TEA & CHOCOLATE PART 1: ASSAM

(This is the first of a series of tea and chocolate pairings, first discussed on the Pairteas Facebook page.)

From left to right in the picture:

Ghirardelli 100% cacao, Vosges Super Dark Coconut Ash & Banana,

Chocolove (appreciate the name!) Ginger Crystallized in Dark Chocolate, and Ghirardelli White Chocolate. 

Found some very nice Assam and tried it with these chocolates. 
• First, have to say that all the chocolates were pretty good by themselves, even the coconut one and I don't much like coconut. The dark chocolate dominated the coconut flavor, however, and the banana was nowhere to be tasted, so the net effect was just slightly coconutty.
• Started with the chocolate with ginger: OMG was that dreadful! It made the tea taste bitter and sour, and the chocolate was pretty bad too, even when by itself it was pretty good. It has a low cacao content by my standards (65% — I enjoy 100%), so the ginger, which hits the cold receptors, stands out compared to the chocolate. Assam tea hits the hot receptors, so the net effect is that bitterness and sourness have a chance to come to the fore, which does neither the tea nor the chocolate justice.
• Next, the coconut banana chocolate: it made the tea smoother but less rich, practically hot water. Coconut, even when turned presumably into charcoal for this chocolate, and banana both hit the warm receptors, so even with 72% cacao, the warm receptors had a chance to turn the hot receptors off. Net effect: nothing special for either the chocolate or the tea.
• Then I tried the white chocolate: the white chocolate tasted nice with the tea, though within a short time, the white chocolate came to dominate and the tea disappeared, except for a slight herbal flavor. This result is not surprising: white chocolate has no cacao, but does have cacao butter and vanilla and a ton of sugar (first ingredient on the list). All of these turn off the hot receptors, leaving the cool/cold receptors less dampened, which allows the herbal aspect of the tea to peek out. Think of adding milk and sugar to Assam teas.
• By the time I got around to the 100% cacao chocolate, I had pretty well run out of tea, so you will have to wait for those results. Hint: not bad!