London Fog Cocoa
Back in my “gotta have Starbucks on the way to class” days, I fell in love with their tea lattes. They weren’t on the menu at the time, but I found the idea online, and they can be made with any variety of tea the store has in stock. It’s like a latte, but with tea! So ingenious! Tea lattes were the perfect pick-me-up for someone who neither liked the taste of coffee (unless there was a truckload of sugar in it) nor tolerated caffeine particularly well (I once had a coffee before a major exam and spent the whole test shaking, dizzy, and tachycardic). Rich and creamy, with a light, herbal flavor and just the right amount of sugar, tea lattes became a haven. My favorite was the London fog, made with Earl Grey tea with just a hint of citrus. Somehow, it tasted a bit like Lucky Charms, my favorite cereal as a kid. Now, I make the same lattes with coconut milk and let me tell you, they taste just like I remember. But if a tea latte is what happens when tea meets coffee… what happens if you bring in the ultimate winter beverage? This London Fog Cocoa, made with coconut milk and carob powder and sweetened to taste with maple syrup, is a creamy, comforting flavor explosion!
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London Fog Cocoa
Ingredients
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 4 bags Earl Grey tea
- 1/4 cup carob powder
- 2 tabelspoons whipped cream optional
Equipment
Instructions
- Combine the milk, syrup, vanilla, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Remove from heat and steep the tea bags for 10 minutes.
- Remove the tea bags, then ad the chocolate, return the saucepan to medium-low heat, and stir until well-mixed.
- Top with whipped cream, if desired.
I saw this recipe earlier today and decided to make a version of it. I left out the carob and used less maple syrup but followed the rest of the recipe. It smelled really good and it tasted good at first but I drank about 6 oz of it and then felt nauseous. About 20 minutes later I had quite a bad stomach ache. I think that drinking so much fat at once is hard on my stomach, or maybe I’ve just had too much coconut lately. Do you ever have a similar reaction to warm coconut milk?
Anyway, I have decided that warm, separated coconut milk is just not that good and I think it would actually be easier on my stomach for me to drink something that was made with water and heavy cream or to just have plain tea.
Coconut can be rough on the stomach for a lot of reasons, often because of its high inulin content. It’s something I save for occasional use and special treats like this one. You could definitely dilute it for recipes like this or use other types of milk you tolerate better!