Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Dark Chocolate’

Chocolate with tea in it…it is a delicious concept. Much better than most tea with chocolate in it, as my past experiences have told me. Before I started reviewing this chocolate by Tea and All Its Splendour, I “cleansed” my palate with a sip of some Fujian black tea. I then tasted each of the various chocolates, giving a bit of time in between each one to allow my taste buds to clear a bit.

The first chocolate was Milk Chocolate Passionfruit Green Tea. This chocolate was very fruity tasting. I did not noticed much tea flavour, but I do think that chocolate and passionfruit is an excellent combination.

Next up was the Milk Chocolate Earl Grey Tea. It certainly had more tea flavour than the Passionfruit chocolate. The typical Earl Grey bergamot flavour was not heavily present, nor overwhelming, for which I was grateful. I have tried other Earl Grey milk chocolates, and they all seemed to have far too much bergamot in them.

The third chocolate I tried was the Milk Chocolate Chai Tea. The flavour of this chocolate was very creamy, but not very chai-tasting. The tastes of cloves and peppers, especially, were fairly prominent.

Dark Chocolate Ginger Black Tea was next. Wow. I could taste the flavour of ginger before even biting into it. The flavours of ginger and dark chocolate combined to create a very sharp taste with a ginger-like lasting burn at the back of the throat. Surprisingly though, despite the description I just offered, this chocolate really was quite tasty.

The last chocolate included was Dark Chocolate Raspberry Black Tea. This one was very smooth and creamy in texture and in flavour. The fruit flavour was not as strong as the passionfruit chocolate. However, the subtle raspberry flavour complemented the dark chocolate quite well.

I would definitely recommend these chocolates to any chocolate or tea lover. These are delicious treats and the tea added to them complements them excellently.

You can purchase the Tea Infused Chocolates directly from the Tea and All Its Splendour website.

I love chocolate and I (clearly) love tea so there was no way I could refuse when I was offered some tea infused chocolate. I’ve had tea with chocolate before but never chocolate with tea, I mean I’ve had chocolate with tea before but it was in a yunomi (the tea, that is) and the chocolate was in hand. Yes, I’ve already gotten in to the chocolate…. Both of the bars that I received are tea infused dark chocolate. The ‘guilt’ in the guilty pleasure (of sweets) is lower for me if I can convince myself that the treat is somehow healthy. I’ve heard that dark chocolate is better for you than milk chocolate – trying to justify my indulgence…

First up is the dark Belgium chocolate with organic raspberry black tea, and it is beautiful. Smells bittersweet with just a hint of raspberry in the blend. The texture is smooth and dark, can’t actually see any tea in it. The tea comes out when you bite into the bar, has an unusual texture to it… Smooth but with a crunch, kind of hard to explain but there is definitely tea in it. The bitterness of the chocolate overpowers the raspberry flavor a little bit but that’s okay. This is really, really good sweetness.

Now on to the Australian ginger black tea chocolate. Really dark, smooth texture, smells fantastic (as all chocolate should) with a hint of a ginger scent. Biting into it and it tastes rich and sharp but the wonderful ginger flavor gets stronger with every mouth-watering, melting second. Strong, lingering ginger aftertaste (I LOVE GINGER)! This is absolutely my new all-time favorite chocolate. You wouldn’t think that ginger and dark chocolate would be such a fantastic combination but they are. It’s now a proven fact.

You can purchase the Dark Belgian Chocolate with Organic Raspberry Tea and Dark Belgian Chocolate with Ginger Black Tea directly from the Tea and All Its Splendour website.

The Rani Tea Estate was once a picturesque garden known for distributing orthodox Assam teas to many parts of Europe. The estate adhered to biodynamic farming practices, meaning an emphasis on the symbiotic relationship between soil, plant, and animal. I have often sneered at the biodynamic label as nothing more than quasi-religious, Gaia Theory-borne mumbo-jumbo – a tacked-on label for upping the price of tea. Yet all teas I’ve tasted from biodynamic gardens were of high quality. This was my first Assam from Rani…and unfortunately, it was my last.

How TeaFrog was able to get a hold of this wonderful smelling Assam is a mystery. On first impression, the leaves looked like normal, small-cut black tea pieces with some golden tips strewn about. The smell, though…where to begin?! There seems to be an underlying similarity between some Assams of a higher quality. The aroma reminds me of tiramisu, dark chocolate, and blueberry syrup. I know, it’s an odd combination. I guess that’s what one gets from a SUPER Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. I just wish I knew what seasonal flush the tea was, but there was no mention of it on the TeaFrog profile.

Brewing instructions on the sample bag called for 1 tsp. of leaves per cup, a water temperature of 100C (212F), and an infusion time of three-to-four minutes. I generally steeped on the light side, which meant I was going for my usual three-minute wait. I measured out 1 tsp. and prepped 8oz-worth of water.

Even on the lighter side of steeping times, the liquor brewed to somewhere between amber and crimson – a lovely yet clear red-gold. The aroma was smoky-sweet with a floral after-scent more in line with a high-altitude Ceylon than an Assam. As for the flavor, to say that I was in awe would be the greatest of all understatements. Most Assams have an underlying profile of “MALT!”. That initial impression has become as much an Assam staple as muscatel notes have for Darjeelings. While some of that was indeed present, it took a far backseat to a fruit/floral lean I sensed in the dry leaves. A bit of dryness did perk up in the aftertaste, but it was mild. What a delightful morning cup.

