It smells like hot chocolate. I mean, it’s hot, and it’s chocolately. Hot chocolate, right? Noooo, chocolate tea. This stuff has been around forever, but it still has me totally confused. I had always assumed if someone wants watery, dirty-looking hot chocolate they’ll just use half a packet of powdered stuff; But no, there is a more tannic alternative.
Chocolate tea is usually made from a mix of ground, black tea, usually Ceylon, and various additives. Sometimes one of those additives is chocolate or ground cocoa beans, but a lot more often the source of that chocolocity is chemicals, chemicals, chemicals. When you’re reading the description, pay close attention to where the commas appear. You have to hand it to a PR department who can word something as slyly ambiguous as ‘This black tea is blended with Bavarian chocolate and raspberry flavors’.
As anyone who’s tried the new 99% cocoa bar from Lindt knows, cocoa flavor without some sort of sugary uplift can be an sharp, metallic thing. So some chocolate teas use natural sweeteners like liquorice root or cinnamon oil, and some simply include the instructions “Add sugar”. Connoisseurs of loose chocolate tea suggest using it as the starting point for blends instead of naked; and manufacturers are way ahead of them in terms of turning out mixes with coconut, rose, mint, caramel, and whatever else chemical happens to be lying around on the mixing floor that day.
Still not convinced to just break out the Swiss Miss? Then give these a try. They’re actually pretty good if you’re on a diet:
Stash as any number of chocolate teas, from macadamia flavored to caramel.
Adagio makes a pure version good for mixing. Reviews say don’t let it steep too long
Canada Creek is what you want if there’s a connoisseur you’re trying to impress
SpecialTeas also seems to know what they’re doing, and they may very well have the most organic versions of the bunch. Or then again, it may not. Chocolate teas are shifty things.
Incidentally, this in no way discounts the pure awesomeness of Chocolate that has tea in it. Try the Dark Chocolate and Earl Grey Version from Neuhaus over in Union Station.