Tea & Chocolate: Liquorice & Fennel

I had odd hours today, with no lunch, and all I wanted when I came home at 4:30pm was a cup of tea and a piece of chocolate.

I've had the bar of chocolate in my fridge a few weeks.  I opened it to try one square as soon as I bought it, but didn't have a proper beverage to wash it down with at the time.  It was chunky and chewy, filled with fennel seeds, crushed almond and pieces of dried fig.  It's Fig, Fennel & Almond (70% cacao) by Theo Chocolate.  Theo has such interesting flavor combos in their Fantasy Flavors collection, with adorably-illustrated labels, and all are organic and fair trade certified (a few are vegan, this one included).  Fig, Fennel & Almond has so few ingredients (cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, almonds, figs, fennel, ground vanilla bean).

The tea is an herbal one, which I got in the goodie bag from the NYC Coffee & Tea Festival this past weekend.  It's Sweet Liquorice Mint by Choice Organic Teas (all their teas are organic and fair trade certified, like the chocolate!).  The pyramid sachet came nearly full; more full than I've ever seen in fact.  It contains liquorice root, peppermint, spearmint, and cornflowers.  I'm not one for all-out minty teas, but I like mint in most blends.  I love liquorice root in teas (but I also like anise liqueurs such as Pastis... not everyone does).  The liquorice root lent its sweetness and viscosity for a full, "velvety" texture, which mellowed out the mints. 

I figured I should take a caffeine-free herbal infusion with my slightly caffeinated chocolate, since I do want to relax this evening.  The first time I'd tried the chocolate I was unsure about it, but knew I'd need to retry with a hot beverage to aid in its mouth-meltyness.  I thought the mint in the tea could've been a stretch for pairing with fennel-laced chocolate, but not so.  This was quite a lovely combo!

Valentine's Tea for Two

This year Valentine's Day falls on a Sunday.  What better way to begin or end the day with your sweety, than to share a romantic cup of tea meant to inspire feelings of love? 

First there's Harney & Sons Valentine's Blend.  I was once given a small tin of this as an opening-night gift for a play I'd worked on.  It is a simple chocolate-scented black tea with tiny pink rosebuds and petals mixed in.  It's lightly flavored of chocolate with rosy undertones.  Something about it makes me a bit nostalgic... it could possibly remind me of the Avon chocolaty lip balms I got for Valentine's day as a little girl.

Back in December I went to a Tay Tea tasting at ABC Carpet & Home, as mentioned in my first post of the year.  Nini, the super-cool blender, makes several amorous blends.  That night, her Better Than Sex was my favorite.  A mix of Belgian dark chocolate with peppermint in Rooibos; it is heavier on the chocolate with the sweetness of Rooibos, while the mint uplifts the blend.  All of her blends are visually something to behold.  Be sure to check out her online store for some "swatches."

And lastly, as well as leastly, there is a questionable new chain called Argo Tea.  Coming home from the gym I noticed some poor girl standing outside on a freezing day, hawking free samples of some kind of tea outside this new shop on Broadway and.... like, 21st Street.  I crossed the street to check it out.  It looked just like a Starbucks inside, except with tea as the main beverage (there is also some coffee).  They sell pastries and salads and sandwiches just like a Starbucks.  There are tall dispensers on the wall of many varieties of herbals, greens, whites, blacks, chais, you name it.  You can buy them prepackaged as well.  They informed me that they just opened the day before, and let me try their current special, ValenTea Passion, a passionfruit and hibiscus juice-like "tea" that was already super sweetened and annoyingly tart.  It tasted like a bad redition of Celestial Seasoning's classic Red Zinger added to a Capri Sun drink pouch.  They were also letting patrons sample a "Tea Sangria" which pretty much tasted the same, but less tart.  I wouldn't call this one passion-inspiring.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day!