Nov 22, 2019 Drinks
This week, Alex Blackwood recommends a cacao husk tea she’s claiming is better than hot chocolate – and can be found at the supermarket.
Hear me out: chocolate tea over hot chocolate.
It’s controversial, maybe. But only to people who haven’t tried the seductive, fragrant, earthy, rich, sweet and, funnily enough, slightly oily Mayan Man Tea that’ll make all your visitors go “oooh! its nice! its different! It’s unyewwshueall”.
The tea itself is comprised of crushed up cacao husks – the exterior pod that holds the cacao beans which chocolate is made from. The husks are therefore a byproduct of the chocolate-making process and were first consumed as a tea by the Mayans and Aztecs thousands of years ago. As the pack proclaims, the Mayans believed that the tea gave power to their kings.
“Oily, though?” you ask? Yeah, you’ll find the tea slick with cacao oil. Just a little bit – it doesn’t feel unhealthy, just flavourful and decadent.
I’m specifically recommending the coconut edition which is complex and fragrant. The coconut works to bring out the chocolate notes and make the flavour richer but also, it kind of tastes like a really good lamington. There is also a mint flavoured version which is not only yum, it also works as an after-dinner digestive, and a straight-up cacao flavoured one which is probably most true to the tea’s potential as a hot chocolate alternative.
You’re probably thinking “Alex, this will be hard to find.” But you’d be wrong because they have it in the tea aisle at the supermarket.
I have it with milk (but it doesn’t need it). The pack recommends honey (but it doesn’t need it). Go, try it and revel in the slight fanciness of your new favourite tea.
