When I was out Christmas shopping in Rome the other day (Georgia, not Italy), I came across a brand and variety of "tea" I'd never seen before, Cacao Tea.
"Martha Washington's Chocolate Shell Infusion" from Oliver Pluff & Co., it said. Intriguing! And it consisted entirely of "roasted cacao shells"? Hmm.
The back of the tin mentioned that Martha Washington sipped this at breakfast, and I'd never heard that before, so if anything else, I figured the tin was worth the $9.95 for the new bit of tea-ish history. I asked the shopkeeper if there was a sample I could at least sniff (tasting would have been even better), and she led me to a display on another counter. It smelled like rich hot chocolate, so I decided to take a chance and purchased the tin.
The roasted shells looked like broken pecan shells. And the taste? Well, not for nuthin' is this blog's motto "We try all the bad teas so you don't have to!" (Not really, but it ought to be.) Imagine burning your hot chocolate so that it tasted bitter, then throwing out half of it and replacing it with hot water so that you ended up with watery and bitter hot chocolate. That's what this tasted like. Alas. So if you're out shopping today, remember, all that glitters is not gold, and all that smells like chocolate does not necessarily taste like it!
But it was definitely worth the story! Ha!
ReplyDeleteYou took one for the team, dear Angela. Thank you. LOL.
ReplyDeleteHugs. ♥
Thank you for saving us! Maybe tastes have changed since then.
ReplyDeleteWell, at least the tin is interesting!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds terrible. Thank you for being our taste tester. I hope your next cup of tea is delightful.
ReplyDeleteNot that I am going to try it, but wondering if milk would have helped?
ReplyDeleteQuite a scam... sounds like a quick way to make a few easy dollars! It really did look like broken walnut shells! Happy to meet you today, from one fellow tea drinker to another, I'm sorry this tea wasn't your cuppa tea, but at least we know the rest of the story :)
ReplyDelete