* according to Donkey in the first Shrek film
Rosie & Java – Dark Chocolate Cherry Parfait
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This tea came as something of a surprise to me because I was expecting it to be a much darker brew than it actually was. The base of this brew is a black tea from China which is evidently quite a delicate affair. I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting otherwise. The word ‘dark’ in the product’s title clearly refers to the chocolate not the tea.
I think it’s just that my experience of other black tea and chocolate blends have tended to be hefty affairs that you can add splashes of milk to with gay abandon. I did attempt to add milk to Dark Chocolate Cherry Parfait. You can just about get away with it without overwhelming the tea if you add milk in tiny, almost homoeopathic, amounts (I would recommend the judicious use of an eyedropper) by which point I was questioning the need to bother at all.
I recommend this tea be enjoyed sans milk or milk-emulating-plant-products. I have nothing against delicate black tea varieties you understand, it’s just that for some reason, I wasn’t expecting to encounter it here.
Rather more problematic is the absence of anything cherry-like in Dark Chocolate Cherry Parfait. This tea blend doesn’t contain any actual cherries, but it does contain both ‘cherry’ and ‘wild cherry’ as natural flavourings. That’s double the opportunity to cherry this thing up. Two bites of the cherry, one might say.
Cherry is not generally an unforthcoming fruit flavour. It likes to make itself known. But it’s not in evidence here. Sniffing the dried tea leaves, brings forth a waft of something a bit Quality-Street-Strawberry-Creme-esque, but the brewed tea tastes entirely fruitless. I also tried drinking it at a lower temperature than I would normally enjoy to see if that brought forth any hitherto hidden cherriness, but nope, no dice.
Despite everything, I rather enjoyed this tea. I’m a big sucker for black tea / cocoa husk combos. If you put any thoughts of cherries (or indeed parfaits) out of your mind, it can be appreciated as a subtly chocolatey, rather pleasant black tea.
Today’s featured book is Crazy As Chocolate by Elisabeth Hyde.
