Tea Infused Chocolates
by Tea Master DANIELA CUBELIC
This is the kind of magical recipe that makes you believe in miracles or sorcery. You’ll never believe it when you taste the end product, but these recipes require NO cooking & are unbelievably easy to make. Kids will love making them, so will those of you who feel like desserts are hard to make, or cooking isn’t your thing.
It makes THE most delicious tasting chocolates, & allows you to create sophisticated or simple combinations depending on who you are making them for. Your foodie friends will fall in love with jasmine, chai or smoked tea infused chocolates, classic tea lovers will adore Earl Grey tea chocolates, & kids will love the mint tea chocolates.
All you need to do is simply put tea & chocolate in an airtight container for up to a week for the flavours to infuse. The tea releases its flavour into the chocolate, & all you need to decide on is which yummy combos to make.
I love making them up in batches & giving them as gifts. They make a wonderful, thoughtful gift idea that is personalized but takes very little time & effort. Use your favourite chocolate chips, chocolate tablets, or chocolate bars to create this recipe. It can be made with dark, milk or white chocolate.
I often package them up in used Silk Road tea tins. Tea tins of all sizes, from the mini-tin & up are the perfect way to gift these chocolates because they will ensure the scent of the tea remains as strong as possible for as long as possible in the chocolate. It's a fabulous, eco-friendly way to re-use your old Silk Road tea tins.
I also utilise my used Silk Road tea tins to create the tea infused chocolates. I find that I prefer to use the 80 cup & 300 cup sizes to make up batches of these chocolates, as those tea tin container sizes are roomier & give me more space to combine the tea & the chocolate, but smaller batches of tea infused chocolate can also be made in 40 cup tins. Mini-tins don't give enough space to store the chocolate & tea for the infusion part of this recipe, but they make wonderful tins for gifting.
It’s the perfect dessert idea or gift for someone who avoids gluten or dairy, if you make the recipe using dark chocolate (double check to make sure it’s vegan-friendly).
If you've been wanting to avoid caffeine or reduce your caffeine intake, you'll love to hear that you can use your favourite black teas to make tea infused chocolates because you're not getting any caffeine from the tea being added to the chocolate. The reason is that it's the tea's scent that is being released into the chocolate & tea leaves aren't actually going into the recipe. Of course, dark & milk chocolate are naturally occurring sources of caffeine as well, so these chocolates will contain some caffeine, but they won't contain as much as if they were made with tea.
Looking to reduce or eliminate caffeine, but love the taste of black & other caffeinated teas? Click here to learn how to naturally reduce caffeine from your tea at home, by brewing it differently.
Healthy Tip Accompanying this food item with the same tea used in the recipe (hot, iced, or as a tea latte) can enhance the enjoyment of all the flavours, as it adds a layer of complimentary flavour, which amplifies & brightens the taste of all the ingredients. Tea is also a delicious, low-calorie, healthy alternative to alcohol or sugary drinks.
As well, when you’re eating carbs or sweets, it can also be a great idea to reach for teas that help counteract these effects.
Mulberry tea has been used in Asian traditional medicine for hundreds of years as a way to support blood sugar balance & assist weight management. Studies are starting to support these ideas, & are finding that the mulberry can help block carbohydrate absorption.
Detox tea may be an even better choice when having rich or higher-fat foods, as well as carbs & sweets, as the herbs in it were traditionally consumed to counteract all three of these.
Accompanying treats or rich foods with a cup of Detox or Mulberry tea, or having these teas half an hour or an hour after eating, may be a healthier & smarter way to indulge.
Recent studies show that a HOT BATH can have similar benefits as exercise! Effortlessly burn calories, stimulate the metabolism, manage blood sugar & more. Click HERE to discover how to optimize your bath & learn about the surprising benefits of a bath.
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Get inspired with more tips, techniques & recipes - watch & learn directly from Tea Master Daniela Cubelic in this captivating VIDEO SERIES.
Learn how to make chai tea soup, tea hot chocolates, mulled cider teas, tea infused oatmeal, ice cream tea floats, tea lemonades, iced teas & more. You’ll also discover fascinating facts & info about the health benefits of tea, tea history & secrets for tea brewing.
TEA INFUSED CHOCOLATES
INGREDIENTS1 tablespoon Silk Road loose tea (placed into a tea filter bag) or 2 Silk Road teabags*
½ cup chocolate tablets, chips or a chocolate bar
If using a chocolate bar, break it into bite-sized pieces. The smaller the chocolate pieces, the more surface area is exposed to tea, which results in an even better tasting finished product.
airtight container (this is a great way to re-use your empty Silk Road tea tins!)
*Our fresh, organic, premium tea is more flavorful than most other brands, so you need less per serving when you brew it, & less per serving for an application such as this. If you aren’t using Silk Road tea to make this recipe, you will likely need to double the amount of tea used in this recipe.
DIRECTIONS
2. Place chocolate over top of the tea, & put the lid on the container
YOU’RE DONE!! All you need to do next is place the airtight container into a cupboard where it avoids exposure to heat or sunlight. Leave it there for about a week for the flavours to infuse.
Don’t have a week to spare in order to make this? Double the amount of tea or teabags that you are using, but keep the amount of chocolate the same, & it will reduce the time it takes for the flavours to be released. I find that I can still get great tasting tea infused chocolates in 1–2 days, if I increase the proportion of tea.
After the tea has finished being infused into the chocolate, you can remove the tea & still enjoy the leftover tea for brewing. In fact, it tastes very delicious when served paired with the tea infused chocolate!
TIPS
- Teas or herbs with delicious & strong aromas are best because they have a lot of scent which will release into the chocolate. For that reason, teas that make wonderful tea infused chocolates include WESTCOAST PEPPERMINT, HERBAL CHAI, JASMINE OASIS, teas with a lot of CITRUS notes, ROSE PETAL, SOUR CHERRY, IMPERIAL EARL GREY & LONDON FOG. I also love JASMINE with white chocolate, & pine smoked LAPSANG SOUCHONG black tea with dark chocolate. Teas that have a mild flavour or don't contain any added herbs, or that don’t release much flavour until they are brewed don’t make good teas for infusing into the flavour of the chocolate, because they don't have a lot of flavour or scent to release. For instance a plain BLACK TEA, or a plain GREEN TEA doesn’t work very well, because it doesn’t have a lot of flavour or scent to release. Other examples, include teas with hibiscus or rosehips, as both of these ingredients reveal their flavour once brewed & are not very aromatic when you are smelling the dry herb.
- Don’t refrigerate the tea/chocolate while it is infusing—too cool an environment will inhibit flavour release. Avoid storing the tea/chocolate near excess heat too (don’t keep it near a stove) as heat can make the chocolate melt or change colour.
- Once the chocolate has been infused, continue to store it in an airtight container to prevent flavour loss. As long as you continue to store it in an airtight container, it will maintain the tea’s flavour for several months. Over time, the tea’s flavour will lessen. In that case, you can refresh it by repeating the procedure of adding tea to the airtight container. It will usually take less time to infuse the second time, as some of the tea’s flavour will still remain.
- Snack on these chocolates anytime, or serve them as dessert. Create an easy tea & chocolate pairing for dessert by taking creating several different types of tea infused chocolates, & then serving them with small amounts of the tea they were made from. It’s absolutely divine!