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I can’t believe I didn’t try this the moment I opened my Butiki order. Seriously, it’s so many things I love put together! Chocolate and raspberries and black, oh my. However, after a bad experience with Adagio’s Raspberry it wasn’t a flavor I really wanted to go at again for a while. It’s a shame, but sometimes a bad cup can temporarily “ruin” a whole type of tea for me—like after an icky green, I don’t want any other greens for a week or so.

I was feeling chocolatey the other day though so I decided to finally give this one a go. I love the huge chunks of raspberry and chocolate chips, it’s nice to see right up front the ingredients listed. The chips are teeny tiny though and my cup brewed up surprisingly clear (a pale amber, clearer than I expect from even a regular black), so I was worried there wouldn’t be a big chocolate punch. I was so wrong! This is REALLY chocolatey, not just in taste but in feel as well. It’s kind of heavy rich and and you can almost feel the chocolate coating your tongue.

The raspberry is subtler, coming in at the end of the sip with a hint of berry sweetness. It’s definitely not as strong as I thought it would be, and I was surprised (but pleased) that chocolate seemed to be the dominant flavor. Well… that might be a bit inaccurate, since I think the base black was the dominant flavor. It’s strong and at the very beginning of the sip it’s all you taste. Personally, I like when you can pick up all the nuances of the base tea—if you’re going to do super heavy flavoring, it doesn’t really matter what you use, but with this tea (and all the Butiki blends I’ve tried) the base really shines and compliments the other flavors. Definitely one of the best chocolate teas I’ve tried!