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“Drinking some more of this sample pack…. I let it steep for a while longer today and I am upping the rating a bit more. I like this one although it reminds me a lot of a spicy chocolate orange. It...” Read full tasting note
“I really should avoid trying new things today, because my taste buds are obviously off. Then I see, I’ve already reviewed this? Jeepers MissB. Really?! :) This is a creamy cup of chocolate, with...” Read full tasting note
“It’s a beautiful morning! I just looked outside and it’s really bright! When you live at a higher altitude, the Winter sunshine warms everything up even though the temperature might read 55...” Read full tasting note
“Hooray for me! I finally bit the bullet and decided to try my very first Pu-Erh! I’d been simultaneously intrigued and dissuaded from trying Pu-Erh by the many descriptions I’ve read on Steepster....” Read full tasting note
This tea has all that you love about chai, the spice and the clove, blended just right with chocolate! Made with Pu-Erh tea it gives it a dark, rich, spicy flavor that, for the chai, chocolate or Pu-Erh lover, will having you steeping another cup before you know it! The chai hits you at first sip and and the chocolate soon follows. Delicious tea for all who love a nice, dark, rich tea!
Ingredients: Pu-erh Yunnan tea, chocolate bits, orange bits, cinnamon, cloves and cardamon
Serving Size: 1 level tsp./6oz serving
Water Temp: 203 ° F – 212°F
Steep Time: 2- 5 minutes
Company description not available.
Drinking some more of this sample pack…. I let it steep for a while longer today and I am upping the rating a bit more. I like this one although it reminds me a lot of a spicy chocolate orange. It smells really nice and it’s good for a dessert tea.
I really should avoid trying new things today, because my taste buds are obviously off. Then I see, I’ve already reviewed this? Jeepers MissB. Really?! :)
This is a creamy cup of chocolate, with zero spice or chai that I can decipher. It’s tasty, and I love the base, however I wanted a chai to perk me up a bit. Boo.
You can never go wrong with chocolate! Sounds like this might have the same problem as DTs Chocolate Chili Chai though. :(
I have some chocolate chili chai, however I should probably get rid of it. I seem to have moved on from my love of DAVIDs, other than a few select teas.
It’s a beautiful morning! I just looked outside and it’s really bright! When you live at a higher altitude, the Winter sunshine warms everything up even though the temperature might read 55 degrees. People wear shorts and a light sweater. The heater stays off in the house during the day because the house is heated by the sun.
When I first moved to Fort Collins, I was so surprised at how warm it was in this dry climate in the Fall and Winter. The jackets come out at night, and the boots when it snows (which isn’t often and melts quickly).
From the beginning of Fall through Winter, Old Town is transformed into a Fairyland of glittering lights, street performers (I love the tuba bands), and free carriage rides. There’s a small ice rink for the wee skaters. http://flic.kr/p/dtcfsy http://flic.kr/p/dtcfQA
‘Tis the Season’ for Thanksgiving in the U.S. next week and the day after is ‘Black Friday’ (a mega huge, shopping frenzy day). I don’t know about the rest of the World, but this is fun in many communities. Some cities, if you wear black you get discounts or goodies from merchants.
In Fort Collins we don’t have "Black Friday’, we have ‘PLAID’ Friday. If you wear plaid you get free tea, cookies, prizes and discounts all around Old Town.
With the glittering lights, street performers, free tea at my Pub and Waffle Hut sandwiches, it sounds like I’ll have fun and I’m going to be there! Wish you could all join me!
Tea:
I brewed a small pot of Chocolate Chai Pu-Erh this morning hoping that this tea sample would be a redemption after the sour chocolate sample I reviewed last evening.
I do love chocolate but I don’t like too much artificial flavoring.
Thankfully This tea has no artificial flavoring listed on the package! Phew!
My steep time was 4 minutes and the scent of the wet leaves with cinnamon and mini chocolate pieces was amazing. The wafting aroma was like warm chocolate, cinnamon streusel straight from the oven.
I poured a cup of tea and was relieved that the flavor was yummy cocoa with a good amount of cinnamon pop and a bite that must have come from the clove (which you can’t taste, just feel).
The list of ingredients mentioned cardamom but I didn’t taste that spice, and the orange was very light but delicious. I don’t prefer overly orange flavored tea.
If you want Pu-erh flavor, you won’t find it in this tea. The only thing it contributes is a richness. The health benefit is important though. Too many people have a horrible fear of Pu-erh and could easily drink this and never know the Pu-erh is there at all.
