This Valentine’s Day, make the most of the last few weeks of winter by snuggling with your sweetie under a blanket and sharing a hot, indulgent cup of chocolate tea. Sure, regular hot cocoa is a classic, sweet drink to warm up you and your partner when it’s cold outside. But the fruity and floral notes from tea add another dimension of flavor to the chocolate. You may even consider it as a grown-up version of your beloved childhood beverage.
While you can quickly steep two cups of one of our chocolate teas from our popular Cuppa Chocolate Tea collection, you and your honey may be in the mood for something more decadent for this romantic occasion. Kick it up a notch by making chocolate tea from scratch. But don’t worry about losing precious snuggle time—it only takes a few minutes to whip up this satisfying treat.
The beauty of this recipe is that it only requires a few ingredients and it’s extremely customizable. You can swap out the type of milk, chocolate and sweetening agent for one that suits your preferences. You can also blend in extra ingredients such as cinnamon, but if you want to relish the chocolate and tea flavors in their pure form, then it’s best to keep it simple.
While some recipes call for the tea to be steeped prior to adding the milk, our recipe involves steeping the tea bags right in the milk mixture. That way, the milk is infused with the tea’s flavors.
Black Tea
Choosing the right tea is an important first step. You can’t just grab any tea bag from your pantry. Black tea is the best type to use because its robust flavor won’t get lost. A lighter tea will not stand up to the bold flavor of chocolate.
Any good quality black tea will work, but we recommend our highly rated Earl Greyer black tea. It contains natural bergamot oil, which adds a light and refreshing citrus flavor.
Milk
For a richer, creamy beverage we recommend using whole milk, but you can use 2% if you wish. If you’re allergic to dairy, use any non-dairy alternatives.
Cocoa Powder
For better flavor, we suggest using natural cocoa powder. You can use dark, milk or white chocolate—depending on how bitter or sweet you’d like your drink. If you want a rich, chocolaty flavor, then use chocolate that contains at least 70% cacao.
Brown Sugar
This recipe uses brown sugar, but if you don’t have any available or dislike brown sugar, then another brown sweetening agent such as maple syrup or honey works just as well. You may also use sugar substitutes.
Baking Chocolate Chips
You can use chocolate chips, but coarsely chopped chocolate or shavings are also acceptable. Again, you can use milk, dark or white chocolate.
Toppings (Optional)
If you want to jazz up your chocolate tea, consider adding some toppings. Try a dash of cinnamon, a sprinkling of chocolate shavings, or some shards of hard candy. Of course, there is nothing wrong with savoring the pure chocolate and tea flavor as-is!
Serving Recommendations
While you can obviously enjoy this chocolate tea all by itself, you and your Valentine may want to pair it with a sweet treat. We suggest a cookie or pastry with mild flavors, to offset the rich bitterness of the chocolate. Some examples are butter cookies, madeleine or vanilla mini muffins.
Chocolate Tea Recipe (makes 2 servings)
2 cups of water
½ cup whole milk or non-dairy alternative
2 tea bags
2 tsp brown sugar or sugar substitute
2 tsp dark cocoa powder
4 tbsp chocolate chips
- Combine the milk, water, sugar and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat. Slowly bring to a boil to prevent the milk from curdling.
- Whisk the mixture until it develops a frothy consistency.
- Add the tea bags and boil for about 3-4 minutes.
- Remove the tea bags and add the chocolate chips. Stir the mixture until the chips have fully melted.
- Serve while hot. Add toppings if you wish.
