Candy Cane Truffle

(52teas (Anne) 2022: 226)

Not generally a fan of peppermint in teas, but this was very candy cane-like and not herbaceous, with a decent dose of real chocolate, not (just?) chocolate flavouring. As a result, it was not only drinkable (for me), but enjoyable. A nice example of a more sophisticated chocolate mint black tea than some I’ve had.

Happy National Candy Cane Day! Today the prompt is to drink a tea with peppermint flavor notes!

This is my only tea that has “candy cane” in the title… so when I was pulling all my “52Teas holiday flavors from years past” I purposefully saved this one for today.

The tea has a delightful chocolate mint aroma… And it’s a lovely chocolate mint flavor in the cup, as well. The chocolate is a nice rich flavor… more on the cocoa end than I normally taste, but also a bit of the more common “chocolate liquor” flavor as well. The mint adds a bit of brightness… I know it’s peppermint, but something about the particular feel of the menthol is a bit more like spearmint to my tongue, leading to a flavor somewhere in-between the two for me, which is very pleasant. The cup is smooth and sweet but not overpoweringly so, as I find many candy cane blends tend to be. Reminds me of a mint hot cocoa in flavor, with the thinner body of a tea. I may make my subsequent cup as a latte, to allow the milk to thicken up the texture and really bring out that mint hot cocoa vibe.

Lovely for the wintery weather we are having… over the last two days, we accumulated six inches of snow!

An Ode to Tea challenge – C

Thanks very much, AJRimmer!  So many glowing notes might have hyped this one up for me.  I LOVE that such an unusual black tea is used here – Fujian gunpowder.   I’m not sure if it’s because I didn’t use as much leaf as I usually would… I wanted to stretch my sample to two steep sessions BUT the pouch says only to use 2.5 grams anyway and I’m sure I used more than that.  The tea is certainly chocolatey!  Especially on that second steep.   But the peppermint for me leans more herbaly flavored than an actual candy cane.  I would consider adding some candy cane to the next steep session but I wouldn’t want to mess with the recipe of this particular tea magician!  :D
Speaking on the Fujian gunpowder, I would love to try it by itself — maybe that would make a good base for Black Silk Chocolate Milk?  Maybe mixed with another black tea?
Steep #1 // not quite 1 teaspoon // 25 minutes after boiling // 2-3 minute steep
Steep #2 // 4 minutes after boiling // 4 minute steep

Got this one in a mystery bag. Without milk, the flavoring was a little sharp tasting. With milk, it’s a nice candy mint. There’s something here that’s a little faker than I prefer, but it’s still decent. Oh, I just looked at the bag and realized this is also supposed to have a truffle flavor? I didn’t notice any chocolate at all. Maybe the slight muting of the black tea was perpetrated by the chocolate? Anyway, there are many similar teas that are better, but this one is fine.

The next 52Teas blend I’ve chosen to focus on sipping down!

I actually like this one a fair bit, but I’d really like to finish off some of these much more highly seasonal profiles while there’s still snow outside. The chocolate in this is sort of a “medium richness” with some fudgey elements, a bit of creaminess, and also a sort of powdery quality to it. It’s pretty spot on for a “truffle” concept, in my opinion. I wish the mint was a bit stronger, but I do like that it’s pretty cooling and not overly sweet – it reminds me a bit of the peppermint liquor that I used to buy shortly after I turned legal drinking age, but not quite to the same intensity level.

Overall, it’s just a nice smooth and non aggressive take on that pretty classic “chocolate mint” flavour profile. Among the many chocolate mint teas I tried this past year it doesn’t stand out to me, but it’s also just really agreeable.

This reminds me of Peppermint Marshmallow Melting in Hot Chocolate…but its not as good. Now, in fairness, I rated Peppermint Marshmallow at 100 because I love it that much so that’s a tough sell to be better than. With that said, this is still a nice tea.

I think both the candy cane and chocolate come through strongly. They smell of chocolate hits you as the cup reaches your mouth. The sip starts off minty – candy cane mint, of course – and then sort of settles into a mint chocolate vibe. It is more truffle than chocolate bar and not as sweet as I expected/hoped this would be. That could be again because I was thinking Peppermint Marshmallow where the marshmallow adds sweetness.

Ultimately, it delivers on what the name promises. Am I in love? No. Will I have trouble finishing this? Also no. I just think if a tea were to be reblended in the future, Peppermint Marshmallow over this.

Next time, I think I will try this as a latte…

Sipdown! Had this a couple days ago…..meaning I was able to end January at 19 teas, though I haven’t had a chance to weigh my cupboard yet. Not really sure why I’m keeping track of things when my cupboard is TOO small but I am. I really enjoyed this one while it lasted even though I’ve been off mint teas. I credit Anne’s blending skills for that!

Sipdown 75-2021
Deep, dark cacao flavor with a bit of a fresh mint flavor. This would probably do quite well with milk or cream, but alas it is gone.