The Sunday Chocolate Review - Godiva New York

Hello there,

Hope you've had a tea-riffic day!

We've decided to start a new feature on the blog.....one that is very dear to my heart! If you didn't already know I'm a bit of a chocolate fiend....I love the stuff, but I can be a bit picky (for example I hate the chocolate that Easter eggs are made from). There are so many different varieties and flavours of chocolate available now that it can be hard to know what to try next.....so we're taking the hard work out of it for you....any excuse to try new chocolates!

Our first feature is the limited edition chocolate from Godiva - their New York Apple and Salted Caramel chocolate. This is a blend of milk chocolate, apple and salted caramel and is supposed to take you on a flavour journey to America's Big Apple!

If you haven't heard of them before, Godiva are a luxury Belgian chocolate brand that has been making chocolate since 1926 (so they must be pretty good by now!). They now have stores in more than 80 countries worldwide and are quite famous for their fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate (which I am yet to try).

First off....the packaging is so pretty, both inside and out! If you're a sucker for packing like I am, then you will find this very pleasing! The illustrations are very sweet. They also have a London version, which is inspired by Eton Mess.....I've opted not to try that one as it has white chocolate as a base which I'm not really a fan of. 

The gold foil makes this feel like a luxurious bar of chocolate. However, I didn't have to go into a Godiva store to buy it.....I found it in the sweet aisle of my local supermarket, it cost me just over £2.00.

This chocolate bar includes Godiva's milk chocolate, apple pieces, caramel pieces and additional apple flavourings. The milk chocolate is so smooth and creamy, a really lovely chocolate....it's blended with pieces of salted caramel which are quite chunky in size and what can only be described as a bizarre apple flavour.

Its definitely an apple flavour, reminiscent of sharp green apples, but possibly slightly artificial. Its not unpleasant and it blends well with the chocolate and caramel flavours, but its just a bit bizarre!

As you can see from the photo the chocolate bar itself is slim and delicate and the fillings a good size - its nice to see good pieces of caramel throughout the bar!

Another slightly bizarre point is as you eat the chocolate, the apple pieces rehydrate themselves and you find yourself with real apple in your mouth after the chocolate has vanished.....do you think this counts as one of my five a day??

All in all a pleasant bar of chocolate, but it didn't leave me jumping for joy nor did it really remind me of my trip to New York. I'd eat it again if someone gave it to me, but probably wouldn't rush out to buy it!

Have you tried this chocolate bar - what did you think of it, we'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for popping by today, pop back next Sunday for another chocolate review!

Rachel 

Time for.....a tea recipe with T2

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends!

This week we've been experimenting with our cuppa thanks to a fab tea recipe card that I picked up in a T2 store. T2 like to share tea recipes, combining their teas with different foods and drinks. As well as the fab recipe cards in store, you can also find a whole host of easy to follow recipes on

their website - including tea-infused ice cream floats, earl grey cakes and matcha mayo!

The recipe card I picked up had three different recipes on which used a different T2 teas - Banoffee Pie, Jersey Caramel and NY Salted Caramel....great for someone like me with a sweet tooth! I opted to try the NY Salted Caramel recipe which features T2 New York Breakfast tea (a black tea blended with cinnamon and vanilla), along with salt, honey and milk.

This recipe is really quick to make and creates a really satisfying cuppa! All you need to do is brew the tea for approx. 4 minutes, then add the salt, honey and milk to taste.

I'm not going to lie - its a bit bizarre adding salt to a cup of tea, but you've just got to go with it. The recipe called for a pinch of salt, I probably didn't add quite a pinch - I'd definitely advise adding the salt and honey a little by little, tasting after each addition. I then added a splash of milk, which made the tea quite creamy and made it look almost like a hot chocolate!

I really enjoyed this tea - once I got the balance of salt and honey right it tasted lovely. It's hard to describe, but it almost felt like I was actually drinking/eating pudding - it would be perfect after a meal when I have a craving for something sweet. 

I'll definitely be trying some of the other recipes on the T2 website and keeping my eyes peeled for more recipe cards!

Have you tried any of the T2 recipes? We'd love to hear which is your favourite!

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna