Afternoon tea session with Cacao 80. I decided to try grandpa style thermos brewing, and (spoiler alert!) I was not disappointed. For reference, I used the whole 7g mini in my 500ml thermos, added boiling water and left it for ~2 hours before drinking. Once close to empty I topped up with fresh boiling water.
I was originally drawn to this shou because it’s described as “melted dark chocolate in tea form” and it didn’t let me down. It brews up super smooth, but also has the dry bittersweetness of raw cacao, cooking chocolate, and (in later steeps) 80-90% dark chocolate. It is super rich, definitely suited to sipping on every so often across a stretch of hours. Drinking a lot of this quickly is borderline overwhelming!
I drank most of my cups straight, but you must believe me when I say that it is absolutely fabulous with white sugar and whole milk, even though that sounds like a really odd thing to do to shou. The bitterness is massively reduced, and it becomes very reminiscent of hot chocolate. I enjoyed interspersing the odd cup this way to break up the richness a little, particularly when reaching the end of each flask. Variety can also be found by sampling cups within the first hour, which have more wet wood notes and milder chocolate characteristics.
I’m so glad I decided to give this one a try; it’s definitely different from the earthier shou I’m used to drinking, and is one I’ll happily revisit in the future.
