Hot Chocolate [duplicate]

Yeah, it’s ok. Maybe it’s the age of the tea (I didn’t actually look at the packet!) or my changed tastebuds.

The oily sheen from the chocolate bits is always disconcerting, and I really dislike the stevia. I don’t hate it, but I get an aftertaste that isn’t the best.

Wouldn’t buy again, but it’s fun to try!

Oh, boy. I got this in one of the new DT holiday sets before Gingerbread Blondie or Forever Frosty released, so that I could try those. I try to avoid teas with stevia, because I detest it. But, this came in the set, so I figured what the heck. Opened the little tin and I was just hit in the face with the scent of stevia. Just chocolate and stevia. Brewed it, tasted it. Yup, as expected. Stevia city. I actually like the chocolate notes in this, but the stevia overpowers every other flavor and makes it undrinkable for me.

This was the first pu-erh I have tried, at least knowingly.

After I first brewed I smelled a wonderful chocolate scent, similar to the first smell you might get when baking brownies and the chocolate is just getting melted and gooey. I am a fan of traditional hot chocolate, with steamed milk and bar of melted dark chocolate in it, so I was worried that it would taste too much like a watered down hot chocolate.
It was nothing like that, it did not have that same creaminess or strong pure chocolate taste that hot chocolate has, but I tasted a strong chocolate flavor with what I imagine is the natural pu-erh tea taste in the very background. It did not taste watered down, it was just a lighter taste of chocolate.
It confused my taste buds at first because of that lighter but somehow not watered down chocolate taste. It was sweeter than a dark chocolate but not as sweet as candy bar chocolate.
This tea was delicious and I finished this cup of tea quicker than most, and was going to make myself another cup! Until I remembered this tea has caffeine and it is almost 11 at night.
I am excited to try it as a latte!

Very mild chocolate taste when made with milk and sugar. Would probably make a good tea latte.

Had it hot and it was pretty good. The chocolate wasn’t overwhelming.

Blech, the stevia makes this taste nasty. It smelled great and chocolate-y, though.

Advent Calendar 2017, Day 21: Was on the bitter end of dark chocolate, a bit of a coffee type edge, but a nice chocolate flavor. I’m tempted to brew this strong with some milk.
About 1.5 tsp to 16 oz.

Day 21 DavidsTea 24 Days of Tea calendar – Hot Chocolate (pu’erh) I just wrote a more-verbose, in depth review, but it got eaten when I foolishly clicked on the “suggest a flavor?” link at bottom (will explain why in a sec). That button launched my gmail in this very same window, killing everything I had written. So, yeah, word of warning to all: do not click on that link until after you’ve saved your tasting note. Bad, Steepster, no biscuit. No need for that link to behave that way. Grrrr, fustrated now.

Didn’t help that I was already frustrated by this tea. It smelled very promising in the tin, but turned into a fakey, awful stevia bomb in the cup. In fact the flavour I was about to suggest was ‘stevia’ since it is a very specific flavour of sweetener that, when overused as DT sadly often does, ruins what could be otherwise perfectly good teas. (Note: I’m fine with stevia when it’s balanced, flavour-wise, in better blends than this one.)

Not sure why the decision was made to use stevia to sweeten this. I mean, there’s already chocolate in it, so why not just use sugar? It would still be far more diet-friendly than actual hot chocolate and it could have been a really tasty mug of tea. I powered through this, mostly b/c it was first thing in the morning when I drank it and I needed the caffeine to get my butt in gear. But, I will never drink it again. So it’s not totally unpalatable, just kind of inexcusable.

If you’re down with the stevia (and lots of it…) then you might love this. If you think stevia tends to taste artificial or just plain bad, this tea’s a solid pass.