While tea and chocolate have both been important culinary indulgences throughout the ages, they have typically been savored individually. The combination of tea and chocolates, particularly Asian teas, has never been fully explored in the chocolate world – until now. After months of tea and chocolate selection, pairings and tastings, a special collaboration between Charles Chocolates and Teance Fine Teas has resulted in the creation of The Tea Collection, an exclusive selection of tea-infused chocolates.
“My vision of East meets West is where flavors complement each other in ways that are both sophisticated and novel.” Explained Winnie Yu, Founder, Teance Fine Teas. ”As a tea aficionado, I was finding that most chocolatiers added teas to flavor chocolates without really understanding how the true taste of tea can be elicited and melded together with the taste of chocolate. Fortunately, Chuck and his team brought their considerable expertise to help me develop the right taste profiles and flavors to create this outstanding Asian tea chocolates line.”
Five different flavors of the freshest, highest grade Asian teas available are each steeped individually in cream to create an infusion. Each infusion is then blended with milk and bittersweet chocolate to create a ganache. Finally, each ganache is coated in Charles Chocolates’ special 65% bittersweet chocolate blend, making for a delicious, complex flavor contrast. This initial collection features Formosa Baochong, Special Jasmine, Osmanthus, Lichee, and Charcoal Fired Oolong, all sourced and selected by Teance.
“Our experience working with Winnie and Teance has been wonderful. My expectations, which were high going into this project, have been exceeded.” Remembers Chuck Siegel, Founder, Charles Chocolates. ”The combinations of Teance’s exceptional teas and our chocolates is a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.”
Tags: charcoal-fired oolong, Formosa oolong, jasmine, lichee, osmanthus, tea truffles, Teance