This was as close to perfect as I’ve seen an Assam come. I find it a bit tragic, however, that there is only a finite supply. In March of 2010, the Rani Tea Estate was burnt to ashes by an angry mob. I won’t go into detail regarding what sparked the altercation, or my thoughts on who was in the right. Point is, a tea legacy has all but vanished. There are efforts to rebuild the infrastructure of the original garden, but a grand reopening is a distant possibility. Quite a loss, considering how perfect a cup the estate created.

You can purchase the Assam Rani SFTGFOP directly from the TeaFrog website.

There seems to be more and more tea infused chocolate products coming to market. We have reviewed Matcha Chocolates here before, and this time, we have the chance to review some tea infused chocolates from a local company, Tea and All Its Splendour.

The owner of the company, Raelene Gannon, has a professional background in the chocolate and confection industry, and is also a certified tea sommelier. Combining the two, she has created Chocolate t – tea infused chocolates!

We received a large sampler box from Raelene, a mix of packaged-for-sale chocolate bars, and loose sampler type squares. There was plenty for tasting here, so keep an eye out for future reviews from some of our other reviewers, who have it in their expert hands (mouths?) now In the sampler was Dark Chocolate Raspberry Black Tea, Dark Chocolate Ginger Black Tea, Milk Chocolate Temple Chai Tea, Milk Chocolate Passion Fruit Green Tea, Milk Chocolate Cream Earl Grey Tea and White Chocolate Matcha and Sencha. They all smelled incredible, and while I know personally that the While Chocolate would be my personal favorite (without even tasting it!) I also enjoy Chai blends, so that is the first one I decided to go with.

The very first thing I noticed was that the chocolate had bits throughout, and as I looked at all the other chocolates, I noted them in those ones as well. As it turns out – these are the actual tea leaves! Raelene not only infuses the chocolates with the tea flavours, but also the actual loose leaf tea its self – what a unique concept! The chocolate its self is in a bar – that is, flat with ridges, not truffle type shapes like the Matcha Chocolat ones were. This makes it more commercially viable, and probably easier to produce consistently.

The scent I get from the chocolate is that of a fine Milk Chocolate, with a bit of a clove’y, spicy scent – what I would expect from a Chai – but of course, more chocolaty I am the kind of person that eats chocolate by melting it in my mouth – I love the feeling of smooth chocolate on my tongue, and I did exactly that with this chocolate.

The first taste that hits you is the smooth, sweet milky chocolate. You can tell that this is a good quality chocolate base, as it is not waxy or tasteless at all. The milk chocolate taste is quickly followed up with a spicy flavour – I would not say that it is clearly relate-able to a chai blend – since there can be such a variety of this type of tea, but it is more of a sense of spiciness, but not in a hot, burn your mouth way, but in an exotic, not familiar to my everyday meal palate, kind of way.

The next thing that strikes me are the crunchy “bits” in the chocolate – which I know now is the actual loose leaf. With my first couple of tastes, I crunched them, and found it not quite a pleasant experience – I like my chocolate smooth! But with my second round of tasting, I let them soften in my mouth without chewing, and it released more of the chai spice flavour, which was quite enjoyable! If you have ever eaten actual tea leaves – well, it is not a good tasting experience, but these leaves have mellowed enough to be a real treat!

Overall, this was a good tea infused chocolate. I got more chocolate than tea, but it IS a chocolate, not a condensed tea. I personally would have preferred to get more of the spiciness that you can get from a good Chai – but by the same token, this is probably would appeal to a wider audience, like an introduction to Chai.

This is not the only one I have sampled to date, and not my favorite of all of them, but it is a great starting point, and it is exciting to see more and more of these products coming to market – and great to see one local to Toronto! Stay tuned to this website for more reviews of the Chocolate t products from myself, and our other reviewers!

You can purchase the Milk Belgian Chocolate with Temple Chai Tea directly from the Tea and All Its Splendour website.

Pre-steeping, my nose revels in the wonderful and delicious smells coming from the dry leaves. This tiramisu smells delicious, and it is strong enough that I can hardly detect the scent of the red rooibos underneath it.

After steeping, the aroma of rooibos has been brought to a more prominent place, but the tiramisu is not letting go of its grasp on the scent and the senses. The liquor has steeped a deep red colour, yet remains bright and clear. Eagerly, I lift the cup to my lips in anticipation…

Creamy! This tea has a very thick mouthfeel that actually starts out being a bit thin, but when the sweetness of the tea finally hits, it thickens considerably. The rooibos has come through beautifully, though it almost seems to have too much rooibos flavour (as compared to the tiramisu). The tiramisu does put forth a good showing, however. It boldly jumps out at the drinker, and lasts a while, settling in a delicious aftertaste. With each sip, I’m left wanting to take another sip and another…

I really enjoyed this tea, which is probably an understatement, considering how fast I went through the first cup. I gladly give this tea an 85 out of 100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

Time to go have another cup!

You can purchase the Tiramisu Rooibos directly from the TeaFrog website.