Strawberry & Nutella Pancakes

Sipdown!
As others have said, this a pretty nice strawberry chocolate tea. Sadly, not much hazelnut and no pancakes at all.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Wednesday, September 8th: National Ampersand Day Tea #1

I had to check my “next-cup-a-sipdown” list but no, I had no Ampersand teas over there.  So it seemed the perfect rainy day for the first time to try this blend, which I was hoping was comfort in a cup.  Can’t really go wrong with hazelnut, chocolate and strawberry on a black tea.  I went with a very short steep to finagle as much of the added flavor as possible out of this blend.  Not too much noticeable hazelnut… Mastress Alita mentioned dark chocolate which I was hoping for, but the first steep seems like lighter chocolate to my tastebuds.  The brew color is light as well, but there is definite strawberry here, which is awesome (plenty of little strawberry bits floated to the top of my infuser while it was steeping).  It’s definitely chocolate and strawberry (yay, cocoa shells forever) but I wouldn’t call it a nutella blend.  I wonder what adding some to a mug of tea would do… though I don’t have any nutella on hand anyhow…  The second steep had more chocolate than strawberry on the long steep but it didn’t get brisk, and I really do love a good chocolate black tea.   And definitely the actual pancake in the name doesn’t make sense, unless you’re just thinking about toppings of a pancake.
Steep #1 //  1 1/2 teaspoons // 20 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 3 minutes after boiling // 4 min

This sample was kindly shared with me from AJRimmer! Thank you, AJ! Nutella dipped strawberries is a favorite snack of mine, and I was very curious about this tea, but it always sold out on B&B’s site before I could try to order it.

The dry leaf has a strong fudgy aroma. Steeped, I’m getting the same chocolately/fudgy aroma, as well as a hint of sweet strawberry. On the nose, I’m not really picking up any nutty elements.

To taste, it has a much nicer chocolate flavor than I tend to feel about chocolate teas; it’s like a very dark, bittersweet chocolate, though, rather than the highly sweet, milk chocolately taste of Nutella. The slight bittersweet quality of the chocolate note gives a faint impression of roasted nuts and coffee. The strawberry is very subtle in the flavor; I can pick up hints of it near the end of the sip, like wisps hidden in a chocolate forest.

It’s a good tea, especially for a chocolately tea, but right now it isn’t quite “Strawberry and Nutella.” I actually prefer this darker/bittersweet chocolate flavor in tea more than a milk chocolately flavor, but it is less akin to Nutella… and the strawberry needs to be amped up way more. I think it needs a stronger sweet element and more strawberry to be “Strawberry and Nutella,” and my own preference would be to leave the chocolate as-is and amp up the strawberry, making a “Dark Chocolate-covered Strawberry” sort of blend.

It’s almost there, just feels like it needs some tweaking. I’m still digging the strong dark chocolate vibes I am getting from the cup, though! Thanks for letting me try it, AJ!

I love how many pieces of strawberry are in here. You can really taste it, and it combines well with the chocolate and base tea. The tea turns out pretty light due to the smaller proportion of black tea to other ingredients, but I think it’s pretty pleasant with some milk. Not one I’d buy again, and I taste 0% pancake, but for a light strawberry chocolate tea, it’s decent. Too weak for a resteep. I had it a second time, and I didn’t get much flavor. I guess I need to overleaf in the future.

2021 Sipdown Challenge – National Strawberry Day!

One last tea for Strawberry Day! This one just arrived today, perfect timing! My shipments from B&B have been delayed lately, this subscription package took about three weeks to get here. But at least it arrived within the month!

I don’t generally like chocolate teas much, but this one is really good! But of course, it’s limited edition and has already sold out. How typical… XD

Anyway! The strawberry is authentic with a nice tartness, like a freeze-dried strawberry. There’s a little hint of artificial chocolate, but for the most part I’m getting darker cocoa notes. And then there’s a nice nuttiness from the hazelnut as well.

Super yummy, and that’s saying something considering I don’t like chocolate flavoring. Here’s hoping they bring it back in the future…