My education in the fine art of Magic the Gathering continued today. I decided to stop geeking out over the lore and crushing on Jace Beleren (what, I can have nerd crushes) long enough to work on actually playing the game, running my Red Black Griefer deck, destroying all the lands because that technique is just sexy. Something about playing a card that destroys my opponents hard earned lands and destroying their creatures is really satisfying, especially when it involves lots of undead…see I really do have an unhealthy obsession with liches.
Today’s tea is a step into an older love of mine, from my younger days working at a tea and coffee shop…chugging roasted oolongs and eating chocolate covered espresso beans like crazy. This blending of two worlds is none other than A Quater To Tea’s Chocolate Cherry Latte Oolong, a blend of Organic Quilan Oolong Tea, Hojicha Tea, Coffee Beans, Dried Cherries, Mini Chocolate Chips, Chicory, Natural Flavors…as someone who loves blending unusual things, it is safe to say this tea got my attention. As a gesture of awesomeness, use the code GEEKERY10 to get 10% off a purchase of $5 or more, just be sure to use it by December 15th. Ok, tea, and coffee, and other fun things, the aroma…ok wow, this smells like coffee alright! Roasted coffee with creamy chocolate and sweet cherries, it has an underlying smokiness to it as well. The roast is very strong, which I love, it was always my favorite thing about coffee, alongside that intense bitter taste.
The brewed tea smells so good, man, it is intense, strong notes of rich chocolate and creamy sweet cherries with a nice heavy roasted coffee and just general roasted smokey finish. Not a tea sniffing experience for the faint of heart. The liquid is quite roasted and nutty, with notes of cocoa and coffee, gentle smoke, and a nice creamy sweet chocolate finish.
Surprisingly I decided to not make this into a latte, no cream or sugar…mostly because I was out of milk (can you tell I just never drink the stuff? I pretty much get it when I need it for cooking) so if you were hoping for a frothy return to my coffee shop days, sorry about that. I am glad I did not sweeten it though because this tea is sweet! The combination of the chocolate and cherries, with the sweet notes of Hojicha and Oolong make for a quite sweet cup of tea. There are strong notes of coffee, and roast which balance out the sweetness, and the lingering cherry notes add a wonderful finish. Out of the three samples I tried, this one was my favorite, definitely one I plan on getting more of for when I crave coffee on those rare occasions.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-quarter-to-tea-chocolate-cherry-latte.html
