This is the kind of math we foodies understand: One part tea plus one part chocolate equals a heavenly escape from the craziness of life, which is exactly what TeaTime and Wei of Chocolate intended for Wednesday night's tea and chocolate tasting.
Lisa Reinhardt, the mastermind behind the organic, fair-trade, vegan chocolates, first sprayed each of us with a flower essence intending to induce joy and "wash away the bad of the day and clear our electromagnetic fields of bad energy."
Reindhardt's chocolates also have these mood-altering, flavorless essences in them - along with pure dark chocolate, herbs, spices and organic cane sugar.
We're not so sure about the power of "sympathetic resonance" in changing our energy, but we're sure of one thing: These chocolates are damn good, which put us in a better mood.
(Click through for the tea and chocolate pairings and the host of reasons to indulge, daily.)
TeaTime paired complimentary teas with each of the chocolates: -Indian Chai with the Daily Gratitude chocolate - both chalked full of cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. -Moon Palace green tea with the Pure Joy chocolate - both have hints of citrus and Pure Joy has the essence of the Lotus Wei flowers. -Terai Kamala with the Wei Dark - a Darjeeling tea from the black tea family with floral and herbaceous notes and a plain, robust, dark chocolate.
The best part: This is a purely sinless indulgence. Reinhardt tells us eating dark chocolate -without all the harmful additives and fillers found in most commercial brands - daily can reduce the risk of heart disease, improve brain function, reduce stress, and make our skin look better.
The worst part: We didn't get to hear much about the tea...
Both tea and chocolate have powerful antioxidants, but, Reinhardt warns, milk binds with the antioxidants and prevents your body from absorbing them. So sorry - milk and white chocolate are out as far as having health reasons to back up your sweet fix.
As far as making your own tea and chocolate pairings: "Just have fun with it!" says Reinhardt. Just like wine and cheese, it's all about your palette. The TeaTime ladies agree: "Play around to find what you like."
To all you chocolate-haters: back off. Reinhardt says it's like a daily vitamin - and it tastes a hell of a lot better than those Flinstone chewables we had as kids.