were drowned in rock sugar. But this does taste a bit like how some of them smell.

I think I shall try one more tiny cup and kick up the temp and time, I am caffeine sensitive but it is very tastey and this is for science, or erm something! Maybe it will make me want to do that laundry and then I can reward myself with more tea! Don’t like this second infusion quite as much but its not bad actually its getting better as it cools and it leaves a wonderful campfire feeling in my mouth. If I was into mate this would be a winner, but if anything I am most amused at how aptly named this blend is! Thanks Sare

Thin tasting on the sip. Raspberry sweetness present in the aftertaste. I’m not detecting any real chocolate flavour in this one. Definitely some roasted notes. Very smooth.

As this tisane cools, I am noticing a very full and quite delightful aftertaste.

This tisane may benefit from a longer infusion time.

This is the first time that the scent of a tisane or tea has triggered a memory. For some reason, the scent transported me back to the fourth year of my undergrad while I was studying for final exams in December. Specifically, I remembered how on one really strange day the weather would alternate between looking like a fresh spring day and a very violent snow storm every 10 minutes or so. Really neat! I have no idea why that connection was made in my subconscious- just thought it would be interesting to share!

1.25 tsp for 250mL water @ 98 C. Loooooong steep; I left the bag in while drinking. Mate can do that. Drunk bare.

Sipdown, and some air got into the packet, so this blend is neither as fresh-tasting nor as fragrnt as it was .. but manohmanohman, is ever potent. Lots of roasted mate notes but very little chocolate or raspberry when this gets stale. However, I feel like I am ready to take off — without the edgy jitters that can come from coffee. Remembering now why I liked mate so much; gonna get me some Jumpy Monkey later today. Vroom vroom.

Oh man, I am SO SO SO behind with life here. One more paper and I’ll be done for the term. Just sipped this down the other day. Luckily, I finally started getting raspberry out of this in maybe the last three cups or so. Would I buy again? Nah, roasted maté is a tricky one for yours truly.

It has been a long while since I had this. It was so good this morning. Brewed at 95degrees. Chocolatey and the raspberry was true tasting. And provided lots of energy!

Thanks to ladykittykat for the sample (I forgot to log it in when I had it), said sample “forced” me to add some to my recent order from DAVIDsTEA….I can’t help it if the teas just “fall” into my cart and I “happen” to hit checkout. It also doesn’t hurt to have a husband who would rather see me drink tea instead of coffee.

This tea smells super chocolaty as it sits here steeping at work. I’ve already had some comments on the smell in a good way. But I refuse to share with the work people. Also smelling a hint of banana. The taste? The taste is OUT OF THIS WORLD. There is a serious taste explosion going on with each and every sip. Will have to get a larger package when I am out of this. KeenTeaThyme (KiTT) some of this is headed your way!

I am getting so much more nutty chocolate flavour this time around. The raspberry is only in the aftertaste now. It is still pretty thin looking (only light light brown) and tasting at 4 minutes. I keep forgetting to overleaf this one and steep longer.

I added just a small amount of agave, less than 1 tsp, but I added vanilla creamer. It is not a bad tea to have around the house for when you don’t know what you want. This one is pretty versatile, it takes a lot of things well so you can slightly alter the final cup to suit whatever moods you find yourself in. (I’ve tried it with caramel cremer, hazelnut creamer and now vanilla). It could even be chai if you have got spices I’m sure.