I am a huuuge Hot Chocolate fan. The kind of guy who orders extra pumps of chocolate in my Starbucks Hot Chocolate. And also a Tea fan.
Now at home in Sri Lanka my favorite drink is Milo with milk and tea. Yes, that's right a Milo made with milk and Ceylon Tea. Gives a great chocolate flavor as well as the taste of stain from tea which is a perfect balance if you want to have tea and chocolate at the same time. Most people think tea does not go with chocolate, but all of them start to like it after they try it.
So when I traveled to the US for 3.5 months this year I was faced with a huuuuge problem. Needing at least 3 or 4 cups of tea/Milo a day what am I gonna substitute it with in the US. Cause Milo was hard to find, and it did not go well with fresh milk, you need powdered milk to create the Milo blend I mentioned above, and the powered milk I found in the US was shitty and tasted awful. And it was not practical to run to Starbucks everytime I needed a hot chocolate; besides the Starbucks hot chocolate did not have the stain taste of tea that I missed.
So after experimenting with so many types of Hot Chocolate powders I could find at Kroger, and a few types of fresh milk I finally perfected the below recipe:
What you need:
The amounts of ingredients may differ slightly based on the type of mug you use. What I've used is a medium size mug which is about 250 ml (give or take 50 ml); you always have to play around a bit to find the perfect blend for each mug ;-)
First pour Milk about 4/5 of the mug. The type of Milk that turned out to be the best was Vitamin D Milk from Kroger. Please do not use skim or 2% milk if you want it to taste good ;-)
Microwave the milk so that it reaches about 70-80 Celsius. Do not let it boil, generally this is around1 minute, but would differ on the microwave and the setting.
Put a tea bag to the hot milk and leave for about 45 secs to 1 minute. Then dip it 3 or 4 times before throwing the tea bag away.
I used Lipton black tea bags. It has a good blend with Ceylon tea.
Tip: Ceylon tea will always give you the Best taste in tea what ever you try to do with it ;-)
Once this is done the milk will have a slightly creamish color
Next, pour this in the blender and add about 3/4 of a Starbucks Hot Cocoa - Double Chocolate packet.
Once again this is for the medium size mug I used. If it's a larger mug you'll need to empty the whole packet.
Next add some Hershey's Special Dark Syrup. Now I do not have an exact measuring for this. What I do is I turn it in round in circles 3-4 times over the mixture while sqeezing. If it is the normal Chocolate Syrup (as opposed to Special Dark which I use) spin it around 5-6 rounds. But Always try to get the Special Dark Syrup, that has a much intense flavor which I prefer.
Next Blend it on Stir for 4 or 5 seconds. Yes that's right 4-5 seconds. The reason is that the more you blend it the more foam is produced; foam always floats on top and cools pretty fast once it is in your mug. So if you have too much foam it will feel cold and unpleasant when it touches your lips. Once again the time may vary on the power of the blender. The blender I used was pretty standard and powerful, hence 4-5 seconds.
And voilà:
Your Hot Chocolate Blend with Tea
This is a cup of hot Cocoa that will give you an intense taste of dark chocolate thanks to the Starbucks double chocolate Hot Cocoa powder and Hershey's Special Dark Syrup, have the stainy taste of black tea, and the creaminess of Milk.
If you are a tea lover and a Chocolate lover at the same time, this is a drink that will stimulate most of you taste buds and give you an all in one cup of tea/coco.
Now at home in Sri Lanka my favorite drink is Milo with milk and tea. Yes, that's right a Milo made with milk and Ceylon Tea. Gives a great chocolate flavor as well as the taste of stain from tea which is a perfect balance if you want to have tea and chocolate at the same time. Most people think tea does not go with chocolate, but all of them start to like it after they try it.
So when I traveled to the US for 3.5 months this year I was faced with a huuuuge problem. Needing at least 3 or 4 cups of tea/Milo a day what am I gonna substitute it with in the US. Cause Milo was hard to find, and it did not go well with fresh milk, you need powdered milk to create the Milo blend I mentioned above, and the powered milk I found in the US was shitty and tasted awful. And it was not practical to run to Starbucks everytime I needed a hot chocolate; besides the Starbucks hot chocolate did not have the stain taste of tea that I missed.
So after experimenting with so many types of Hot Chocolate powders I could find at Kroger, and a few types of fresh milk I finally perfected the below recipe:
What you need:
- Starbucks Hot Cocoa - Double Chocolate
- Hershey's Syrup - Special Dark
- Black Tea bags - Lipton/Ceylon tea blend recommended
- Milk - for better taste use Kroger Vitamin D milk or Whole milk
The amounts of ingredients may differ slightly based on the type of mug you use. What I've used is a medium size mug which is about 250 ml (give or take 50 ml); you always have to play around a bit to find the perfect blend for each mug ;-)
First pour Milk about 4/5 of the mug. The type of Milk that turned out to be the best was Vitamin D Milk from Kroger. Please do not use skim or 2% milk if you want it to taste good ;-)
Microwave the milk so that it reaches about 70-80 Celsius. Do not let it boil, generally this is around1 minute, but would differ on the microwave and the setting.
Put a tea bag to the hot milk and leave for about 45 secs to 1 minute. Then dip it 3 or 4 times before throwing the tea bag away.
I used Lipton black tea bags. It has a good blend with Ceylon tea.
Tip: Ceylon tea will always give you the Best taste in tea what ever you try to do with it ;-)
Once this is done the milk will have a slightly creamish color
Next, pour this in the blender and add about 3/4 of a Starbucks Hot Cocoa - Double Chocolate packet.
Once again this is for the medium size mug I used. If it's a larger mug you'll need to empty the whole packet.
Next add some Hershey's Special Dark Syrup. Now I do not have an exact measuring for this. What I do is I turn it in round in circles 3-4 times over the mixture while sqeezing. If it is the normal Chocolate Syrup (as opposed to Special Dark which I use) spin it around 5-6 rounds. But Always try to get the Special Dark Syrup, that has a much intense flavor which I prefer.
Next Blend it on Stir for 4 or 5 seconds. Yes that's right 4-5 seconds. The reason is that the more you blend it the more foam is produced; foam always floats on top and cools pretty fast once it is in your mug. So if you have too much foam it will feel cold and unpleasant when it touches your lips. Once again the time may vary on the power of the blender. The blender I used was pretty standard and powerful, hence 4-5 seconds.
And voilà:
Your Hot Chocolate Blend with Tea
This is a cup of hot Cocoa that will give you an intense taste of dark chocolate thanks to the Starbucks double chocolate Hot Cocoa powder and Hershey's Special Dark Syrup, have the stainy taste of black tea, and the creaminess of Milk.
If you are a tea lover and a Chocolate lover at the same time, this is a drink that will stimulate most of you taste buds and give you an all in one cup of tea/coco.
-- Enjoy --
