Friday TeaDay 9/20/13 Chocolate choice?

[Chip]

Welcome fellow TeaChatters to TeaDay. Let's brew and be sure to share what is in our cups today, and talk about chocolate.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic had been a popular topic in times past on TeaDay. So let's move into the weekend early ... get some tea, some chocolate, and join us. So, what is your chocolate preference. White, milk, dark, extra dark ... plain or not? Maybe you don't like chocolate.

AND, do you enjoy tea with chocolate?

I am looking forward to sharing tea, chocolate, and TeaDay discussion with everyone. Bottoms up.

[debunix]

I love tea, but I live for chocolate.

Scharffenberger 70% cacao makes up a considerable portion of my daily caloric intake. Linnaeus got it right: Theobroma cacao, food of the gods. I do enjoy a few really nice milk chocolate, but otherwise it's dark and extra darkf or me. I've even take to mixing unsweetened with my 70% for my morning hot chocolate, so my everyday chocolate is probably 80% or thereabouts.

And while I've paired chocolate with virtually every tea I drink, some of the most wonderful pairings have been with Bai mu dan, because the fruity pairs off so well with the fruitiness in my favorite chocolates, and gyokuro, where the depth and sweetness just works beautifully with chocolate, as on this memorable day....



And there have been some memorable chocolate/Dan Cong pairings too, with the floral sweet spiciness of the Dan Cong.

[debunix]

And a few ways to enjoy chocolate with tea, other than of course simply nibbling bits of pure chocolate....

Whipped chocolate aka chocolate chantilly




Tropical chocolate torte

or for those occasions when you just want to drink it....Hot Chocolate from Chocolate

[JRS22]

Ah chocolate. Back in the good old days (before my tummy troubles began) I did enjoy a good quality milk chocolate. I know its not as fashionable or intense as dark chocolate, but I need the milk to buffer the bitter notes. One of my first tea purchases was a chocolate mint from Harneys. Since then I've moved away from flavored teas, but I have inadvertently mixed chocolate with puerh by eating chocolate and then drinking the tea.

[kikula]

I've never really been a chocolate aficionado but discovered just recently that it really is wonderful with tea - that was by chance, as I had a gift of some nice dark chocolate and a bowl of lovely deep steamed sencha at hand... oh wow, that's such an unlikely marriage, born in heaven. The chocolate would honestly have been forgotten in a cupboard if I hadn't found out. Gone in three days, along with the last of the sencha.

[Jspigs]

I generally prefer milk chocolate but every now and then a dark chocolate will come along that blows my mind.

[Poohblah]

Yes.

[Devoted135]

Mm, I love chocolate! One of the few forms of dairy that I just can't give up.

I typically will gravitate toward dark chocolate (I'm currently working on some 85% cacao from Trader Joe's). However, I also enjoy milk chocolate, both pure and flavored. White chocolate is not chocolate. Chocolate covered toffee is also a favorite.

My favorite is to pair it with sencha or gyokuro, but I also enjoy it with oolongs.

[chrl42]

I like Japanese 'Meiji' a milk one

[amaranto]

Extra dark! I recently bought a bunch on a trip to Oaxaca and need to try it.

I like to eat chocolate with Rou Gui.

[hopeofdawn]

50-60% dark chocolate is ideal for me. Even better if it's in truffle or cordial form. Wonderful pairing with most roasted oolongs, and even a few greens, I've found!

Homemade fudge with bittersweet or dark chocolate is also amazing with tea--and a lot cheaper than buying truffles all the time.

[William]

I usually eat 99% dark italian chocolate.

[Chip]

I usually eat 99% dark italian chocolate.

Really, isn't 99% virtually cocoa powder?

[yalokinh]

Had a coworker who would buy baking cocoa (100% cocoa) and nibble on that all day long. Most petite woman ive seen and she could handle that!

[William]

I usually eat 99% dark italian chocolate.

Really, isn't 99% virtually cocoa powder?

No, here in Italy is quite easy to find dark chocolate bars more or less pure, eg from 60% - 70% (I personally do not like it, too sweet), up to 99% (as I like it!).