This is Madame Flavour Orange Choc Ceylon, which is as close to orange flavoured chocolate as you can get as the ingredients list includes ‘cocoa bean pieces, cocoa bean shells, orange peel, natural flavours of chocolate and florida orange, dark chocolate drops’. I enjoyed this tea far more than anticipated. The tea smells exactly like a liquefied piece of orange-flavoured chocolate. It is, as the box says, an aromatic experience. The smell hits long before you take your first sip: the first notes linger the moment the tea bag is out of the box, and only intensifies as it steeps for 5 minutes.
I usually steep black teas for no longer than 2-3 minutes, but I like to follow the recommended instructions whenever I first try a tea to taste it as it was intended. I’m very impressed that after 5 minutes in 200 mL of boiling water the black tea remained very enjoyable and not overly bitter. Given the citrus-y notes of Ceylon black tea, it’s a very fitting pairing with orange. The orange gave a sweet zestiness to the tea, and the cocoa beans and dark chocolate drops give the flavour of chocolate without adding sweetness. Together, they’re the perfect sweetness, that is, barely sweet.
This Madame Flavour Orange Choc Ceylon contained 10 tea bags. The tea originated in Sri Lanka and was purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2015.