Category: Review

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Tisano’s Chai Cacao Tea

Chai Cacao Tea by Tisano
Black Tea / Flavoured
$13.99USD for 4oz

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Tisano has provided me with Chai Cacao Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

The idea of chocolate tea confuses me at times – mostly because I love hot chocolate, and I love tea, but I’ve had some bad experiences with them in the past. A chocolate tea? For me, that usually means chocolate in tea, but the interesting thing is that Tisano doesn’t actually put chocolate in the tea. The dry leaf smells remarkably like milk chocolate. It reminds me of a bar of milk chocolate or hot chocolate. Just the chocolate aroma with the sweetness of chocolate. I’ve found in the past that “chocolate teas” don’t have the richness of actual chocolate aroma, so this one is nice to smell.

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The ingredients of Chai Cacao Tea include: organic Tisano cacao shells, organic Assam black tea, organic cloves, cardamom, and other spices. All of Tisano’s tea products have a cacao shell base. Beyond chocolate, I do smell the cardamom, but not the cloves. It was a bit disappointing to see that not all the ingredients were listed – if you have any food allergies that you’re concerned about, I would recommend contacting the company directly to inquire about allergens.

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Preparation

Tisano recommends steeping Chai Cacao Tea in 200°F (93°C) water for 4 minutes. My initial steep of Chai Cacao Tea was prepared according to the recommended steeping instructions.

First Taste

Chai Cacao Tea continues to smell like chocolate as it steeps. It steeps to a clear yellow, but the smell makes me think that it should be brown like hot chocolate instead. On first sip, it tastes like chocolate, but it isn’t as sweet as chocolate would be. It has a very mild flavour to it – there’s the flavour of chocolate and I’m pleasantly surprised that it doesn’t remind me of watery chocolate. While it lacks the creamy richness that a cup of hot chocolate would provide, Chai Cacao Tea reminds me a bit of a dessert tea because of the chocolate aroma and flavours. There’s no bitterness or astringency, which I appreciate. I didn’t really find it had a spice to the flavour of this tea, which was a touch disappointing as I was hoping to experience the spices in this blend.

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I poured a second cup of this cacao shell tea and added some sugar and milk. I found that the sugar and milk helped it to taste more like a cup of hot chocolate. It lacks the thickness of hot chocolate, but it still has the flavours of hot chocolate, which I greatly enjoy.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Chai Cacao Tea but found the flavours were quite dilute compared to the initial steep. I would say that Chai Cacao Tea was good for one steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Tisano’s Chai Cacao Tea. I’m still a bit perplexed by how this tea blend actually smells and tastes like chocolate, but if you’re a chocolate lover I think you’ll enjoy this one! It was okay straight, but I enjoyed it a lot more with the addition of sugar and milk. Milk chocolate is one of my favourite types of chocolate, so I’m glad that this doesn’t have any bitter notes (although if you’re a dark chocolate fan, you’d probably enjoy a touch of bitterness). I do wish that the spices had shone more in this tea after it had steeped, since it is called a chai (for a fun fact, chai means tea!).

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Grand Tea’s Chrysanthemum Tea

Chrysanthemum Tea by Grand Tea
Herbal Infusion / Straight
$35.00HKD for 25g

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Grand Tea has provided me with Chrysanthemum Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Chrysanthemum Tea is a floral infusion that I’m quite familiar with – it’s a common option available to be paired with dim sum (yum!). These floral buds came to me in a gold sample packet from Grand Tea, the chrysanthemum in this floral infusion are quite a bit younger than what I’m used to since they’re only partially opened. I found these chrysanthemum buds to be quite fragrant, it’s quite distinctly the floral aroma of chrysanthemum that also has a honeyed sweetness to it.

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This is a straight infusion, with no additional ingredients. There is quite a bit of health information surrounding Chrysanthemum Tea on the Grand Tea website, surrounding health benefits – help with dizziness, headaches, and digestion; as well as potential side effects – interference with medications and allergies. When in doubt, always have a chat with your primary health care provider or pharmacist before trying new-to-you herbs, there could be an interaction with your medications.

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Preparation

Grand Tea recommends steeping Chrysanthemum Tea in 80-90°C (176-194°F), there was no time included but I opted to steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

The initial steep of Chrysanthemum Tea was a pale yellow that was surprisingly quite fragrant despite the lightness in colour. I found that it smells exactly like the dry floral buds, and might even be a stronger aroma. The buds opened up a little bit, and I found that the infusion is delicious. There’s just a hint of sweetness when I sip it that makes it quite enjoyable. There is a mention of mild bitterness on the Grand Tea website about this tea, but I didn’t find that to be noticeable at all.

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A Second Cup?

I generally don’t resteep herbal infusions because I find that the flavour can be quite lacking compared to the initial steep. For Chrysanthemum Tea, I resteeped the floral buds twice, adding an extra minute per subsequent steep. I found both resteeps to be quite delicious, although a touch weaker than the initial steep. Despite that, I found that this herbal infusion resteeps decently enough that I would recommend doing it at least twice to get more value out of your tea.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Grand Tea’s Chrysanthemum Tea. This is definitely an aromatic floral infusion that is delicious, has just the right amount of honeyed sweetness naturally occurring as the floral buds get steeped. I found that there was no bitterness at all, which made this floral infusion more enjoyable. Bonus, because it doesn’t actually contain tea leaves, this infusion is naturally caffeine-free and can be enjoyed at any time of day.

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Fox Tea Club’s Aphrodite

Aphrodite by Fox Tea Club
Green Tea & White Tea / Flavoured
$9.95USD for 2oz

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Fox Tea Club has provided me with Aphrodite for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I’m a fan of green tea, and I’m a fan of white tea – but I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I opened up this packet of Aphrodite. Fox Tea Club’s green and white tea blend smells floral and full of lemon, which is a divine combination. The lemon zest smells fresh, which is energizing. I can’t really make out the smell of the white or green tea, because the lemon zest is just so strong.

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Aphrodite consists of calendula, green tea, jasmine, lemon, safflower, and white tea.

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Preparation

There were steeping instructions on the Fox Tea Club website for the Aphrodite tea. I steeped this at 80°C (175°F) for 1 minute. If you’re steeping a tea blend and you don’t have any steeping instructions, you should always opt to steep at the lowest optimal temperature and for the shortest steep time.

First Taste

Aphrodite steeps to a bright, beautiful yellow. It has a remarkably vibrant lemon aroma from the steeped tea, which is quite enjoyable. There’s a light floral fragrance to this tea, that’s overwhelmed by the lemon. The taste of Aphrodite has a subtle sweetness to it, that balances well between the floral and lemon. I think it tastes good, there’s no bitterness in the tea at the water temperature and length of steep time that I opted for.

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A Second Cup?

I resteep Aphrodite twice and I found that the first resteep was okay (and fairly close to the first steep), with the balanced flavours of floral with lemon. The second steep had very minimal lemon flavours in it, so I would say that Aphrodite is just good for one more steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Fox Tea Club’s Aphrodite. While this tea didn’t have me in an lovin’ mood, I really did enjoy the fresh brightness of the lemon zest with the sweet floral flavours. The white and green tea bases hold up the lemon and floral flavours well, and I enjoy the floral aromas and flavours. I’d definitely recommend giving this tea a try if you enjoy jasmine and lemon – just be sure not to add any milk or cream because it’ll curdle in a tea with lemon.

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