Rather conveniently, I recently received a subscription box from Bruu Tea which was filled to the brim with goodies. It featured little themed surprises, beautifully illustrated cards with gilded clips, and information on their ‘plantation of the month’ – something I had never seen before in a tea subscription box. All in all, it is one of the most intricately curated tea boxes I’ve tried… and was perfect for a cheeky tea and chocolate pairing.

Each box is packed with passion, knowledge, and skill – and honestly, the more I learn about BRUU, the more I fall in love with the company. Their origin story comes from the fact that Scott, the BRUU founder, began to feel peeved off when his in-laws kept offering hot drinks after hot drinks, but he never really wanted any. Eventually though, he started to accept the occasional brew – and whilst a niggling love for tea was ready to burst out, he felt as though their teabags simply weren’t cutting it.

Scott realised that consumers deserved more than the fannings and dust offered in these paltry teabags, and his eyes were opened when he visited a local loose leaf tea shop and saw the endless array of options. With a focus on a subscription service, he wanted to bring fresh teas from around the world to thousands of (at last) happy tea-lovers. With pure, unique, delicious-tasting teas that are unavailable anywhere else, he struck gold.

The concept of the subscription box is pretty cool: Each tea has been specifically handpicked for the person receiving the box, meaning that as their subscription goes on, the boxes become gradually more tailored to what they do and do not like. Not only is it one of the best tea boxes out there, but it is also (surprisingly) one of the cheapest. Each box is only £10 – plus, it comes with free delivery!

BRUU offers eight different types of tea – green, black, white, fruit, herbal, oolong, chai, and rooibos – and with names like ‘Famous Dragon’ and ‘Pedro Bop’, I CANNOT wait to try some more!

As a special little treat, each BRUU box comes with a bonus tea and a secret gift – with mine turning out to be a TRIBE chocolate bar. After some research, I found out that TRIBE was inspired by a 1,000 mile run to fight human trafficking, with their mission being to lead a revolution in performance nutrition by trusting nature. They create mouthwatering, natural, unrefined chocolate completely free from chemicals and preservatives, and boy, did it do this tasting justice!

And so, for this tea and chocolate tasting, I used said TRIBE bar along with a fresh-from-the-oven brownie that my flatmate had made, and brewed the tea in a lightly Pu’erh-seasoned Yixing teapot – and the whole thing came together nicely.

mayfair black

Origin: A blend of Assam and Kenyan black tea produced at over 6500ft above sea level

Ingredients: Blend of flowery broken orange pekoe (FBOP) and broken pekoe #1 (BP1), CTC and orthodox. Safflower petals

Preparation method: 1tsp of leaves per cup, water brewed at 100°C, steeped for 3 minutes

Appearance: Small, balled over black leaves interspersed with beautiful orange and yellow Safflower petals. Looks a little like cookie crumbs. The leaves turn a reddish hue when the water is added and the liquid is a gorgeous sunset-red colour.

Smell: Smells quite malty and rich, almost exactly like it tastes but more subtle

Taste: Malty, earthy, very deep and full-bodied

Aftertaste: Very mellow astringency

Mouthfeel: Quite thin, which surprised me. Very soft mouthfeel.

Overall thoughts: I used the chocolate to enhance the flavours of the tea, and it worked very well. The chocolate doesn’t compete strongly against the tea and instead helps to bring out the more subtle notes.

The tea and chocolate work very well together, as the sweetness of the chocolate adds an extra dimension to the tea that wasn’t present before. One does not overpower the other, they’re both there to bring out the respective sweet and deep flavours of the other.

I drank the tea without milk, as I wanted to really get a grip on the flavour of just the tea. The milk could have improved the tea if I were drinking it by itself, but with the chocolate I think that this extra ingredient would have been overwhelming.

Cheeky digestive

Origin: The pineapples are from Costa Rica, the apples are from Spain, and the pistachios are from Iran. Quite the travelling blend.

