52teas

another one bites the dust! Last serving :( With vanilla coconut milk creamer, and greek butter cookies. A good, cheering bookend to a cold, grey day. I will miss this blend, but have so much else in my cupboard to explore!

a teaspoon of Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder really kicks it up a notch! :-)

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having this instead of hot cocoa (except then I topped it with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream so I guess that’s almost as bad in terms of calories & sugar!)

Tomorrow is my 1-year Steepsterversary! I’m celebrating early with malted chocomate and sugar cookies (slightly better for me choice than the root beer float I was contemplating – I should really buy the root beer float honeybush!)

added a splash of milk; dunking a butter cookie in it. MMMmmmm It’s official – this is better than hot chocolate in my book! I actually forgot it wasn’t for a minute! It has all the richness, but without the thick gloopy texture or the sugar high/crash (or the calories).

I think I could make it through fall & winter with this and some H&S Florence and be quite happy!

I thought I’d be clever and try to make “chocolate covered bacon” tea by brewing about 1 1/3 Tbsp f this with 2/3 tbsp Maple bacon. All I got was a muddled mess of flavors, which did not improve with chilling.

I’ll leave the tea blending to the experts (Frank)!

big mug for a hump day that’s dragging…

this is still the only yerba mate I actually enjoy drinking!

made a big mug, am chilling it for a vanilla float later. This tea is SO good with vanilla ice cream!

Since some people (myself included) seem to taste hints of banana in the Malted Chocomate, and since Chelsea’s Chocolate Banana Rooibos is great, but could use a bit more chocolate, I decided to combine the two into a malted choco-banana rooibos mate concoction. Since they have the same steeping parameters, I just used 1 tsp of each with 16 oz boiling water. Meant to stop steeping at 4min but got distracted, so it was somewhere between 5-6 (not 5:30 exact). Anyway, I added a splash of almond milk to cool my big mug down. It’s chocolatey and banana-y and sweet (no sugar added). It looks and feels almost as rich as a mug of hot chocolate, but without the heaviness. Perfect for a rainy evening!

made a half cup of tea, steeped about 9 min, iced it down, and stirred in about 3 scoops vanilla ice cream (too lazy to bother with blender). MMMM tastes very chocolatey and malty – I think the vanilla is bringing both out nicely.

It’s Here It’s Here It’s HERE !!!!!
My mailing envelope was punctured but luckily my teas were not!
(puts kettle on before she’s even got the package open. )

dry smell: chocolatey, malty, and a definite undercurrent of fruitness
brewing smell: strong roasty smell upon first pouring the water over

liquor: orangey-brown
scent: chocolate first, then malt with a hint of “roasted” scent
taste: there’s a definite “mate” earthiness, more so than I was hoping for. The chocolate hits you afterwards. The malt is in there somewhere but I’m having a hard time distinguishing between it and the roasted flavor of the yerba mate. (probably just my tastebuds are a bit off today due to a sore throat.) Anyway, I like that it’s brisk upfront and then rounds out into a deeper sweeter chocolaty-er flavor. Sugar and/or cream may mute this effect but I don’t want to add either to this cup.

This is the first yerba mate I’ve really liked, so that’s saying something. I think I’m going to hold off rating until I’ve had a couple more cups or even tried it cold. I’m not as blown away as I hoped to be, (then again I’m not a mate fan) but I am definitely impressed. I think my husband, who drinks mocha and mate, will really like this, which is nice because there are very few teas we both like.

finished off this dreary, rainy, foggy morning. Added a teaspoonful of vanilla coconut creamer, and served with greek butter cookies.