According to the Datassential 2024 Food Trends Report, 77% of consumers are excited for new foods and beverages to pop up in 2024. While the staples are always appreciated on a coffee and tea menu, your customers may be looking for the next new trend beside the typical listings of Earl Greys and flat whites.
It’s Not Tea or Coffee, it’s ChocolaTea®
Enter ChocolaTea® (pronounced “chalk-la-tea”). This unique drink, which appeals to both coffee and tea drinkers, is made by roasting a proprietary blend of the finest organic, ethically sourced fair-trade cacao beans in the world, used to make chocolate. “I roast them with a certain profile. If you cook it too far, you burn the beans because they're a little more sensitive,” says Global Teas, LLC Founder and CEO Jeff Eisenberg, maker of ChocolaTea®, who says he then grinds the beans for brewing.
To properly brew ChocolaTea® it has to steep, and Eisenberg says a French press works best. Ultra-fine tea baskets are another option. He also recommends Moccamaster machines—he even created a custom stainless-steel basket for the machines and is working on customization for other brands.
The result is something that’s not a tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, but a unique hybrid beverage all its own. ChocolaTea® features a smooth, dark chocolate flavor with hints of fruit, caramel, and nuts. However, the bitterness that is usually found in dark chocolate and coffee is very slight in this beverage, and as a result, most people drink it black without any added milks or sweeteners although it can also be enjoyed with any of those. It can be enjoyed hot, cold, and even frothed.
A Good Choice for Health-Conscious Consumers
The drink also has many health benefits. It is rich in antioxidants; low in caffeine, calories, and carbs; and naturally sugar-free, dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, and vegan friendly. The drink retains many of the benefits of dark chocolate without the indulgence thanks to leaving the beans minimally processed and avoiding excessive amounts of heat, which can result in the loss of nutrients.
These health benefits will especially appeal to today’s consumers, who are looking for better-for-you products to help them maintain healthy and balanced eating and drinking.
Global Teas offers 10 varieties of ChocolaTea® flavors, including the original Dark Chocolate, Double Dark Chocolate Dream, Dark Chocolate Fresh Mint, Dark Chocolate Ginger, and Dark Chocolate Chai. All of the flavors are made with real organic spices so drinkers reap any health benefits of those ingredients as well. For example, there is real ginger in the Dark Chocolate Ginger flavor, so drinkers will enjoy digestive benefits. Eisenberg also teased a new flavor of ChocolaTea® that will debut in September.
Some of the ChocolaTea® offerings also incorporate Global Teas’ proprietary house roast coffee blend. For example, one of the most popular flavors, ChocolaTea® Dark Chocolate Magic Coffee, features roasted cacao, coffee, cinnamon, and Madagascar vanilla. Other popular flavors with coffee include ChocolaTea® Dark Chocolate Mexican Coffee and ChocolaTea® Dark Chocolate Mocha.
In addition to the ChocolaTea® line of products, Global Teas also offers a line of specialty blend coffees as well as red and green rooibos teas in a variety of flavors. A standout of the rooibos tea line is the Rooibos Melktert Tea: A tea version of a South African favorite desert. The tea features a special blend of flavors, including vanilla, cinnamon, mullein flowers, calendula flowers, and more. The tea is meant to mimic the custardy flavor of the milk tart, a favorite dessert of South Africans.
How to Market ChocolaTea®
With a product as unique as ChocolaTea®, operators and tea sellers may be wondering how to market it. Eisenberg says it’s important to first realize the exclusivity of the product you possess. “It diversifies their product mix,” he says. “They likely will have a monopoly on a niche my product within their market for a long time. They'll get routine business from those who like ChocolaTea® because they can't buy it next door or anywhere else.”
From there, Eisenberg recommends putting ChocolaTea® on a specialty drinks menu since its not coffee or tea. “It catches people’s attention,” he says, noting that he always helps his clients with learning how to prepare ChocolaTea® and in the creation of drink recipes.
With consumers always looking for something new, Eisenberg says that rotating a flavor that’s not on the specialty menu as part of a barista special menu can be a great way to introduce and test out new flavors.
ChocolaTea® can be a great way for tea sellers to diversify their offerings as well as offer a product that may delight both tea and coffee drinkers—a feat in itself!
For more information, contact Jeff Eisenberg, Founder and CEO of Global Teas, LLC at (234) 529-8900, [email protected], or www.globalteas.co.
