* A Mince Spy!
Bird & Blend Advent Calendar Day 22 – Dark Choc Chilli Chai
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I reviewed Dark Choc Chilli Chai back in May and it presented something of a puzzle.
On paper this looks exactly like the sort of tea I would love. It has black tea leaves! It has cocoa! It has spices!
These are all usually a big thumbs up but somehow this tea didn’t work for me. It’s not that I disliked it. I just found it instantly forgettable. Every time I finished a cup of it, I found it impossible to recollect anything about it. I kept trying. It took at least six mugs of the stuff to reach the conclusion that I had absolutely nothing to say about it.
I was determined to try it again with an open mind. After all, my previous experience was seven months ago, and we’ve all changed since then. Or at least I have. Dark Choc Chilli Chai seems resolutely the same.
I think part of the problem is that, to my mind, the balance of flavours is off. The chilli is too chilli-y and the chocolate is not chocolatey enough. I want a chocolate blend with a slight kick of spices and chilli but instead I get a blast of chilli with some barely detectable tea and cocoa nibs in the background. Once the chilli aftertaste has worn off, I can’t really remember what else was going on.
Tea Ranking
- Mince Pie (17th Dec)
- Hazelnut Rocher (7th Dec)
- Chocolate Digestives (18th Dec)
- Snowball (18th Dec)
- Gingerbread Chai (16th Dec)
- Salted Caramel Lebkuchen (13th Dec)
- Christmas Cake (21st Dec)
- Panettone (11th Dec)
- Rhubarb & Custard (20th Dec)
- Banana Bread Chai (12th Dec)
- Fairytale of NY (9th Dec)
- Poppin’ Xmas Butter Toffee (6th Dec)
- Dark Choc Chilli Chai (22nd Dec)
- Candy Cane (5th Dec)
- Winter Is Coming (4th Dec)
- Peppermint Hot Cocoa (3rd Dec)
- Mistletoe and Wine (14th Dec)
- Christmas Cranberry Pie (1st Dec)
- Cherry Cola Bottles (10th Dec)
- Mulled Cider (2nd Dec)
- Cold Weather Warrior (15th Dec)
- Fireside Snuggles (8th Dec)
You’ll have noticed that now we’ve finished The Night Before Christmas by Clement C Moore, there is no featured. I’m just going to photograph the tea with random Christmassy objects for the next few days.
