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" The pantry is awash with flavored teas! At this point there are more ingredients and general variety contained in the assortment of tea bags in my pantry than there are ingredients in my entire refrigerator. Our concept of tea, a bunch of twiggy leaves in a limp pendulous tea bag, has been vitalized over the years with a mind-boggling variety of flavors and ingredients. It is a parade of the novel as well as the sublime with ingredients like gingerbread spice to barley-roasted green tea. Each variety, almost approximating a cocktail, is poised to reveal subtle character traits of those who ritually brew up a cup for relaxation and enjoyment. The Republic of Tea (a name that always was a touch ominous for my taste) has pushed the tea bag a bit with their creation of two new dessert-oriented teas: Double Dark Chocolate Mat\u00E9 and Coconut Cocoa Tea. Both of these teas, while being somewhat defined as dessert teas, lack the inherent sweetness and indulgence most would associate with a dessert drink.     The Double Dark Chocolate Mat\u00E9 (certified organic) is an antioxidant-rich chocolate tea with a Yerba Mat\u00E9 base. For the uninitiated, Mat\u00E9 is a native South American tea-like beverage that holds countless health benefits and even more alleged benefits. With this particular Chocolate Mat\u00E9, the benefits are presumably twofold as you have the Mat\u00E9 on one hand and antioxidant-rich cocoa and carob in the other. With these two powerhouse ingredients, you would expect this tea to be possibly overbearing and excessive. However this tea is more of a Mat\u00E9 with subtle chocolate notes than it is a chocolate tea or even a cocoa. It is more scented of chocolate than it is definitively chocolate tasting. The Coconut Cocoa Tea is bounding with deep coconut notes (both in flavor and smell) and was reminiscent of those much-loved Almond Joy candy bars (in a good way) from my childhood. I almost felt like I just wanted to sniff the tea bag more than I wanted to actually brew a cup. Thankfully the brewed tea delivers on the redolent promise of the tea itself. More coconut flavored than chocolate, this tea holds deep caramel and cocoa tones and is wildly comforting to sip on a cold evening. Both of these teas (The Chocolate Mat\u00E9 as well as the Coconut Cocoa) are only mildly, almost imperceptibly, sweet and require may require a splash of cream or your sweetener of choice to get the full effect.  The Republic of Tea Double Dark Chocolate Mate ($15 per 36 bagged tin) and the Coconut Cocoa Tea ($9.50 per 36 bagged tin) are available at Whole Foods Markets nationwide. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/food/a38171/republic-of-tea-cocoa-teas/>