Definitely Try This! Tea-Infused Hot Chocolate

Want to add a little twist to your mug of cocoa tonight? Since it started getting chilly outside, we've been experimenting with steeping various teas in our hot chocolate and getting surprisingly delicious results. Peppermint and sweet vanilla teas are only the beginning!

We actually got this idea last spring from the menu at Tealuxe in Boston, Massachusetts, and have been waiting all summer until the weather turned cold enough to try it ourselves! Being a tea store, they were using blends of teas instead of extracts or syrups to add an extra boost of flavor to cups of hot chocolate. The tea adds a subtle undertone of flavor without becoming bitter or overwhelming the drink.

Definitely try mint tea first, if you like minty-chocolate combinations. Vanilla and caramel-flavored teas also add a nice mellow sweetness. We actually have a vanilla-hazelnut tea that is really excellent!

Flavored and herbal teas aren't the only ones that work well. Earl grey adds really interested citrus notes, and green tea gives the chocolate a bit of its signature sweet musky flavor. It would also be fun to play around with chai tea mixes.

Have you ever tried tea-infused hot chocolate? What other tea flavors do you think would work well?

(Image: Flickr member Just SallyRye licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (24)

We used to do this when I worked at a local coffee shop and bakery. We made our own hot chocolate, as well as loose leaf tea blends. Mexican hot chocolate with soy milk and peppermint tea is AMAZING!

When I make hot chocolate at the office, I make it with mint tea. Everyone thought I was nutty until they sampled it.

Chicago-based Argo Tea has this on their menu, as well as what they call a Red Velvet -- rooibos tea with raspberry and white chocolate.

I tried it with rose tea a couple years ago. It didn't really float my boat. Maybe chai or vanilla would be better.

Great idea. I always have peppermint and ginger tea at home so will have to try this.

Brilliant! Love the idea.

so do you first steep the tea and then make regular cocoa and use the tea instead of water (and possibly add cream to take down the wateriness) or do you make your regular cocoa and add some tea while making it? i'm a bit confused, the concept is totally new for me! but so exciting with this jack frost nipping at my nose.

Experimenting with tea is fun! I have added mint, ginger, cardamom, Indian holy basil, cinnamon, star anise.....the list goes on. I especially like having the herb infused ones when I have a runny nose.

I like it with Early Grey or sometimes with Chai... I love the spicy notes in it..

I cannot wait to try this out!

People look at me funny when I do this, but I've been doing it for years. It's funny to see it come up on the Kitchn! It's a favorite of mine in the morning when I need a little caffeine (I almost never drink caffeine, so a little goes a long way). I make up a cup of hot chocolate then let my tea bag (usually black tea like Earl Grey or English Breakfast) steep in it for a while. I usually end up doing it at conferences and at places like hotels, where they'll have tea and hot chocolate mix set out with the included breakfast.

this sounds great! i'm going to try it tonight with peppermint tea. i wonder how it would taste with rooibos!

Does this work with hot chocolate made with milk? Do you infuse the hot milk before you add the chocolate?

Interesting! I'll have to try this. I've got a big batch of that malted cocoa mix in the pantry.

I'm assuming you would brew the tea and then mix in the cocoa mix?

I don't think it would work too well with hot chocolate made with milk, as opposed to cocoa made with powdered milk and water.

This leads me to a question I've been meaning to ask. Has anyone had a Starbucks London Fog latte? Do they do something special to the Earl Grey tea to make it steep well in milk? In my experience it's not that easy infuse milk with tea, which is a technique that would be key here.

sofeasible - I work at a coffee shop and if the Starbucks drink you're talking about is a tea latte, the way we make it is to take loose tea and pour a little hot water on it to start the steeping process, then pour milk on top and steam it all together, and finally strain the tea out. It works way better than just sticking a tea bag in hot milk. For the tea/hot chocolate, I would make it on the stove top with milk, cocoa, and tea, and then take the tea out last. Hope this helps!

just tried it - made some strong mint tea and then used that instead of water while making my hot cocoa (4 parts milk, 1 part tea, 1 part cream). heavenly. one of the best hot cocoas i've ever had, really, seeing as i love after-eight mints.

Okay, I really want to try this, but please post instructions! Milk, yea or nay? Do you do the chocolate first or the tea? This is like posting a palette of great colors without telling us what the names of the colors are.

My aunt introduced me to cinnammon flavored hot chocolate when I was a teenager (I'm 50 now). She would boil the cinnammon sticks, which is on its own a delicious tea, and then made the hot chocolate with it instead of the water, adding milk or cream at the end...heavenly flavor!!

The cinnammon tea, made this way (teabags are ordinary tea with cinnammon aroma), is a very effective cure for unsettled stomach, either because of gas or other minor illnesses, besides it leaves a wonderful smell throughout the house!

Be careful if you like citrus teas; they can curdle your milk.

My favorite is actually chamomile tea with soy and honey, skip the chocolate.
To make it, I heat soymilk with chamomile in it on the stove top until nearly boiling, then turn off the heat and let it steep until it tastes the way I want, usually 10 minutes. If it's cooled too much, I just re-heat it, then strain it and add honey.

sofeasibl, I've had the London Fog, love the taste but don't know how it's made. I too would love to know how hot chocolate is made with tea.

Rosehip tea will also curdle milk.

I've been drinking a few different tea blends with carob in them. It gives off a nice chocolatey aroma, but the taste is too subtle.

I'm going to try this to get my chocolate fix, for sure!

idoprint - I've just been making hot chocolate as normal (all milk for me) and then steeping a tea bag along with it. Hot chocolate made with water will give you a stronger tea flavor, I think, while milk makes it more subtle.

So I'm winding down my day at work while reading this and just got really excited about the combination (and that we have both hot-chocolate mix and peppermint tea in the break room) I hope you're all right and this is as good as it sounds!!

Thanks emmac!