Vanilla Orchid

Preliminary thoughts on the new Steepster design – awesome! I haven’t had much time to explore it yet, but it looks like a lot of suggestions have been implemented, and it looks pretty slick too. I’m sure there will be bugs/issues, but I like what I see so far!

Anyhow, onto the tea. Sipdown! Finished this off at the boy’s house while watching the Lord of the Rings for the first time. We only made it through one 4-hr extended version movie, so it looks like the next couple weekends may be similar – which is good for my tea consumption :) Getting back to the actual tea, this is one that always smelled better than it tasted, to me. The aroma is divine, all vanilla-oolong sweetness, but the flavour is just lacking. I’ve had better-flavoured straight oolongs. That said, it’s still a tasty enough cup, especially the first infusion. Won’t be picking it up again (if it’s still available), but glad to have tried it.

This is my favorite oolong thus far. It’s lovely and light, and oh so delicious. The vanilla flavor goes together so nicely with the oolong. Although I got three steeps out of these leaves there was an obvious deterioration in flavor as compared with each preceding steep. That first steep though…oh my! Heaven

She’s a keeper!

Today is a DAVIDsTea sipdown day, which is not intentional, but isnt a bad thing at all.
This starts by tasting greener, and it becomes more creamy as it cools, and the vanilla flavor is really allowed to come into its own. This is so dense that it reminds me of vanilla yougurt, especially with the oolong green-ness, which is like vanilla greek yougurt.
Theres no urgency to this, but I might get some more of this at some point. But for today, its a sipdown!

Sunday Sipdown! A lot of bits in the bottom of the bag, but this was quite a tasty cup. A very good vanilla oolong, but I don’t think I will restock just because there are a lot of other teas out there to try! It was very creamy and yummy while it lasted though. Oh actually, I might get a little bit more because this is a favorite of lots of my friends. See previous notes!

Yay! I’m in New York! After the horrible hurricane my flight got cancelled. I was comming because I had been invited to the marathon race directors program and was super excited…. Eventually thing worked out, flights started leaving again. I finally got to New York, only to find out that the racewas cancelled the next day. I am really sorry for all the people that were affected by the hurricane, I hope that everyone is OK! But I am also really sad for all of the runners who worked really hard to be able to run the race and payed to get to NYConly to find out the race was cancelled 2 days before the race….

On a positive note, I made it into my first David’s Tea shop!!! I had to really control myself and be frugal… Or as frugal as you can possibly be when you love tea and walk into a David’s Tea Shop!!! After I finally picked out my tea, I got a free cup of this. Oh my WOW vanilla and smooth sweetness. I have never had anything like this. It is by far the most enchanting and well achieved flavored vanilla oolong I have ever had.

I didn’t get to go through the entire brewing process on my own, since it was made for me in a paper cup, but I think that I managed to pull out the little Baggie in time for it to not oversteep. The little bit of scent that made it through the opening in the lid was incredible. Pure vanilla with a hint of oolong to remind you that you aren’t drinking vanilla extract, but true delicious tea!

Each sip was increasingly smooth and the vanilla wrapped around me in the cold of the wind on NYC in November. I was in tea heaven… The vanilla was a vanilla bean ice cream sort of vanilla. The kind that promises to be sweet, smooth and provide instant smiles.

All in all my trip to NYC, while not productive, has been great fun and great for Christmas shopping. I will surely enjoy my last day here!!!

Also, I have to share this, I bought a BREVILLE ONE TOUCH!!! I did it! I gave in and bought the last one they had at William Sonoma!!! I even got 10% discount on it since it was on display! I can’t wait to go home and try it! I will take it with me carry on… Wish me luck with the trip and it getting through security! I would be devasted if it didn’t!

This is something I have been craving for a while but have not been motivated enough to go into the store and get it. Nor did I want 50 g of it so I did not add it to my most recent DAVIDs order. Today, I went into DAVIDs to grab something for a friend and since I was there I figured why not grab some of this tea. Of course I started brewing up a cup as soon as I got home and it is just the vanilla pudding flavor I so desperately desired. Delicious!

In other news, I asked the saleswoman and she told me the Spring line comes out March 5 and she was quite excited about the new products (though would give me no hints as to what they may be). Unfortunately, I will be in Florida when the stuff is released so I won’t get a chance to try it until I get back.

I forgot I owned this tea! I’m noticing teas on the right side of my bookcase, in the DavidsTea tins get shuffled to the back and forgotten.

I’m drinking a huge mug of this tea while I’m working on my 100th blog post! WOOOO http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/100th-oolong-owl-post/

I love the creamy, floral and grassy flavors of this oolong! Mmmm floral pudding oolong tea! Very yummy!

Vanilla pudding custard tea.

…I can’t think of any other way to write this note.

Conversation between this tea and me:
Tea: mmm key change, you’re so sexy.
me: …thanks?
tea: mmm yeah!
me: …
Tea: what’s wrong?
me: Nothing!
Tea: No seriously. You’re different. What is it?
me: no, you’re different. I think we need a break. Maybe start seeing other people.
tea: what are you talking about? didn’t you just drink me last week and have your love all reaffirmed?
me: but that’s just it. You’re not reliable. not consistent. And I need me a tea that’s dependable, you know? I just never know which version of you I’m going to get.
Tea: Well is it my fault that that you are steep challenged?
Me: It probably is, actually
Tea: That’s always been the problem with you, hasn’t it. It’s always someone else’s fault.
me: are you seriously giving me attitude? You have, like, a mood disorder or something.
Tea: there you go being judgmental again.

…and so that’s it. Finishing up the tin, but no repurchasing, even though it’s very possible that I’ll have it next time and be completely enthralled all over again. I honestly don’t know what really accounts for the drastic changes this tea goes through in my life, but I do know that I don’t appreciate a tea that’s this temperamental. If I have a love/hate relationship with a tea, we simply can’t last together, you know? Especially because my tea needs to be my guaranteed bit of enjoyment, and if the guarantee is all up in the air, it ‘aint gonna happen. So, we’re breaking up. No second chances. No friends with benefits. We’re through.

Rarely am I that drawn to one of DavidsTea’s new flavors, but this one was intriguing to me and early reviews were positive. Vanilla flavoring on an orchid oolong, could be promising. It was actually the main tea that I wanted to get a sample of when I went to DavidsTea on Bleecker a couple of weekends ago.

I didn’t even thing about it until just now, but I do have another vanilla orchid tea that I like, but it is a black tea base. Vanilla is an orchid itself, after all, and very fresh vanilla beans can have a lovely, light floral quality.

The steeped tea smells nice, very floral and orchid-y, but also super sweet and creamy vanilla accompanying it. This is quite a lovely tea! I am really enjoying it a lot. A great balance of creamy vanilla and floral orchid oolong. I’m really quite impressed, and I could definitely see myself stocking more of this.