I’ve been putting off reviewing this tea for a few days, in the hope that it would grow on me. After several cups, I guess it’s time to accept that it hasn’t, and that I’ve found the first tea that I actively dislike (sorry Bluebird Tea!) Out of the five teas I bought from them, this is the only one that isn’t amazing, so I guess they’ve still done pretty well!
I am a huge fan of Terry’s Chocolate Oranges, so obviously I had to try this tea as soon as I saw it. Unfortunately, the dry tea smells nothing like a chocolate orange, but almost exactly like a chocolate orange flavoured alcohol shots drink I bought a year or so back before I stopped drinking. I say unfortunately, because that was possibly the worst drink I’ve had in my life. The smell is very citrusy, with just a hint of sour dark chocolate in the background, but the citrus smell is very artificial and I have a feeling it might be the smell of orange oil. When brewed, the smell becomes more pleasant and smells more of real oranges, although there is an oily sheen on the top of the water which I think comes from the theoretical orange oil.
I forgot to mention, on the plus side, the tea is super pretty. There are chunks of orange rind and little twirly things (I seriously have no idea about the twirly things) that make it really gorgeous to look at, which I’ve found to be a common theme in bluebird teas!
I’ve tried this tea many different ways (plain, with sugar, with honey, with sugar and milk, with honey and milk and as a latte, as well as in a protein shake) and the flavour is kinda similar across the board, which unfortunately means I didn’t like any of them. It tastes like I remembered the alcohol to taste, only hot. Definitely orangey, with a dark chocolate note playing around in the background somewhere, but the orange doesn’t really taste fruity, I’m sorry if that doesn’t really make sense, but I was expecting a sort of warming, tangy marmalade sort of orange, but instead it tastes artificial, which I sad ‘cause there are definitely chunks of real orange in it! Also when brewed, the tea is kind of a browny-pinky colour, which I found odd. Not sure what to say about that, so I’ll just leave it there…
Not for me, I’m sorry Bluebird, but I’m sure there are some people out there who would enjoy this.
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I remember being disappointed with this as well. Chocolate in tea is such a hard thing to do right…
Looking at the reviews I think a few people have been, it’s just disappointing because I was so looking forward to this!
It really is, but the frustrating thing is that I have ‘Love Potion’ from bluebird, and they have the chocolate in that spot on. I think the combination of chocolate with orange is incredibly hard to get right, I might have to live with the knowledge that I’m just not going to find a good chocolate orange tea ):
I remember being disappointed with this as well. Chocolate in tea is such a hard thing to do right…
Looking at the reviews I think a few people have been, it’s just disappointing because I was so looking forward to this!
It really is, but the frustrating thing is that I have ‘Love Potion’ from bluebird, and they have the chocolate in that spot on. I think the combination of chocolate with orange is incredibly hard to get right, I might have to live with the knowledge that I’m just not going to find a good chocolate orange tea ):