The Republic of Tea; Hu Kitchen Salty bar - Aug. 26, 2015

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

The Republic of Tea
Peppermint Chocolate Tea
Good
Weight: .056 oz. (1.6 g.) / 1.35 oz. (38.4 g.) in total box of 24 tea bags
Calories: N/A - less than 5 calories (estimate)
Cost: $13.99 for 1 box of 24 tea bags (already recorded)
Purchased from: East-West Bookstore, Mountain View, CA

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week and Day #1 of Chocolate and Salt Theme Week.

I enjoyed two chocolate items today, starting with a sip or two of Peppermint Chocolate Tea from The Republic of Tea (Novato, CA).

The company name "The Republic of Tea" first drew me to this tea maker. And interesting decaffeinated tea flavors introduced over the years have kept me coming back.

I've been working my way through a "Cuppa Chocolate Teas" assortment box. (I featured the Red Velvet, Coconut Cocoa, Strawberry Chocolate, and Banana Chocolate Teas previously.) This Peppermint Chocolate flavor was the last tea flavor in the box.

Rooibos*-based, each round, individually-wrapped, Peppermint Chocolate unbleached tea bag contained a blend of "carob, cocoa kernels (I'm assuming these are finely ground cocoa nibs), peppermint leaves, sweet blackberry leaves, natural mint, chocolate and vanilla flavors."

The resulting tea was a rich, reddish color -- largely from the rooibos (also known as bush or redbush tea). Rooibos literally translated means red bush.

The second chocolate came in bar form...

Hu Kitchen
Salty Chocolate Bar
Good
Weight: 2.1 oz. (59.4 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 320 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $6.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

This 72% cacao dark Salty Chocolate Bar from Hu Kitchen (Brooklyn, NY) contained just the right amount of salt for me. It was spread fairly uniformly throughout the chocolate.

The paleo and vegan bar contained no cane or refined sugar, soy lecithin, gluten, emulsifiers or GMO ingredients.

*Rooibos is a naturally caffeine-free plant that serves as a tea substitute. Also low in tannic acids, rooibos -- grown in Southern Africa, and now other parts of the world -- is also low in tannic acids (found in conventional teas).