Ingredients: Pineapple cubes, apple pieces, apple cubes, sweet blackberry leaves, pistachios, white chocolate chips, marshmallows, natural vanilla flavouring.

Preparation method: 1tsp of leaves per cup, water brewed at 100°C, steeped for about 8 minutes

Appearance: All of the ingredients are visible, coming together to create a creamy-green mix. When hot water is added it turns a very pale gold.

Smell: Very sweet, absolutely divine concoction of sweetness and richness.

Taste: Fruity, nutty, very pleasant. Very soft. It tastes almost exactly like a Digestive biscuit, which is crazy because all of the ingredients are healthy fruit.

Aftertaste:  A little like those white chocolate mice.

Mouthfeel: Relatively thick.

Overall thoughts: I used chocolate to complement the flavour of the tea. The soft flavours of the tea worked well with the slight bitterness of the chocolate, with the choc bringing out the sweetness of the tea. The tea itself is gorgeous, and whilst it might be a little too sweet for drinking all throughout the day, it makes a perfect afternoon treat.

Initially, I brewed this tea for about 10 minutes, but found that a slight bitterness had somehow snuck its way in. After a couple more trials with different brewing times, I found that eight minutes is perfect.

spring beginning

Origin: Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The ash from Kagoshima’s volcanoes has coated the land, helping to produce a soil which is exceptionally rich in minerals

Ingredients: Chinese Sencha green tea, white tea, Pai Mu Tan, mango flakes, pineapple flakes, orange slices, marigold blossoms and freeze-dried strawberry slices

Preparation method: 1tsp of leaves per cup, water brewed at 80°C, steeped for about 1.5 minutes

Appearance: Pale green and yellow dry mix, the liquid becomes a yellow-gold colour.

Smell: Sweet, fresh, quite citrusy

Taste: Fruity, floral, sweet, fresh. I found that the sweetness made my cheeks tingle!

Aftertaste: Light and pleasant

Mouthfeel: Very soft and delicate

Overall thoughts: I used the chocolate to contrast the flavours in this tea, which smelt quite citrusy but didn’t taste too strong. During my tea and chocolate tasting ceremony, one of the guests said that she believed the tea was contrasted too heavily against the chocolate, with the choc overpowering the delicate taste of the tea. Everyone else disagreed, believing that the differences balanced one another out – but this is something that I would like to experiment with further.

Together, the chocolate and tea blend together, creating a very Terry’s Chocolate Orange taste which is absolutely delicious. The floral tea goes well with the bitterness of the chocolate – a sweet choc would be too much.

Mystery tea – Surianalle

I didn’t use the tea in the tasting but wanted to mention it anyway as it was delicious. The BRUU tea box also came with this mystery tea from the town of Munnar in Devikulam, where the estate is actually a former resort for the British Raj Elite.

Surrounded by rolling hills and tea plantations which were established in the late 19th century, the average garden elevation is 5,000ft above sea level – the high elevation creating a magical blend of bright and brisk tea with a soothing aroma and a refreshing taste.

The Surianalle tea (whose name translates to ‘land without the sun’) is strong bodied with a lively briskness which verges on being umami, that earthy, meaty taste that you sometimes get with a good, savoury tea. All in all, it’s pretty delicious.

How do I create my own tea and chocolate pairing?

You want to create your own tasting ceremony? Easy. All you need are:

• A selection of gorgeous teas (from BRUU!)
• A selection of chocolate that is either different or all the same so you can see how the same flavours interact with different teas
• A notebook to work out which teas are going to contrast, enhance, and complement
• A teapot, some hot water, and a whole bunch of enthusiasm!

It’s up to you how you conduct the pairing and how to host each tasting, but at the end of the day, there really aren’t that many rules. The whole idea is that you enjoy yourself and stay open to a range of delicious taste possibilities!

And so, have you guys ever had a tea and chocolate tasting, or want to give it a go? Let me know in the comments below!

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