Monday, January 21, 2013

Natures Tea Leaf, Natures Ultimate Chocolate Oolong

Nature's Tea Leaf Description:
Nature's Ultimate Chocolate Oolong Tea is an exclusive blend of select oolong tea leaves with a duo of rich Belgian chocolates. The oolong leaves are naturally withered under the strong sun, and wrap rolled into small beads giving this tea a roasted aroma. A blizzard of sweet creamy white and rich semisweet dark Belgian chocolate curls are expertly combined to provide the drinker with the ultimate chocolate tea experience.

Sample provided by Natures Tea Leaf for review.

My Review:
I had previously tried a chocolate mint white tea from Natures Tea Leaf. It was very tasty and well balanced between tea, mint, and chocolate. This is ULTIMATE chocolate. So it has a lot to live up to with a name like that. The white and dark chocolate curls are pretty in the mix and quite nice to munch. This calls for 2 tsp of leaf. I used one heaping scoop with the spoon that came with my press. I added 12oz of water at just below boiling.

So I am looking at the leaf in the press and I am thinking that isn’t enough – it looked like it was all chocolate. I added about a third of a scoop more. The steep time was 3 minutes. The brew is very cloudy like adding milk to coffee. As I pour, I start to notice the leaf in the press. Oops. This is oolong. Oolong usually expands a lot. I forgot. That is a lot of leaf!

It smells roasted like Foojoy Wuyi oolong. I admit to adding sweetener because, hello, it’s chocolate. The taste is mainly roasted oolong with the chocolate coming in light in the late sip. This feels milky underneath from beginning to end. As it cools the chocolate flavors pick up becoming a more prominent taste.

The oolong overpowers the rest of the cup, especially when hot. This is because I used too much leaf. I went to the website and discovered it should have been 1 tsp of leaf not the 2 tsp as noted on the pouch.

So not afraid to admit i messed up, I'm starting over. Now the dark roasted oolong blends most excellently with the white and dark chocolate curls.

For the second cup I reduced the steep time to two minutes. The chocolate and the oolong remain in balance. The roastiness is reduced and the chocolate flavor is even more obvious. If you don’t like the first cup, definitely give this another steep.

On the third cup I went back to three minutes. It was lighter than the second cup but still a lot of balanced flavor. I also notice now that the roastiness is calmed way down you can taste the floral oolong.notes. It always reminds me of the smell of the geranium plants my neighbor grew when I was a kid.

I think this would go at least one more steep but I don’t have time to find out today. If you use the web instructions this is really very good. Did I mention it’s chocolate?

Visit the Nature's Tea Leaf website.

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