As we all know, chocolate and tea are a match made in heaven. It’s easy to appreciate the two delicacies side by side – especially when it just so happens to be Easter and you can over-indulge however much you want to. Not to mention when you’re pairing two incredible brands Montezuma’s and Tease Tea.
Usually with a tea and chocolate pairing session, you would take a sip of tea to warm the tongue before moving onto chocolate – but I find that Montezuma’s was such a high percentage of cocoa that it was actually better to start with the chocolate. This softens the rich cocoa and enhances all of the flavours.
Tease Tea has a big focus on empowering women, and they create blends to support lifestyle goals. The tea company was started by Sheena Brady who started blending teas out of her tiny condo in Toronto whilst also balancing a full-time job. The business is all about all-natural, ethically sourced teas that are wheat, GMO, and dairy-free. They work with local tea packers who source from the best and most sustainable tea gardens around the world – and you can really taste it in their brews!
Golden Slumbers
Type: Rooibos tisane
Ingredients: Rooibos, cacao, calendula pearls
Brewing: 1tsp, 3-5 mins
Appearance: Bright rooibos with pale yellow calendula flowers, becomes a brown-red liquid
Smell: sweet, Turkish Delight
Taste: Sweet with chocolate undertone, full-bodies with fruity sweetness
Paired with Montezuma’s Like No Udder Orange
Montezuma’s vegan chocolate orange bar is absolutely DIVINE and was the perfect match for this brew. The chocolate is sweet but not overtly so, with a delicious tangy orange lingering taste. This mixed with the rooibos tisane created a delicious balanced brew, enhancing the fruitier flavours along with the chocolate undertone.
The pairing started off strongly with these two, as the rich flavours of both mixed with the fruity flavours, combing a taste that enhanced both beautifully.
Turmeric Tonic
Type: Herbal tisane
Ingredients: ginger, turmeric root, carrot, beetroot, calendula, pineapple pieces
Brewing: 1tsp 3-5 mins
Appearance: So pretty! When dry, its all of the ingredients, coming together in an orange, pink, purple, and red rainbow. The liquid is a very pretty beetroot red.
Smell: Divine! So sweet and fruity. Wet small is purple ice lolly.
Taste: Very sweet, exactly like smell, ice lolly, subtle spice. I ate one of the fruit pieces, and it was like jellied? Lovely.
Paired with Montezuma’s Absolute Black Orange & Cacao Nibs
100% cocoa is a STRONG taste, but when it’s done well, it turns out absolutely incredible – such as the case of Montezuma’s orange and cacao nib chocolate. It’s rich, it’s earthy, it’s dark, and it’s lightened nicely with the burst of orange.
Pairing this chocolate with the turmeric tonic creates a profile that is heavily contrasted, and yet in a way that brings out the best in both. The bitter richness of the chocolate counter-balanced the sweet spiciness of the pineapple, ginger, and carrot of the tea, and the tea brings out the dramatic darkness of the chocolate. It’s brilliant.
Shake it Off
Ingredients: Green tea, ginger, lemongrass
Brewing: 1tsp 2-3 mins
Appearance: Broken dark leaves with dried ginger bites, foggy yellow liquid
Smell: Hay, fresh, lawn cuttings
Taste: Quite subtle, dark hay, wet wood, oak, slightly bitter at the end but that was probably my fault
Aftertaste: Dried dark herbs
Paired with Montezuma’s Absolute Black Almond
This is another chocolate that just HITS you with the 100%, and yet it’s crafted so well that it tastes balanced and rich. The almond is subtle, and yet nutty enough to work well with this green tea.
The slight spice in the tea brings out the earthiness of the dark chocolate, and the choc brings out the sweetness of the green tea. They work together perfectly to complement one another, neither overpowering the other.
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I’ve never tried either one of those, but the tea sound really good, especially the shake it off, thanks for sharing!
Wowow I LOVE Montezuma and am so hyped that you included them in this! Their darker chocolates are divineeee!
I’m not a big fan of tea but I am a big fan of chocolate so I might just try this out!
yessss that green tea and chocolate tasting sounds so good!! easter is a great holiday to experiment with flavours like this.
Shake it Off and Absolute Black Almond sounds like such a delicious combination. Next easter I will try it!
My goal is to one day travel to south america and try chocolate straight from the farm, and all of these flavours have me feeling so excited. Maybe one would go well with mate..?
I love how you always know so much about tea- I knew so little when I started reading your posts but now I feel as though I’m an expert, haha.
Over here in Illinois hot tea isn’t really that popular, but iced tea is pretty good. Maybe paired with a dark chocolate with a low sugar content, it could go pretty well?
Yesss another tea post! I always get so excited when you post these because I learn so much. To think that a year ago I didn’t know that you could burn green tea???? :0
sounds delicious! i love doing unconventional things around holidays.
I remember the first time I had tea like two years ago, and it was a revelation! Like y’all just drink that all the time?? And with chocolate, the best thing ever???? Dealbreaking.
yesssss to good tea!! wondering when eisa tea co will feature? 0_0
wow probs to you for trying 100% cocoa and enjoying it!! for me, it feels like all of the moisture has been completely suctioned out of my mouth – which is actually probably a good reason to drink it with tea!
Great post; chocolate and tea truly are the best combination.
I really like the names of Montezuma’s chocolates: Like No Udder has to be my favourite.
Golden Slumbers sounds like the nicest one to me, I really like Turkish Delights so a chocolate that tastes similar sounds ideal.
Love chocolate tastings!
I’ve never tried Tease Tea or Montezuma chocolates, but they both sound delightful. I love when you pair a dark chocolate that’s slightly bitter with a sweet tea, it sounds like it would be really delicious.
Have you ever tried Tonys Chocolonely? I think that those chocolates would go very well with tea, and they have good ethics which I think you would like.
Yes I have tried Tony’s Chocolonely and I absolutely love them! They have a really nice range of vegan chocolates which is kind of ideal 🙂
I went to a place in Switzerland where they make the chocolate right in front of you, which I think you’d really like.