BEST Chocolate Rooibos Tea EVER!

I love Chocolate Rooibos Tea and I want to share my recipe with you. It is not complicated, and it tastes great. Some are intimidated by cocoa - not me.

A lifetime ago I was at a presentation where Canada was split into different regions, different tea-drinking regions that is. I was told that the region I live in is the test region because people here like to try new flavours of tea. While I am a person that likes flavoured teas, which I have learned is almost blaspheme in certain regions of the country, I don't always like trying new flavours.

Now, I'll tell you why I've become so dedicated to rooibos tea, and why I've discovered that I like it with a chocolate flavour. Last year when I visited my dental hygienist, she noted that my teeth were starting to yellow. I moaned and confessed that I had found this absolutely fabulous black tea, but it was very dark and likely the culprit of the stains. The hygienist warned me away from tea, coffee, and wine to save my pearly whites. That was when I found rooibos. Over the years I've tried different flavours of rooibos - mint, caramel, peppermint, and 'candy cane' (it was a gift). When I discovered chocolate rooibos, there was no going back.

I've seen a wide variety of ideas about how to make this mix. I tried the version that mixed a teaspoon of hot chocolate mix into the already steeped rooibos, but it was too strong and the whole rooibos flavour got lost. Here is my version:

Ingredients

1 cup plain rooibos leaves

2 tablespoons ground cocoa nibs or cocoa powder

Mix these two ingredients together and store in a labelled glass jar.

To make tea

1. Boil hot water for 4 cups.

2. Shake jar of leaves before scooping 2 tablespoons into a mesh strainer.

3. Place mesh strainer in teapot.

4. Pour boiling water over rooibos/cocoa mix and let steep for at least 4 minutes.

5. Rooibos is not a caffeinated drink so there is no need to remove the strainer until you clean your pot.

My perfect cup of chocolate rooibos is accompanied by a good blurp of milk and sugar.

Quality Note: To limit cocoa dregs in the bottom of your cup, make this with coarse ground cocoa nibs, this will ensure that few cocoa nib particles pass through the strainer. If you use cocoa powder, it will settle at the bottom of your tea pot and at the bottom of your cup, but it is still tasty.

Time and again I hear that some people can't stand the thought of flavouring black tea. But then, there's people like me who only look for flavoured teas.

What Is YOUR Opinion On Flavoured Teas?

It's one thing to read a recipe and quite another to actually try it. Or maybe, you'd just like to buy some chocolate rooibos tea from Amazon to try.

You have already tried this recipe, or another, or you've tried retail chocolate rooibos and you've got some opinions to share with us.

What is your perspective on tea? We'd like to read about it! Your thoughts matter - so write them here. Give us insights into why you drink tea, if you like flavoured teas, where you like to drink tea, who you like to drink it with, and how it makes you feel to drink tea.