White Chocolate Obsession

My manager gave me one of these teabags! Holy crap, is it delicious.

The tea base is a little astringent, but the white chocolate and candy notes smooth it out.

It’s a Valentine’s Day themed tea, and I think it suits the holiday. Felt like a treat.

After weeks of too-warm weather, break-yer-neck schedules, and two wearying sojourns out of state, it was pure bliss to tool around the yard on the mower mulching up leaves and watching the sun through the oranges and yellows still on the trees. It was even chilly enough I had to warm up when I came inside! Bliss.

This was my warmer upper. Not stellar, but respectably decent. The chocolate flavor is mild, but you can detect it. A little half and half accentuates it nicely. And after clutching the cup for a while, I can feel my fingers again.

Being the tea snob that I am, I rarely drink bagged tea anymore. But, every now and then, one materializes that piques my interest. Such was the case when a very thoughtful friend of mine (who is also the manager of the FINEST BBQ restaurant in the UNIVERSE! – a review best saved for another place and time!), gave me this selection to try because she remembered that I was a tea enthusiast.

Since I have a mouth full of sweet teeth, and I am abstaining from all desserts and other favorite treats of my daily diet for Lent, just the title of this tea had me salivating. Initially I couldn’t make up my mind whether to brew or eat it.

Sanity prevailed for a change and I opened the single bag package to prepare the tea for steeping. The aroma that spilled forth definitely lived up to the title. It was wonderfully sweet and chocolaty and I blissfully snorted it into my nostrils for several minutes.

I dropped the bag into boiling water for five minutes. The finished color was a brownish gold. The aroma, though fainter than the unbrewed bag, still contained the sweet chocolate attributes.

The flavor of the tea was sweet and fairly full with the essence of chocolate. I immediately recognized the presence of cocoa powder. The focus was so entirely on the chocolate that the black tea component was lost underneath. I love chocolate so I can’t say that I was disappointed.

I don’t know if this tea was intended to compete with hot chocolate. If you are looking for a full blast of creamy rich chocolate in a cup, hot chocolate wins for sure. However, both choices have their own valuable places in the world of beverages. Since this is a tea, though, it would have been more appealing to me if there had been an identifiable partnership of black tea flavor marching alongside the chocolate.

To summarize, this is a likable tea (especially when I am without access to sweets). I found no astringency in the flavor. The aftertaste was pleasant although it quickly dissipated. Would I recommend this tea as an equal substitute for hot chocolate? No. Would I suggest that someone try this to get a good understanding of what black tea tastes like? No. Would I drink it again when I am craving tea and some sweet chocolaty sassiness? You betcha!