Tea and Chocolate Tasting on National Chocolate Day

Today is National Chocolate Day.  The teapot and I decided to do a Tea and Chocolate Tasting.  When I hosted the last traveling teapot in March of 2013, it was one of my favorite blog activities.

First, we had to decide on chocolates.  We have this wonderful artisan chocolate shop nearby, Stella Leona in Pettisville, Ohio.  (They have mail order if you are interested.)  I was planning to select four chocolates.  I ended up with seven, four fruit flavored chocolates and then three other chocolates.  All of the teas were from my tea cabinet.  Since this teapot is part of team oolong, I chose a black and oolong/green tea for each pairing.

The display case at Stella Leona is very enticing, hence my seven chocolates instead of four.

My tasting station all set for a bit of indulgence with the fruit chocolates.

My four chocolates and the dry tea leaves.

Cranberry Truffle

Consists of a white chocolate cranberry ganache that contains bits of real, dried cranberries surrounded by white chocolate and red accents (The descriptions of the chocolates and the teas are as written by the chocolate store and the tea companies.)

Malachi McCormick - Black - Harney & Sons on the left

The unpretentious flavors of muted dark honey and unsweetened cocoa.  It is perfectly suited for milk (and more than a splash) and sugar. (I used neither)

Goddess of Mercy - Oolong - Simpson and Vail on the right

This tea pairs well with seafood, meat, poultry, mushrooms, smoked foods, chocolate and fruit desserts. (In some online reviews - smells like cranberries and another - apples and nutmeg)

First I tasted the chocolate alone.

It was tart and tangy.  I felt the creamy white chocolate overpowered the cranberry.  Dried bits of cranberry added texture.

Malachi McCormick

The tea had a bit of a bite alone.  When drank with the chocolate, it brought out the cranberry flavor.  The tea tasted much sweeter and the bite was not as pronounced.

Goddess of Mercy

Alone, the tea tasted vegetal and grassy.  It was smooth.  When tasted with the chocolate, I did not feel it brought out the flavor of the cranberry.  The white chocolate made the vegetal taste of the tea smoother and sweeter.

Neither of these pairings did much for me.

Banana Cream Cheesecake Chocolate

Silky smooth banana cream cheesecake flavored ganache fills this hand painted, bright yellow piece molded in white chocolate.  (When I used the flash in the photo, the detail of the chocolate does not show up.)

Risheehat First Flush Darjeeling - Black - Harney & Sons on the left

Lovely passion fruit, grapefruit and other tropical flavors

Ginger's Oolong - Harney & Sons on the right

The subtle flavors of peaches and toasted nuts are nicely contrasted by the ginger

Chocolate alone

Lots of white chocolate notes.  The banana was very passive in flavor. Very creamy

Risheehat 1st Flush Darjeeling

The tea alone was smooth with hints of fruit and grass.  When tasted with the chocolate, initially I tasted the banana, then a creaminess in my mouth, followed by a white chocolate finish.  This chocolate and tea pairing brought out the flavor of the chocolate better than Ginger's Oolong.

Ginger's Oolong

The tea was very gingery.  I did not notice the peach or nut flavors.  This tea enhanced the flavor of the chocolate.  It was reminiscent of a creamy dessert, such as banana bread pudding with brown sugar.

These pairings were better, but nothing to rave about.

Raspberry Dark Chocolate

Hand painted piece is molded in a four step process to produce the beautiful marbled effect.  The dark chocolate mold is filled with raspberry dark chocolate ganache and a touch of raspberry preserves.

Uva Highlands - Black - Harney & Sons on the left

It is a blend of honey and citrus, with a strong note of wintergreen.

Wenshan Baozhong - Oolong - Harney & Sons on the right

Baozhong tastes of nothing but honeyed flowers

Chocolate Alone

When I cut this chocolate, you could see the layers inside.  When tasting this chocolate, it had the most pronounced fruit flavor any any so far.  I am not fond of dark chocolate, but the combination of the raspberry and dark chocolate married well. 

Uva Highlands

This tea mellowed the chocolate and raspberry flavors.

Wenshan Baozhong

The dark chocolate bite was softened and sweetened.  In contrast, the raspberry flavor was tarter.

Nothing was bad about these pairings, but nothing knocked my socks off either.

