Charlotte au Chocolat

oh man…this one…ysaurella you are the best! She saved the last little bit of this one so that i could try it and i am loving it! I prefer it to florence from harney and sons, and i think i could even get my other half to drink this instead of hot chocolate. This is a great example of a chocolate tea that is really great!

Dammann advent calendar, day 4. I’m glad this one was included because it always intrigued me, but I was unsure about the keemun base, different from Dammann’s usual (which I love). Sometimes I love 100% keemun bases, and sometimes I don’t at all. I remember why I often don’t when I smelled the sachet of this one, because that keemun smokiness is strong in this one.

After steeping, my fears are not allayed. Definite smoke, and yes some chocolatey, nutty sweetness on top. I think if I liked smoky keemuns, I would like this tea. But as it is right now, it’s definitely not for me. Well, it’s always good to have some teas to cross off the list, and I’m glad I finally got to try this one.

The dry tea smells very much like the dessert it’s named after! Brewed for 4 minutes, the brewed tea smells of chocolate, and amaretto infused with a touch of wood smoke, with the smoke and some of the cocoa coming from the base tea. The chocolate and amaretto notes are prominent with the smoke adding a note that reminds me a little bit of a mole poblano sauce. The bit of smoke helps to make th tea seem more robust and deepens the chocolate note. It makes me think of late fall, early winter evenings curled up by a fire place. Very nice, I can see why this tea is sought after.

I am SO thrilled this was in the Dammann Freres Advent Calendar this year – this was a tea I really wanted to try, and couldn’t find a supplier for.

Out of the bag, this smells amazingly decadent – chocolate hazelnut. OH YES. It smells divine! Steeped, it smells less so, and drinking it was pleasurable, although not as lovely as the smell of the tea itself.

I’m getting a rich black base along with almonds and perhaps something orange. There’s something faintly chocolate in here too, and I can definitely taste the nuttiness. It’s much better sweetened, and I wish I had more… it’s delicious. Definitely on my to-order list.

Day 4 of Dammann Freres advent caldendar. This is my last one for today. I am finally caught up. Dinosara suggested in one of her notes that she was going to review the “day of” tea the following day so not to spoil the surprise for everyone, I think I will do the same thing, keeping day 5 review for tomorrow.

The dry tea smells strongly of dark chocolate, with definitely nutty notes. The brewed tea tastes like a smokey Keemun base to me. I am definitely getting dark chocolate but not bitter chocolate. There is just a tinge of astringency on the back of my tongue towards the end of the sip, but it disappears really quick. It actually works really well with the chocolate. There is the lightest nutty notes, not specifically getting almond though. The sunflowers really balance the tea out and keep it smooth. I am not a huge chocolate tea fan, but this was is pretty good. The liquor of this one does not seem as thick as the other Dammann teas I have tried so far.

I keep trying this tea, but I have come to the conclusion that it will never be a favorite even though it is very high quality. Chocolate tea used to be anathema to me, but I have found a few that are tasty.
I think it is likely that even the dessert for which this tea is named would not be a favorite for me. I read that the dessert has coffee in it, and I really don’t care for coffee.

Made by the usual parameters for black tea, this is too rough edged for me. There is a strong Keemun smoke, which I often like, paired with the rough scrape of unsweetened cocoa, another note I have sometimes enjoyed, particularly with sweets, but somehow it isn’t working for me in this tea. Cutting the steep time and slightly lowering the temperature, I get a cup of tea that I can drink and whose quality I can recognize, but it just isn’t something I really love. I plan to use the rest of this to make generous pots of tea my coffee loving friends, who I think will love it, and I will have my daughter’s fiancé try it as he loves chocolate teas and coffee, so the edginess may be right up his alley.

This was served at Wednesday’s tea party with oven-baked brown sugar and cinnamon peaches with homemade ice cream, and my guest liked it quite a bit, so I know that it is just me!

First I need to say I’ve always been suspicious with the idea of chocolate flavor for teas.
Each time I was seeing such a flavor on a package, I didn’t purchase it.
I like to drink hot chocolate with milk and tea + chocolate was little weird to me.

But I am curious and however now we can see more and more chocolaty teas (chocolateas ?)

I decided to taste this one because of the ratings here and because I never had a Dammann Frères I didn’t like.

I really appreciated it even if to me the only flavor I get is chocolate. I cannot pick out the almonds (I regret it because I love almonds so much)

The tea base is very sweet and smooth without any bitterness.

The tea is absolutely mellow and sweet.

Dedicated to the chocolatea lovers.

But between this tea and a cup of real hot chocolate, I would still take the real chocolate…too bad for calories !

PS : my daughter is in love with it (she’s 10 and like to taste my cups of teas)

Chocolate perfection in a cup.

This chocolate blend is unbelievable. Smooth, decadent, sugary heaven! Both the leaves and the liquor smell like chocolate cotton candy. It might sound crazy, but I distinctly smell that “spun sugar” smell. Very intriguing. I tried the tea plain at first, but I just knew in my heart that it needed milk and sugar. I couldn’t have been more right. Haha! It’s not a rich as a cup of hot chocolate might be, but it’s damn close. The almond is slightly present but everything takes a back seat to the chocolate. I had to google “helianthus” to see what kind of flavor it might yield. Turns out that helianthus = Sunflower. I learned something new. I can’t say that I particularly tasted notes of sunflower…unless I automatically associated it with the general nuttiness of the almond. I’m so happy with this tea. Charlotte au Chocolat is masterfully blended. Today was truly a “tea experience”. All of you Florence lovers really need to try this tea.

Thank you so much Doulton!!! What a gem!

Decided to steep this again. All I can say is this is a delightful chocolate blend. May even say I prefer this one to Florence. As others have said, this is milder than Florence. And I agree. Sort of the typical subtle French tea. But as I am trying to limit sugar…that Florence with it’s bitter notes from the hazelnuts requires soooo much sugar to smooth it out. This chocolate tea only needs 1 tsp per 16 oz. For a delightful sweet tea.

This was day 4 of the Advent calendar, but I’m just getting around to it now.

This is mostly to do with the fact that I really, REALLY don’t do smoke and the Keemun base was scaring me a bit. I can’t smell it in the leaves, necessarily (I get a kind of chocolate/caramel smell more than anything) but knowing it’s there, and knowing the accuracy of the tasting notes/blends has me a bit uneasy.

Unfortunately this tea is exactly what it says it is. The smoky taste and smell are at the forefront and end of the sip, with a little bit of chocolate in between. This is what I envisioned the 52 teas smores tea to taste like, absent the graham cracker and marshmallow notes.

This is definitely a case of a tea not being to my taste. I hate to rate it so low but it just isn’t one I’ll even be able to finish. I’m glad it was in the calendar to try, though. And I’m glad I just had the one teabag – instant decupboarding!