My first Pu-erh tea was Davids Tea Chocolate Orange which now tastes a bit off to me because of the artificial flavoring. This Della Terra Chocolate Chai Pu-erh is a step up and away from that sour artificial taste.
This is one of the best flavored Pu-erh’s blends for people who don’t want to taste the actual Pu-erh tea.
BTW Is Black Friday just something here in the U.S. or are there versions of the same thing in Canada and Paris and the UK and Denmark and Ecuador and so on?
great ! this means I can try this one for a beginning :)
Sounds deeeeeelish!
an indulging tea to be sure :P
Hey, that sounds like the old I-bloom!
I liked it too!
I read that you wanted some ginger, which I thing would make it more Chai-like.
Black friday is really a US thing, at least in comparision with canada. We have our thanksgiving in October, but sales aren’t really a “thing.” I think we tend to just piggy back on the US’s black friday sales :)
Agreed with Sil – Boxing day is more our sales day, but I never feel like I’m going to get trampled on Boxing day haha.
Big cities trample I think, small towns support small merchants. Here the feeling is festive. If you look at the pictures you get the idea, and there’s a whole downtown of antique looking buildings and no fast food restaurants or big box stores!!! We have a Mall elsewhere but I’ve never seen it crowded. There are 3 huge Walmarts for a population of 150,000 so that’s no issue. I wouldn’t go there on black friday! People like the old town.
Bonnie, you are truly lucky to live in such a place! I try to make my pilgrimage out there every late July to catch the Green Drake hatch on the Poudre. A great river with great bugs and eager trout.
I love hearing your stories, please continue!
You know the Poudre River?! Pronounced Poo der…like Pu-er with a d in it. Strange but true. The bugs aren’t such a good thing. Hopefully the fish will be waiting for you again, and some good bear in our famous breweries. If you get a chance, stop by Happy Lucky’s Tea House in Fort Collins and tell them I sent you from Steepster!
It’s just you. Remember, we don’t have anything such as Thanksgiving here, so Thursday and Friday = completely ordinary work days.
The closest we get here is the sales that start after Christmas which can be pretty packed, mostly because a lot of people will be swapping Christmas presents. And still, that’s not that different from any other sale apart from the fact that everywhere is always busy around Christmas.
I know you have other Holidays though Angrboda and traditions that are celebrated in your Country and throughout Europe. Next week is St. Andrews day with the Blessing of the Tartans. Then Dec.6th is St. Nicholas Day…and there’s lots more..Hanukkah begins Dec. 8th. and so on. I love this time of year!
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Completely off topic, but I have a friend of mine in Fort Collins. We went to the New Belgium Brewery, and what I think was probably what you refer to as Old Town (was the inspiration for Main Street USA at Disney, or something like it), and the Swettsville Zoo (fascinating but creepy place at the same time).
Hooray for me! I finally bit the bullet and decided to try my very first Pu-Erh!
I’d been simultaneously intrigued and dissuaded from trying Pu-Erh by the many descriptions I’ve read on Steepster. Some exalting the rich earthy flavor, while others describe the taste as having fishy qualities – ick!
I thought the best way to get me to try Pu-Erh, is to gently dip my toe in the water, with a tea that covers the base with plenty of flavors. I needed the Pu-Erh to be hidden like how my parents would hide zucchini in spaghetti sauce when I was a kid (and wouldn’t you know it, I like zucchini now). When I saw that the Della Terra Fall Try Me Pack had a sample of a Chocolate Chai Pu-Erh, it was a no-brainer.
I placed my order last Fall, and I happily sampled their teas, pulling this one out of the box, imagining a cartoon fish (you know the silver-gray kind, that looks a bit haggard, with the x for an eye), and I would quickly shove it back in the box to be passed by for something more “familiar”. For months, this packet was more of an obstacle to other teas than a tea destination. A tea pylon.
Well, Fall turned into Winter, and Winter into Spring, and I decided that I should stop being a chicken and give it a go…
…of course, another month passed…
…and a few more weeks…
…then a few more days…
“buck, buck…buck…BuckAHH!” I could practically hear the package taunting me. So I mustered up the nerve, grabbed the packet and headed for the kettle. As I poured the hot water over the tea, I snickered with a villainous grin (no…not really, but how great would that have been?)