Orange Milk Chocolate

Hand painted piece is a simply delicious orange milk chocolate ganache in a milk chocolate shell decorated with orange accents

Amba Ceylon - Black - Harney & Sons on the left

The citrus flavors combine with some sweetness like liquorice and honey.  There are subtle floral notes.

Fanciest Formosa Oolong - Harney & Sons on the right

Subtle flavors of spring honey, fresh white peaches and buttered toast.

Chocolate Alone

Initially I tasted the orange, then the milk chocolate, so creamy and mellow is almost tasted like white chocolate.  This had the strongest fruit flavor of the four chocolates.

Amba Ceylon

The smokey tea really enhanced the orange.  It was very citrusy with a bit of floral following.  I only tasted a bit of chocolate in the finish.

Fanciest Formosa Oolong

This is a very nice tea with a very smooth, light flavor.  Paired with the chocolate, I felt it only melted the chocolate.  There was no improvement or contrast in either the tea or the chocolate.

Once again, nothing had a wowing factor.

My spent tea leaves

Chocolate and Tea Tasting Part II

I only used three chocolates this time.  Chocolates with dry tea leaves

Dulce de Leche

Caramel surrounded by a milk chocolate ganache lightly flavored with coffee and Irish Cream nestled in a molded, elegantly marbled milk and dark chocolate shell.  Very luxurious!

Vanilla Comoro - Black - Harney & Sons on the left

A simple flavor of vanilla, the underlying tea flavor has been lightened by the decaffeination process.

Lung Ching - Green - Harney & Sons on the right

The unpretentious flavors of muted dark honey and unsweetened cocoa.  It is perfectly suited for milk (and more than a splash) and sugar.

Chocolate alone

I could see the layers when I cut the chocolate.  I tasted the mocha, caramel, brown sugar, but no chocolate.  Very silky texture

Vanilla Comoro

The mocha flavor was more pronounced and really lingered.  There was a bit of caramel flavor.  I did not detect any vanilla.

Lung Ching

This was very light in color.  It brought out more caramel than mocha.  It really softened the grassiness of the tea.

These teas very noticeably altered the taste of this chocolate.  The chocolate tasted very different with each of the teas.  I preferred the Vanilla Comoro, even though I don't usually care for mocha.

Hazel Coconut Dreams

A toasted hazelnut surrounded by coconut ganache, dipped in luxurious white chocolate and rolled in coconut shavings.  Crunchy and smooth all in the same bite.  Dream away.

New Vithanankande - Black - Harney & Sons on the left

The tea has milk flavors and they tend toward the dark side of the citrus family.  This tea, like many British Legacy Teas, works well with milk and sugar

Green Coconut - Green - Tea Gschwendner on the right

Green tea from Japan, shredded coconut and flavor

Chocolate alone

Initially I tasted the white chocolate.  There was a  slight coconut aftertaste.

New Vithanankande

The tea was a bit bitey.  The chocolate softened the bite.  There was a very pronounced white chocolate taste.

Green Coconut

The tea tasted stale and had probably been in my tea cabinet for over a year.  When tasted with the chocolate, it just tasted sweet.

I did not detect any coconut with either of these teas.  Not a good pairing.

Dark Chocolate Truffle

Made from decadent dark chocolate mixed with fresh cream.  The center is enrobed with dark chocolate and finished with cocoa nubs

Black King - Black - Harney & Sons on the left

lovely cocoa flavors

Ali San - Oolong - Harney & Sons on the right

Ali San is among the creamiest of oolongs.  It gives a nice coating sensation and some butteriness along with lime citrus notes and a quiet, underlying vegetal flavor.

Chocolate alone

The chocolate was very smooth with none of the usual dark chocolate bite.  A smooth cocoa aftertaste.

Black King

The tea alone had a bite.  When paired with the chocolate, it brought out the smokiness of the tea.  The chocolate was more intense and really lingered on the palate.  It was very buttery.

Ali San

The tea was very creamy with hints of floral in the middle and a soft cocoa aftertaste.  The usual vegetal taste of a green tea was gone when paired with the chocolate.

This was a good pairing and probably the one I enjoyed the most.  The flavors in both the chocolate and the tea were enhanced by the pairing.

