Holiday Tea-son! Decided to try this chocolate orange tea based on Terry’s Chocolate Oranges, since that candy is marketed pretty heavily around the holidays (though I would gladly enjoy them anytime!) I love the smell of the dry leaf, which does smell quite sweet and orange, with some noticable cocoa notes.
My first cup was very bad. The tea had a faint orange color, with a mild chocolately aroma, but the orange aroma wasn’t nearly as potent as it was in the dry leaf. The flavor was actually quite citrus, with very little chocolate flavor showing through. It felt like there was no black tea base present at all, so the tea felt very weak and watery, so though I was getting a strong tangy orange, citrusy flavor, it felt like there was nothing to properly hold it and I felt like I was drinking an oily warm orange water. The cocoa note was also extremely subtle, hardly showing through beneath the citrus. The balance of the tea was just completely off, coming off as an herbal tea with a weak base, not a black tea, and Ceylon black tea was listed as the first ingredient. So I decided to dump the cup and try again, thinking perhaps I didn’t get a decent ingredient mix in the 3g I’d measured out for my cup.
The color looked a bit darker from my second cup, which was a good sign. The flavor has also improved a lot, so that had seemed to be my problem. This cup doesn’t have that “watery” feel to it, there is definitely more of a black tea presense now, and it makes a huge difference. The orange flavor is still quite strong, and has that tart citrusy note, but it is tempered a bit by the black tea base. The cocoa also tastes a little more present, though I still feel it tastes a little too subtle against the orange. Also, the orange flavoring seems to have the same problem I’ve had with other orange flavorings before… it tastes a little overly artificial or alcoholic to me? Though at least I’m not getting a metallic aftertaste…
So even after getting a better blend of the ingredients in my cup, it’s still not my favorite; the orange is a bit too strong/artificial tasting, and the cocoa is too subtle. I will probably try using up my 20g sampler pouch making lattes with chocolate almond milk, since that will add in the chocolate component that I’m not really feeling here, and will hopefully tame down the overly-strong artificial note I’m feeling from the orange.
You know, I really want a good chocolate orange tea, but every one I’ve tried so far I’ve had this issue. Too strong/artificial orange, hardly any chocolate flavor. Surely there is a good one out there?
Flavors: Alcohol, Artificial, Citrus, Cocoa, Dark Bittersweet, Orange, Tangy, Tart