I took my first sip…
…Chai!…mmm…chocolate. I can’t say that I detect anything fishy at all. The aftertaste sits on my tongue a little differently than a regular chai. A little drier at the back of the tongue, almost salty, but not quite. It’s mostly Chai. I was almost disappointed at how anticlimactic the whole thing was. I pictured the cartoon fish coming back to life and swimming away, and laughed at my over-active imagination.
Overall this tea is not bad, but it’s not one that I’d necessarily need to try again. However, it was the perfect stepping stone to a whole new area of teas that I had always shied away from. It was the perfect way to hide zucchini in spaghetti sauce.
Sounds like the best strategy! I enjoy a lot of flavoured puerhs now, but I’m afraid to try one on it’s own after the disastrous attempt with Zen Tea’s Puerh. (It tasted like dirt)
Dirt! Yikes, I’ll be steering clear of that one at least until I gain a firmer footing in the Pu-Erh department.
I know how you feel. I’ve only tried flavoured ones as well. One I quite like ( a blood orange one which has a rich deep flavour and re-steeps amazingly well for a flavoured tea) and another which was really horrible ( a strawberry one that reminded me of ammonia). So at the moment I am all for experimentation but only in small doses.
Congrats on trying your first pu’erh. This is one of the best/funniest tasting notes that I’ve read in a long time. :))
“Some exalting the rich earthy flavor” – this is just a fancy term for dirt. LOL I actually like the earthy/dirty taste of pu’erh, and have just started exploring them plain. I have several in my cupboard that I haven’t tried yet.
You weren’t revolted by this one so maybe don’t give up on all of them. I’m agreeing with your strategy, baby steps.
I loved this note! :-) I too have been intimidated by Pu’erh and have been putting off tasting them until I’ve tried lots of other things first. I am intrigued by the idea of drinking “dirt” though, so maybe I’ll do it soon.
@yyz – wow! ammonia, something must have gone when they made that flavor, but it’s good that you found the blood orange to enjoy, and the strawberry one didn’t scare you away from all Pu’erhs.
@Dexter3657 – Thank you for your kind words. Now that I think of the “rich earthy flavor” description, you’re totally right – fancy term for dirt – hahaha! Yes, for sure, baby steps seems like the way to go – so far, so good, at least.
@Fuzzy_Peachkin – We can explore the world of Pu’erhs together :) Hooray for dirt! ;)
Yes. Yes, they do taste like dirt. I like adding a little sugar to cheaper loose puerhs (Tealux’s Naked Puerh is AMAZING with a pinch of sugar), to really explore the spicy earthy sweet flavours. :) The smell is still intimidating, but I love the taste. Used leaves also cold brew into a fascinating tea.
Great review! Congrats on getting through your first Puerh experience. I haven’t really tried too many flavored ones, but the ones I’ve liked are:
Blood Orange Puerh from The London Tea Room.
Bolder Breakfast from The Tea Spot (mix of black tea, puerh, & chocolate).
I think there was one with Caramel too, that was kind of nice.
OMGsrsly – I’m glad I grabbed that one from Tealux then! I just haven’t tried it yet. I grabbed 6 different puerh samples from them and so far am happy. I like a few of the ones from DavidsTea too – they’re easy starter puerhs!
@OMGsrsly, Terri HarpLady and Cavocorax -Thanks for all the suggestions. It’s nice to have some ideas to help figure out what I should try next. I’m treading cautiously with Pu’erhs because I feel one misstep might scare me away completely. So your suggestions are very helpful – thank you
I’m seconding the vote for Tealux Naked Pu’erh. It’s a decent inexpensive loose shu pu’erh. I find with my sample that it needs a pretty decent rinse to get rid of the initial dirty socks/fishy smell. First steep is pretty strong, but mellows quite a bet for steeps 2 onward.
Canadianadia, when you are ready to make the step to plain pu’erh I would recommend a sheng (raw). They taste like pu’erh – dirty, earthy, but in a much gentler softer version. I drank a sheng for the first time last night (tried two different ones) and they were both much lighter on the pu’erh flavor. Might be a gentler transition for you.
Thanks Dexter3657 – I’ll have to keep that in mind when I venture towards the plain pu’erh
I have a few cups left of this but will be leaving it at work to finish off. Its a nice pick me up on my lunch break and shall be missed.
A spoon of sugar really brings out the chocolate and a sprinkle of cinnamon and dash of milk finish it perfectly. :)
Go go first tasting note! Looks like another sample that i’m first to hit. I’ll be honest, part of why I chose this one in my samplepack/facebook win is because i’m fairly close to deciding that “pu” is just not for me. I’m zero for five now? I’m hoping that this one might be one that works for me.
