Canton Chocolate Tea (Gloucester Farm Shop @glouc_services) By @SpectreUK

I’ve tried a few chocolate flavoured teas before and usually enjoy them for an alternative liquid pudding after lunch or dinner, or even to complement a good chocolate bar whenever I feel like it. Produced by the Canton Tea Company, this Canton Chocolate Tea was mixed with Indian Assam and also Yunnan Black tea from China, as well as Peruvian cocoa nibs and Madagascan vanilla pod. Each of the fifteen biodegradable tea pyramids in the box are almost calorie free, and are packed with the same quality tea that is served by the Canton Tea Company loose leaf. The ingredients of each pyramid tea bag sounded as luxurious as they sounded exotic and slightly pretentious (if you ask me), but they have to sell the tea somehow…
There were very precise brewing instructions on the box. Temperature of the water should be 95degrees. I’ll just have a word with the work’s boiler manager in the canteen… nope there isn’t one! I guess whatever the temperature is of the fairly tepid water in the rusty boiler will have to do. One tea pyramid per mug seems reasonable. 250ml of water… damn, I left my measuring jug at home! Guess I’ll just fill my mug. Two minutes to steep? Yeah, right. If I remember to take a teabag out of the mug before drinking it at work, I’m lucky!
On opening the packet of tea pyramids there was a luscious smell of dark chocolate mixed with vanilla and a touch of black tea. After brewing for an age and adding some milk there was a velvety chocolate smell from the milk tea coloured liquid in my mug. It certainly looked like tea, but it smelt more like a hot chocolate drink. It was the strongest smelling chocolate tea that I’ve tried so far. On taste there was an initial maltiness from the Assam, followed by a slight smokiness from the Yunnan, and then the cocoa nibs kicked in providing my palate with a dark chocolate flavour and an added sweetness from the vanilla. To be honest this Canton Chocolate Tea actually tastes better than a regular powder hot chocolate drink in my opinion. It’s tasty, it’s rich, and it’s just pure unadulterated bliss.