Chocolate Malt

Split a package of this one with Sil, as I had previously had a sample from momo which I absolutely loved (I still have the other half of the sample left; I saved it so I could try it side by side with this batch, since I’ve seen mixed reviews).

Anyhow, unfortunately this tea also had an “off” aroma to it. And no, it’s not my nose or anything, as I can taste smell/everything just fine. It’s just the tea :( Unlike the genmaicha blends, however, it’s more of an alcoholic chocolate aroma, and though somewhat undesirable, considerably less unpleasant than the chloriney aroma I was getting from those blends.

Flavour-wise, this tea is better than I expected (given that I went into this feeling like something was quite off). The tea is somewhat sweet, and I’m kind of getting a bit of malty chocolate flavour… but it does not mesh at all with my recollection of the previous blend of this tea, which tasted like milk chocolate. There is certainly no milk chocolate flavour here.

Anyways, I’ll give this another shot side-by-side with my remaining sample just to make sure I’m not totally crazy, but… I’m pretty unimpressed :( Luckily, my sniffs of the other 52teas’ blends that I picked up around the same time were ok, because this and S’mores Genmaicha (and Browncoat Genmaicha) are pretty huge misses for me.

Letting the rating stand for the moment, but if I were to rate this new blend, it would be about a 35-40.

The house has been eating all my time lately, so I’ve missed a couple of tealogs again :(

The tea: I’m on my third pouch of this (clearly I’m a big fan), and this is apparently my first log! I usually write my tealogs during breakfast or lunch, and because I drink my honeybush teas at night I rarely log my poor honeybush blends despite relying on them every evening. This one is definitely one of my favorites. I make it a little stronger by adding at least an extra half teaspoon of the dry mix and I just leave it steeping. It gives it an extra oomph, and never seems to get bitter anyways so I figure there is no harm. Chocolaty Malty goodness, this is my night-time go-to drink.

The ramble: When we moved in less than 2 weeks ago, we found that the main floor bathroom smelled funky. We scrubbed it repeatedly to no avail. There was a bubble and rip in the linoleum, so we figured that may indicate the problem. Well, our intended quick fix of changing the linoleum gradually evolved into a slightly bigger powder room reno. My Dad came over and took out the toilet and discovered that the wax seal under the toilet was completely chewed away and even the concrete slab that it was sitting on was starting to crumble around it! We also noticed some staining on the wallpaper, so since the toilet was already out, we thought it was a good time to do the walls as well. But removing the wallpaper meant removing the trim and most of the cabinets…and so it goes. So together with my Dad we’ve ripped off wallpaper, cleaned the walls and started the sanding and mudding in preparation of the eventual painting of the room. It’s an unexpected reno, but once we’re done, it will be so much better than the pee-scented toilet in a stained floral wallpapered room that we started with. I’ll drink to that!

This is the last of my sample that LiberTEAs sent over and I am VERY sad to see it go. I am CERTAINLY going to buy some of this within the next month or so. I’m drinking this prior to attending a very important board meeting. Thought I would treat myself! LOL

YUM

It will be missed tho! this stuff is like crack in a tea cup!

Someone just ordered this in the shop as a 16oz iced tea with a tablespoon of sugar, took one sip and exclaimed, “MY GOD! This tastes JUST like a chocolate shake!” Had to pass that on. =)

I was a little wary to try this one because the dry leaf smelled a lot like that cheap wine you buy in a box. I know that sounds terrible…maybe it’s the honeybush? This is only the second honeybush tea I’ve tried. I was so looking forward to a super chocolate shake-like tea that didn’t have caffeine, so I could drink it at night. The taste was better, more chocolate-y, but it still had that sweet wine smell and taste. At the bottom of my cup was a malty chocolate residual, so I know it’s in there. It’s not bad, and I feel like it might grow on me. Sometimes, what you expect a tea to taste like doesn’t mesh with what it actually tastes like, but you get used to the new taste. We’ll see.

I was so excited when my 52 Teas package arrived! Yay! Tea! The best thing about being home on is getting the tea the moment it lands in your mailbox. And then brewing a cup of new tea right away! Perfect timing since I was feeling cold from walking my doggies in the snow. They were not pleased. They look absolutely adorable in their jackets though. :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23283174@N00/8456031767/

So since I’ve been wanting this particular tea the longest, I ripped it open and dreamt of sweet malty chocolatey tea while it brewed. Unfortunately, what it really tastes like is a vaguely sweet pure honeybush. If I didn’t see the cocoa nibs in there myself, I wouldn’t believe there was any chocolate in there at all. Where’s the malt? Where’s the chocolate?! So much disappointment. :( I’ve read some people saying that a newly flavored tea needs a few weeks to begin tasting the way it’s supposed to. But even if there seems to be no flavor whatsoever? So many good reviews for this tea from the past too… I guess I can only wait a few weeks and try again. I’ll hold off rating until then.

Another good mail day! My Octavia samples order came (with 4 samples tucked in that I hadn’t ordered!), a wonderful-smelling package from Geoffrey arrived (my whole mailbox smelled like Lapsang Souchong…yum!!), and I got the marshmallow flavoring that I’d ordered ages ago! Having fun stuff in my mailbox has definitely helped me keep my sanity this week!

I have finally gotten around to trying out the sample of this that amandajo sent to me. Love the smell of this honeybush blend! All chocolate and malty…and the taste!! This tea is the one you want to use when trying to convert non-tea drinkers into the fold. Who needs hot chocolate? Oh, nom, nom, nom…

Um… YUMMY!

This is so good. So good, in fact, that it is difficult to be typing about it because, it’s… yeah, it’s that good. I think I even like this better than Chelsea’s Chocolate Banana.

I can’t even talk about it because this is too ridiculously good.

Another day, another storm. This one sounds less intense so that’s good.

I decided to try to make this cold. I’m still not much of a fan of the taste of honeybush iced. It has a strange aftertaste to me. But since it is chocolate malt, it has to be cold! I did this a bit different. Steeped it double strength, then added coconut milk creamer to it, and a little chocolate syrup.

Honeybush when it’s cold just reminds me of wet wood. I’m hoping if I keep drinking it especially in such tasty ways, I’ll get used to it. Beyond the woody taste, this is so good. It’s like having a chocolate shake minus the heaviness of drinking one!

No thanks. Ugh. I hope the first incarnation of this was better cause let me tell you about how this is honey bush….with a side of honey bush…..sprinkled with a dash of….weird tasting sweetness. I tried steeping this longer, shorter…it’s just kinda ICK. I think that officially brings me that much closer to being able to say no to 52 teas going forward. Not that it’s been my favourite or anything but there have been some really tasty blends. Unless a few of the others that kittenna and I split, step up their game, I’m just going to go with no thanks going forward unless there’s something that I really really want. And I’d have to REALLY want it. Or unless I hear that frank has changed his tea bases again….