I added a bit of extra to this one, to make it a bit stronger as I’m finding Della Terra teas a little on the soft side for flavours. Not a bad thing, I’m just trying to adjust accordingly.
Soooo first smell? Cinnamon. Kinda reminds me of cinnamon hearts. After a few sips, conclusion is…i’m missing the chocolate and this is more of a cinnamon tea than anything. Someone more versed in Pu would be able to comment on how well it does that aspect of it..but this is not such much chocolate or the chai that i’m used to. It’s not a bad tea, since I happen to like cinnamon, but it’s totally not what i expected from this one.
Just finishing up a cup of this now. It’s pretty darned good. Sweet, chocolate-y, warmly spiced … with just a hint of orange. The Pu-erh brings out the earthy notes in the spices … I like how well this blend works together … it’s not overly energizing (I don’t feel really caffeinated after drinking it) so it’s nice to drink later in the day. It’s good as a latte, but I like it even better without the dairy.
curious….is the chocolate a ‘flavoring’ or is it chips in the mix? Cocoa nibs? Chocolate powder?
I think they had flavoring and mini chips.
Another one that is to be sent off into the wild world of stamped envelopes and parcels.
Out of all the places that I ordered from I was least excited about getting my package from Della Terra. I should’ve been more enthusiastic; the few of their blends that I have tried so far have been great!
I attempted a pathetic rinse of this in my DT’s perfect mug. I’d like to think it made a difference. (Goof EDIT: this chocolate Puerh shouldn’t be rinsed!)
This is a lovely earthy tea with a finish of pepper that one could imagine coming from either/or the Yunnan and the few spices present. The main aroma and flavour is one of dark chocolate with a dabbing of honey. The spices are subtle but present, like a worldly gent who knows they don’t need to flaunt all their wealth in a gaudy array. It has “the air” of richness.
I added some milk in, because chais always beg for milk in my mind, but it could have honestly held up well without. Somewhat coffee-like.
Did you say you rinsed this one? It doesn’t need rinsing. This has chocolate bits with the spices which rinsing would wash away. I thought this was a decent attempt at a flavored puerh.
Yes, I did rinse the chocolate like a goof. It was such a poor rinse that I don’t think it infringed on the other ingredients, however! I thought it was a good attempt too. Besides one exception, I have only had flavoured puerhs so far. This definitely ranks highest among them. :)
It’s OK, we all do things like that, or at least I do! I started with flavored puerh…took awhile before I began with unflavored and now that’s my favorite.
I’m the type of person who reaches for water and ends up with a mouthful of tonic! At least I can have a good laugh every once in a while at my own expense. I really look forward to building up a palate to unflavored puerh in the new year- and learning how to make a good cup too! Thank you for your kind words, Bonnie.
Ahhh. This is just what I needed this afternoon. Super rich, dark, and spicy! It tastes like unsweetened Mexican chocolate, with a touch of earthy pu-erh and citrus peel. Sweetened this would be an AMAZING dessert or latte tea! Another winner from my box of goodies from BrewTEAlly Sweet :D One of the best I’ve had from Della Terra actually!!!
Yay I’m glad you really enjoyed this one over the other chai!
Apologies for the backlogging. Steepster was down for a bit.
Anyway, my boyfriend actually won this tea from Della Terra Tea facebook contest, but I borrowed some anyway to see what it was all aobut. I enjoy a good pu-erh tea blend if it’s done right.
Even though the reviews of this are mixed, this is definitely a very good pu-erh blend. I’m getting chocolate notes and it blends well with the pu-erh base (which I can definitely taste). As the tea cools off, it’s enjoyable hot OR cold. I was expecting to have to add some milk to round this out but it didn’t need anything in my opinion. Maybe next time I’ll throw in just to see how it goes.
On the chai side, this does fall a little bit short, though. Which is fine by me since I’m not really a OMG SPICY CHAI person. However, if someone wanted chocolate pu-erh with a little kick? Eh, don’t expect to much. This probably could have benefited from more spices if that’s what they were going for.
It’s still very enjoyable, though, and definitely one of the best pu-erh blends I’ve tried.
I need another great chocolate tea. I finished the dark chocolate from Pier 39. I hear Della Terra has a couple good ones. Hope you’re feeling well!
I’m doing well, thanks! I like Della Terra’s chocolate teas. I think you can get a chocolate sample pack from them.