Smoky Chocolate

So I’ve been craving a smoky tea for days now. I keep thinking of brewing up some more of my Verdant reserve lapsang souchong, but I don’t have much of it left…. (Ok, I should just brew it up before it loses flavour!)

Anyways, I have a pouch of this from LiberTeas, and also acquired a pouch during one of 52teas’ sales, so I figured I should try to drink it down. I don’t recall liking this tea much straight, but to me, smoke goes incredibly well with milk + sugar. In this case, heavy cream and sugar, because we happen to have cream in the fridge from some culinary experiments last week.

Aside from the fact that this is absolutely decadent due to the cream + sugar… this is perfect. Delicious smokiness. Not tasting chocolate per se, but all I was really after tonight was the smokiness.

When I got in on an Upton order a while back, I ordered both their Lapsang Souchong Dragon (??) and Baker Street Afternoon Blend, which IIRC has something smoky mixed in there. I’ll have to try them and see if either’s something I can drink straight, as having my tea doctored is not a good routine option for me (the only tea I allow that treatment with is Mayan Chocolate Chai, because it’s smoky too, and because it’s a chai).

ETA: Had an amazing second infusion too. Soooooo good. Holds up to additions so amazingly well.

Liberteas Thanks for this one!

This has more of a dark chocolate type taste to it with that strong LS base. It’s ok but not my fave from 52 Teas. The aftertaste lingers a little weird for my liking but I can handle it…maybe a tad smoky-bitter??? I’d love to taste more chocolate as my Sororitea Sister mentioned…I agree!

I had a little bit of this sample from Amanda left in the bin…and decided to purge…(such an ugly word)…the rest from my ‘Monster Tea Cupboard’. (My tea cupboard is alive and Claws at me with Talons and Tenticles as I walk past it in the kitchen! Creepy!)I think it’s time for some of the naughtier tea’s to ‘Another One Bite’s the Dust’ and some of the tablespoon sized hanger-on-ers to ‘Hit the Road Jack’!(You know you have um too!)

I found little hanger-on-er Smoky Chocolate 52teas in a little zip packet hiding on the top shelf bin. It smiled a half smile at me and turned swiftly to slink back into the darker part of the cupboard. I swiftly scooped Smoky up and poured the leaves into my brew basket before little 52tea knew what happened. (I did hear a tiny voice “…” explative…!)
Boiling water and a 4 minute steep transformed my friend into a medium smoke liquor tasting malty but not very chocolatey.
The flavor is pleasant…not bad, but not chocolate or mocha or cocoa.
I had likened the flavor in my first review to a Necco Wafer Chocolate Candy, and that’s where I stand. A little chalky, malty and smoky.
The recommendation would have to be that this is a smoky tea and that it’s smooth and fairly good tasting. The saving grace is that the flavoring used was not bad and leaves no sour aftertaste!

Adios little tea!

Smoky? yep. Black? yep. chocolate? nope. Where is the cocoa!? Hrmmm. Agave didn’t do much with it either.
Really not much more to say. Seriously, that’s all I got.
Anyhow, thanks to Kittena for the sample! I always wanted to try this one.
Rating: 73

So I wasn’t too sure about this open but figured what the hell when the girls asked me if I wanted to try it….I say girls because by now I’ve completely forgotten whether it was kittena or indigo loom who gave me these…though most will fall in indigos world. I’m not sure the smell would warrant keeping this tea around if it came back. It’s damn overpowering! But that being said, the tea itself is actually really nice. It could be a little more chocolatey but overall I really enjoy it. It reminds me of camping back when my parents used to take me…this tea tastes like your clothes smell once you get them back to civilization after a week of campfires haha I love it!

Backlogging. 9 days ago. Thursday early afternoon.

The February Backlog: From the 1st to today.

I’ve had these teas since last February but this was my first time trying this one. Maybe that is why I am getting more smoke and less chocolate. The chocolate is just a little bit in the background. Still this tea is good. I drank a second steep as well.

Backlog: I tried this tea yesterday and wrote a review to be published this evening, here it is: http://sororiteasisters.com/2012/02/17/smoky-chocolate-tea-from-52teas/

This one gets better as it cools slightly (not cold, but not piping hot either), but I still think it would be better if there were less smoky and more chocolate. Good, but not great.

I really didn’t think I was going to like this. The other smoky tea I’ve had, a black gunpowder, was just undrinkable for me. This I can do. And I like it a lot. Some of the best chocolate I’ve had has included smoked salt and almonds, so I figured I would give it a try.

It smells like chocolate melted over a campfire, and that’s almost how it tastes too. But it could use WAY more chocolate, for me as it’s cooling it’s like the chocolate is getting lost.

I didn’t use boiling water, I let it cool for about a minute after it reached boiling. Not sure what that made the temperature, but I was kind of scared that maybe at boiling it would be too smoky or something.

Maybe at some point I will try straight lapsang souchong but for now I’m going to try that method on the black gunpowder and see if it makes it drinkable!

I had a friend over this weekend for a tea party and an excuse to catch up. As we discussed tea, she told me how one of her greatest favorites is a nice Lapsang Souchong. Knowing that I had just received a sample of this tea, I showed it to her and she immediately wanted to try it!

I enjoyed the smell of the dry leaf quite a lot. It’s mildly smoky and chocolatey. I could tell it would have a hearty flavor. It reminded me of camping trips with my family and standing around the fire as the tenuous breeze would blow the smoke onto each of us in turn.

Once I brewed the tea, I was a little less optimistic. The smokiness had become a much stronger aroma than it was with the dry leaf. Like when the wind puts the smoke from the fire on you alone for too long, to the point where you have to move. Unfortunately, the flavor, for me, was much the same. Almost like I had inhaled too much smoke. It reminded me more of liquid smoke than tea. So, personally, I wasn’t a big fan of this.

My friend with me loved every sip and refilled her cup 3 times. So it’s definitely still a nice tea, but just doesn’t fit my tastes. If you are interested in it or have a particular love of Laspsang Souchong, definitely give this a try!

Wow, smoky! Not sure I taste the chocolate in this one. Not bitter or too sweet, but very smoky which is throwing me off. Not sure this one is going to be a keeper for me.