Chocolate Digestives – Bluebird Tea Co.

This week's tea is Chocolate Digestives. It was another of the entries in Bluebird Tea Co.’s recent poll to decide on 4 limited edition teas to transform into part of their permanent stock. The last time I looked at the poll this was one of the high performers so it’s clearly very popular, although I have to admit, not with me.

Ingredients: Ceylon black tea, cocoa shells, cocoa nibs, chocolate sprinkles (sugar, cocoa mass, anhydrous milk fat, fat-reduced cocoa powder, whole milk powder, natural flavouring), fenugreek, liquorice, cardamom, caramel pieces (condensed skimmed milk, sugar, glucose syrup, butter, humectant sorbitol E420 from wheat, emulsified E471, natural flavouring) 

They describe it thus:

“The Chocolate Digestive… arguably on top of the biscuit pyramid, we thought it was about time it had its own tea blend. A velvety smooth, caramel + chocolate delight, best enjoyed whilst dunkin’ the real thing.”

So, I bought this tea to try back when it was originally released as a limited edition (I think it was part of their Spring range) and I fully expected to love it, being a big fan of chocolate digestive biscuits (let’s face it, who isn’t?).

This tea, along with the Chocolate tea from Camellia’s Teahouse were part of the reason that I began to suspect that I didn’t like chocolate tea (there were a couple of others as well that I still haven’t yet reviewed in case I was having an off day when I tried them all).

Unfortunately, I have now tried this tea several times more and on none of the occasions have I felt anything but a mild dislike for it, which is why it’s taken me so long to get round to reviewing it (and I’m only doing so now because it was part of the poll so I’m (gradually) reviewing the 5 teas I own that were on the list).

I have to admit that I’m not entirely sure why I don’t like this tea as it contains ingredients I like (there isn’t any coconut hidden away in there or if there is it’s not listed) and it does smell and even taste a bit like a digestive biscuit, but there’s something about it that just doesn’t sit well with me.

The tea has a thin taste to it, which is difficult to explain but it comes across as quite watery, not the bold effusive flavours I normally expect from Bluebird teas (although there is that chai-ish aftertaste from the cardamom, liquorice and fenugreek) – it’s more like a flavoured water than a tea. Leaving the tea to steep for more than the recommended 4 minutes doesn’t really help to increase the depth either.

As it contains all that chocolate and caramel it should be drinkable without sugar. It is for me, just about if I had no other choice in the matter, but adding a teaspoon of demerara makes it sweeter and more biscuit-like. Adding milk also adds another layer, the slight creaminess providing more texture to increase the biscuitiness (not sure that’s actually a word but I like it anyway), but neither addition makes it any ‘thicker’ if you know what I mean.

Interestingly, my favourite way to drink this is cold as it seems to lose some of the wateriness and gives out maximum flavour.

To be honest, I could drink this tea if there was nothing else available and I really needed a cuppa, but with so many other teas out there which are, in my opinion, far superior  (*cough* Ginger Beer) why would I bother?

The results of the poll have now been released and this has finished in the top 4 so it will be a permanent blend. For anyone who is interested in the idea of a biscuit tea or is a fan of digestives (whether chocolate or not) you should give it a go, but I won’t be buying it. Sorry, Bluebird but this one just isn’t my cup of tea.

*Oops, I forgot to take a picture of the tea in the cup, sorry.

CURRENT OFFERS

This weekend’s offer from Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co. is 12% off all stock plus a sample of their Pu-Erh tea with the voucher code PUERH. The offer finishes at midnight tonight.

While I’m here, I’d just like to say a quick thank you to Annabel at Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co. for sorting out the issue with my order so quickly. I really appreciate it.

I was a little disappointed when I saw the new Autumn flavours released by Bluebird Tea Co. as there wasn’t anything with pumpkin in it (although the other teas do sound pretty good). This was because they were waiting to relaunch their Spiced Pumpkin Pie separately. I haven’t tried this before, but it has a lot of 5-star reviews so it must be pretty good. It’s a limited edition so if you want to try it (like I do) then you need to get in quick (they are currently taking pre-orders).