Vegan Dark Chocolate Mate

First, let me say how excited I am to find a tea I actually like!  I am not a tea drinker at all.  My daughter and husband drink tea everyday and I always cringed when they would ask if I wanted any.  I know tea is good for you, but gosh the taste, I couldn't get passed the earthy flavor.

So when I saw this recipe in the magazine Naturally, I just had to try it.  I mean it has chocolate in it, why wouldn't I like it? 

Now I am happy to say I like tea!  That is I like dark chocolate mate.  The magazine calls this drink a hot chocolate, but it does have tea in it so it's tea to me!

I did make some changes to the recipe, not huge ones.  Instead of cocoa I used organic raw cacao,  and organic raw cacao nibs; I used organic hemp milk instead of almond milk. 

Ingredients:

2 cups filtered waster

2 t organic Yerba mate leaves

2 t organic raw cocoa nibs

2 t organic raw cacao powder

1/4 cup organic hemp milk (opitional)

1 T organic maple syrup (opitional)

Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan.  Turn off heat and stir in Yerba mate leaves and cacao nibs.

Brew for 5 minutes.  Strain tea and whisk in the cacao powder until dissolved.

Add hemp milk and syrup (if using).

Serve hot!