Painted Desert

I love the combination of chocolate/chili/cinnamon, so was very excited to try this offering from August Uncommon. It had a nice balance of the three flavors, with none of them competing over the others.

First sip was chocolate, second was cinnamon. After several more sips there is a hint of chili and a sweetness mid sip. It has a hearty quality. As I sip further the chili creeps in a bit, but stays lingering in the background. It’s nice, but there is room for it to grow on me.

I tried this tea already a few times as a morning wake-up brew but it lacks the satisfying body that I want in my 4am breakfast teas. And the caffeine buzz leaves me feeling jittery instead of invigorated, so I relegated Painted Desert back to the black tea drawer for a time more appropriate, which is today!

I really like the idea of this flavor profile — Ceylon black tea, cocoa shells, cinnamon, chili. I’m not often the mood for Mexican-style hot chocolate but when I am, I crave it hard. In stark contrast to the weather of a few days ago (100+F), last night was cold for us of California thin blood. Despite it warming up to 70F currently, the chill of last night left me craving the flavor profile of Painted Desert.

All of that for a short review. August Uncommon calls this a “crisp black tea” that tastes like “dried pasilla chili, Mexican cinnamon, cacao” and feels like “soft warm mahogany.” Yep. Though the cacao note is cocoa for me and is more present in the aroma and finish than in the actual taste. The base tea is crisp, fairly light and woody, lacking the astringency I find typical of Ceylon blacks. The chili and softly sweet cinnamon give only a bit of warmth, melding smoothly with the cocoa shells and tea. The safflower petals really add to the ‘painted desert’ visual element of the dry leaf, like a striking sunset.

While I enjoy this tea, there’s something about it that makes me not interested in purchasing it again. Maybe it’s because I have in mind Mexican hot chocolate and the comforting thickness associated with it. As with most chocolate-flavored tea blends, I feel like a base of a good Yunnan red would be more complementary in terms of mouthfeel and flavor. The Ceylon base is kinda leaving me hanging but maybe their blender has good reason for choosing it. Still decent stuff.

Also, I’m wondering what the added flavor is.

[Western, 3.5g, 10oz, 205F]

I’m finally digging into the most recent box from my Tea Sister Sil, reaching in and grabbing something randomly, and this was the sample of the day.

It’s terrible, LOL. I tried not to have an opinion up front, but I’ve tried similar things, and I knew I probably wouldn’t like it. I even tried adding a little sweetening to see if that helped, but it didn’t, at least not for me.

I should also mention that a year ago I added Nightshades to my long list of foods that I have reactions to, and so I haven’t been eating anything with potatoes, tomatoes, peppers or chili’s since then, resulting in a major improvement in my health, and although I thought I probably wouldn’t have a problem with a little tea, I was wrong. Within a few sips my cheeks started flushing, so I tried to pawn the rest of the tea off on one of my sons, and he didn’t like it either. I always hate dumping tea out, but gone are the days of me forcing myself to drink something I don’t care for! There are so many better tasting teas to drink!

Still, thanks for the opportunity Sister!

Thank you to Dexter and Sil for sharing this.

It was… bad. So astringent. The chili barely made itself known, and the chocolate did not blend well with the astringent Ceylon base. “Brisk” is what they call it…

Even milk didn’t rescue it for me.

So disappointed. The flavours sounded like such a great combination after I tried Passage du Desir.

:(

Final cup of this today because the last little bit of my sample is off to Shezza and Christina. I enjoyed this one immensely – not too spicey but interestingly enough to keep me satisfied!

Beautiful dark cup of tea— the color of maple syrup— aroma is toasty dark chocolate with a hint of heat from the chili. To me it like a bar of gourmet dark chocolate with chili pepper. I prefer the second steep, though, the chocolate flavor lessens and makes room for other, more subtle flavors— the depth of the “heat” which I thought was all chili but turns out to be partly from cinnamon. I keep thinking of saffron— had to check the ingredients, and it is the safflower. Very nice tea— I love how complex the August creations are, never what I expect.

A recent discussion thread peaked my interest in this company and since it was so close to home I decided to give them a go…. So they’re a little creative in their flavor notes (feels like soft warm mahogany) but wouldn’t you be too when your ingredients include Ceylon black tea, South American cocoa husk, Indonesian cinnamon, Chinese chili and Iranian safflower petals?? Man… I don’t want to think about the carbon footprint of this tea… (its also blended in Germany)… but doesn’t it sound delicious???

This tea is seriously like a big warm hug!! Its the perfect blend of cocoa and spice, no one flavor overpowers any of the others, they’re all in perfect harmony!! A splash of milk adds a delicious creamy mouth feel to the end of each of my sips.