Tea Review Tuesday - A Review of Siciliano's Market's Mayan Chocolate Black Tea

On a recent trip through Michigan, I had the pleasure of stopping at Siciliano's Market, a haven for homebrew supplies and craft beer. I was surprised to find that they also carried some teas, which could be purchased in bulk. Several of them stood out to me, and I am looking forward to bringing you reviews of those. Here we have the first: Mayan Chocolate black tea.

Inspecting the dry ingredients, it appears this tea uses a plain black tea base and blends with it cocoa nibs, dry ginger, cardamom pods, and perhaps pepper. The aroma of the dry leaf is heavy on the coca with distinct ginger notes following. Using twelve ounces of water and a teaspoon and a half of the tea, I steeped the Mayan Chocolate blend for three minutes.

The resulting tea smells much warmer, in an ingredient rather than temperature sense, than the dry mixture. Cocoa notes still feature prominently, but some spiciness of pepper and cardamom accompanies them, and the ginger has diminished slightly. My first taste reveals that this tea could have withstood another minute - at least - of steeping without becoming bitter. The ingredients balance each other quite well.

Cardamom, pepper, and cocoa stand foremost among the flavors. The ginger gives it a bit of an after-bite, so that - following the swallow - the cocoa and warm ginger settle over the tongue with just a hint of sharpness. In some ways, Mayan Chocolate is reminiscent of an actual cup of hot chocolate, yet the level of light, natural sweetness seems much preferable to an overly-sugary cup.

This was definitely a tasty tea. If ever you are passing through Grand Rapids, Michigan, I highly recommend stopping at Siciliano's Market and taking a look at their tea selection! On my personal enjoyment scale, I would rate this Mayan Chocolate black tea a 4.



Photo credit to Built from Ink and Tea.
Siciliano's Market's Mayan Chocolate black tea is available at their store in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You can find more information about their store from their website, here.
This review was unsolicited and uncompensated.
You can read more about my Personal Enjoyment Scale, here.
Text is copyright 2016, Built from Ink and Tea.