Fossa Honey Orchid Dancong Oolong Tea Chocolate bar tasting

While I was hanging out at one of my favorite artisan bakeries in Long Beach recently, I came across two tea-infused chocolate bars by bean-to-bar chocolate maker Fossa from Singapore. I had not tried either yet, so I picked one up (hopefully next time I’ll remember to get the other one too). A little while ago, I had posted about my tasting notes, thoughts and impression of their Honey Orchid Dancong Hongcha Tea Chocolate, which was exceptional. That bar was made with black tea (hongcha). Today, you’ll hear what I thought of their Honey Orchid Dancong Oolong Tea Chocolate bar.

I am captivated by their unique and bold choices for their line of tea chocolate bars featuring single origin cocoa beans and artisan teas, including Qi Mountain raw pu’ er, awa bancha, wakocha Japanese black tea, and more, for which they clearly state origin and even harvest. From what I’ve seen so far, they’re serious about tea as much as they are about chocolate and collaborating with rare tea curator Pekoe & Imp is a testament to their high standards. Honey Orchid Dancong is a highly prized oolong from Phoenix Mountain (Feng Huang Shan) in China. This bar is out-of-this-world delicious. The tea flavor is extremely prominent and complex and they even managed to translate the mouthfeel of the tea in the chocolate bar. I don’t know how they did it, it’s magical. It’s floral, fruity and the typical notes of Honey Orchid Dancong come through really beautifully. The chocolate shines too without overpowering the tea flavor.

Tasting a tea-infused chocolate bar - The Tea Squirrel blog

Shoutout to Los Angeles based chocolate expert and blogger My Year in Chocolate ( @myic2016 ), who inspires me daily and so graciously provided guidance on chocolate tasting. She explained her EAT method for tasting chocolate, which I tried to adhere to as much as possible.

E: exterior (packaging, bar surface appearance and imperfections)

A: aroma (pre and post snap)

T: taste

Fossa Honey Orchid Dancong Oolong tea chocolate

Net Weight: 50 gr

Price: US $14

Exterior: the packaging is absolutely beautiful with a golden embossed botanical illustration of a branch of Camellia Sinensis. Very elegant.

The bar smells like: herbal, medicinal notes, cocoa butter

Flavor of the chocolate: immediately oolong notes and Dancong minerality, honey and floral notes, understated sweetness, which I appreciate + mineral, tannic finish

Mouthfeel: smooth but not overly creamy, lingering and long-lasting aromatic and mouth-drying finish, which I attribute to the mineral quality and astringency of the tea. There was a small crunchy fragment in one piece of chocolate, maybe a tea leaf fragment escaped into the final bar?

Overall: great, balanced, flavorful, delicious, addictive

From the chocolate maker (back of the packaging / product page on their website):

Tasting notes: Floral fragrance layered with notes of guava and cream

International Chocolate Awards 2019 Silver Award winner.

A collaboration chocolate with rare tea curator - Pekoe & Imp.

Honey Orchid (蜜兰香, Mi Lan Xiang) is a dancong (单枞) tea cultivated in the Phoenix Mountain (凤凰山, Feng Huang Shan) of Guangdong Province. This lot was hand-harvested from the Tian Zhu Keng village (甜竹坑村) in Spring 2020.

This oolong has a distinct guava aroma. Complemented by the biscuity Kokoa Kamili cacao from Tanzania, it is a delicious bar to be slowly savoured.

Ingredients: Organic cacao, cane sugar, cacao butter, milk powder, tea leaves