Spent Tea Leaves

I did not make good tea and chocolate pairings.  I focused on the chocolates and not the tea during my tasting.  It would be fun to try it the other way around and focus on the tea and not the chocolate.  I find these tastings to be very time consuming.  It would be a wonderful activity when you wanted time to visit with friends.  This was also a lot of chocolate.  I cut the chocolates into fourths for the tastings and found when I was finished, I really didn't care to finish the last fourth.  I found I enjoyed the two dark chocolate pairings the most.  Normally I prefer milk chocolate, but when paired with tea, the dark chocolate was not as bitter.  The milk chocolate was just too mellow to stand up to the flavor of the tea.  When tasting the chocolate, savor the flavor.  Allow it to sit for a bit to coat your entire mouth.  Every one's tastes are different, what appeals to me, may not appeal to you. 

I enjoyed the tasting, and learn more each time I do one.

Sips and Smiles,

Teresa and the Teapot

Winter Begins

The temperature in Ohio is an unseasonable 52 degrees this morning.  Our yard is green.   Our windows are open.  This cannot be winter!  The only thing that looks like snow around here is some of the goodies we made last night.  This morning, to welcome winter, I am enjoying some puppy chow and a snowball along with my Yunnan Imperial tea.

My morning cup is often a Yunnan.  This one is from TeaHaus in Ann Arbor Michigan.  The leaves have an abundance of golden buds, as you can see in the dry leaf above.  My morning cup is often this, or a Three Cultivar Red from Red Blossom Tea Company.  Both of these companies sell their tea online.

TeaHaus offers a monthly tea tasting sample.  Approximately 10 grams of three different teas are offered monthly for $4.99.    The package arrives with the tea samples carefully packaged and detailed tasting notes.

Dry leaves from left to right - Christmas, Candy Cane and Advent

Tasting Notes for Christmas

Tasting Notes for Candy Cane

Tasting Notes for Advent

Brewed Tea - left to right - Christmas, Candy Cane and Advent

The tea sample packets are in front of the cups.  Each sample would make several cups or a nice pot.  

Christmas

I found orange to be the predominate flavor until the tea cooled, then the clove became stronger.  I could detect a slight hint of almond.  The tea is smooth and didn't get a bite, even when cool.  I would pair this with some Christmas sugar cookies or perhaps some gingerbread.

Candy Cane

Strong peppermint oil flavor.  Very strong as it cooled.  Would pair well with a slice of chocolate cake or a vanilla custard based dessert.

Advent

I'm not a fan of herbal teas.  This has the definite tart from the hibiscus.  I did not detect the spices or fruits.  The hibiscus was the dominating flavor for me.  I do love the color of tea when hibiscus is added.   I only brewed the tea for 2 minutes the first time.  After looking at the directions, I went back and brewed a second cup for 10 minutes.  That made a difference!  It tamed the hibiscus a bit!  The tang was still there, but you could find hints of the other flavors.  I believe sweetener would also help the tang.  The longer brew was a bit sweeter in taste, probably from the candied fruits.  The color was a much richer burgundy color with the longer brew time.  It would be beautiful in a Christmas punch. 

The TeaHaus also offers a tea of the month club - you can select from the classic wall, aroma wall, caffeine free wall or anywhere on the wall.

Many other tea samplers are offered - Black or Green Classic Teas, Earl Greys, Seasonal, Evening, Herbal, Premium and TeaHaus Classics.  

I have enjoyed afternoon tea at TeaHaus.  Since they are in a college town, there are options for all types of diets.  They specialize in macarons, varying the flavors with the season.  Her scone recipe has been handed down through the family.  I am hoping to get to an afternoon tea here before I have to send the teapot on to the next hostess.

Sips and Smiles,

Teresa

A Holiday Tea Tasting

 My tea cabinet has several holiday teas left from last year and I ordered a few new samples.  I put them to the test and here are my results.  I did not read the descriptions of the teas before tasting.  The flavors I describe are what I tasted.  I am not an avid tea taster, so this is a very novice review.  I divided them into four rounds.

Round 1 – Simpson and Vail

Gingerbread

The aroma smelled a bit like my kitchen after an afternoon of holiday baking, especially gingerbread boys.  When tasting, the cloves were the prominent flavor.  The tea was a bit bitey at first, but mellowed and had a smooth finish.

St. Nicks Tea

I did not detect a noticeable aroma with this tea.  There was not distinguishing flavors when tasting the tea, perhaps a hint of spice or walnuts.  It was a buttery tea and the smoothest of these three.  (When I went to the website to look up this tea while writing this, it says it is chocolate, roasted nuts and a hint of maple.) 

Nutcracker Tea

The aroma was definitely nutty.  Upon tasting, I detected almonds with a nutty aftertaste.  This tea was the biteiest of these three, especially the aftertaste.

My rankings – Gingerbread, St. Nicks and then Nutcracker

Round 2 – Kusmi Teas

Tsarevna – definite spicy aroma.  I couldn’t put my finger on the exact spice and headed to my spice cabinet for help in detecting it.  I was not successful.  When tasting, I noticed the clove first, then the orange.  The spices were the dominating flavor and seemed oriental to me.  This was the spiciest of these three teas.  The aftertaste was smooth.

Christmas Green Tea – The aroma is much softer.  The spices were a bit different in this one.  It was a much lighter tea.  I first noticed a bit of floral undertone.  Perhaps it was just the green tea.  The flavors were very blended in this tea and nothing stood out above the others.  I could detect cinnamon, cloves, nuts and a bit of citrus.  The aftertaste was bitey.

Christmas Tea – The aroma smelled of basic black tea.  The tea was the dominating flavor in this cup.  I had to really focus to pick out a bit of floral undertone; a bit of vanilla, which I think really mellows tea flavors.  There was a hint of spice.  The aftertaste lingered a bit.  It was nutty, but not bitey like usual.

My rankings – Tsarevna, Christmas Tea, Christmas Green Tea

Round 3 – Holiday Teas

Holiday Tea – Harney & Sons

Sugar cookies and vanilla wafted from this cup.  It was a mellow flavored tea with a soft tea taste.  It had a hint of vanilla.  This would go great with flavorful holiday foods, especially cookies or fruitcake.  It would only enhance other flavors, not clash with them.  It had a smooth finish.

Holiday Blend – Simpson & Vail

The scent of this tea was just a bit more sugar cookie and vanilla.  The flavor was again soft and mellow.  There was again, a hint of vanilla.  This tea would pair well with any strong flavored holiday food, same as the Holiday tea.  It would enhance instead of overpower other flavors.  The finish of this was a bit biteier than the Harney and Sons tea.

Comfort & Joy – Republic of Tea

This is one of my favorite holiday teas, usually.  My tin has been in the cabinet for a couple years and it still has an expiration date of June 2016.  I think the quality of tea degrades with age.  This tea smelled like a good pot of wassail, spicy and orangey.  I detected apples when I tasted it (I don’t normally care for apple teas.)  I detected some anise.  The tea was a bit stale tasting.

My Rankings – Comfort and Joy, and then a tie between the other two.

Round 4 – Various Teas

Cinnamon Orange – Marketspice

Soft spiced oranges greet you when you smell this cup.  This tea was the sweetest and had the most pronounced flavor thus far.  The orange and cinnamon flavors were a bit artificial tasting.  The artificial taste was even stronger in the aftertaste

Vintage Christmas – Swan House Tea Room

Again, the aroma was mellow vanilla, like sugar cookies fresh from the oven.  The flavor was creamy and pepperminty, like the soft peppermint sticks that melt in your mouth not the hard peppermint of a candy cane.  It seemed softened with a bit of vanilla.  It reminded me of mint chocolate chip ice cream.  It would be wonderful alone as a dessert tea, or served alongside a bit of chocolate fudge.

Decaf Hot Cinnamon – Harney & Sons

Aaah, cinnamon rushes up to meet your nose.  This tea is again sweet from the cinnamon.  It tasted like drinking a cup of melted red hots.  I detected no tea at all.  It would be great as a dessert tea, on its own, or with a complimenting flavor.    It would also be wonderful served alongside French toast for breakfast. 

My rankings – Tie - Vintage Christmas and Hot Cinnamon, Cinnamon Orange

And the final results – Tie – Vintage Christmas and Hot Cinnamon, Comfort and Joy, Tie – Holiday Tea and Holiday Blend.  

 You will notice some saltine crackers are added to the photos in the later tastings.  I did need something to cleanse my pallet.  I also enjoyed a couple of my Holiday CD’s during the tasting.  The Oak Ridge Boys have been my favorite singing group for a long time.  I enjoy their song “Christmas Carol” during the holidays.  I also listened to a bit of Jim Brickman.  I find his music relaxing. 

If you need a Holiday Tea with a visual presence, this is the Vintage Christmas from Swan House.  It is by far, the most festive looking tea.

My used tea leaves.

Sips and Smiles,

Teresa