Vanilla Black

I often write off vanilla flavored things as too plain, but I forget how much I love the flavor of real vanilla, as in vanilla bean. I ordered a little sample of this with my recent Harneys order to see how it is. The dry leaves smell a little musty and smokey with a wonderful strong aroma of vanilla bean. It kind of reminds me of vanilla icing. The tea itself has a rich vanilla aroma. The flavor is pretty simple, just a sweet malty vanilla flavor and finish. There is a delicate vanilla bean aftertaste that is very nice. Besides the obvious vanilla, I am tasting a little smokiness in the cup, which I am assuming comes from the black tea base. I feel like I’ve tasted the same smokiness in some of Harney’s other black tea blends, namely Black Currant. There is no bitterness at all, but it’s not quite as smooth as I expected. I am enjoying this cup, and would probably order a tin of it. I do wish it were more pure vanilla flavored with a little less smokiness, but it does give a nice complexity to the cup!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell slightly musty and smokey with a strong aroma of vanilla bean. Tea liquor aroma is of rich vanilla.
-Tea liquor is a clear orange brown color.
-Sweet malty vanilla flavor and finish. Delicate authentic vanilla bean aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A simple cup with a smokey maltiness and the flavor of rich vanilla bean. No bitterness.

This was one of the few Mondays that I looked forward to! Thank you ashmanra, for sending me this Harney & Sons sample to taste!

When I opened the sample packet, a light vanilla aroma was noticeable. I steeped the very black short leaves for five minutes at 212 degrees. The brewed color was a dark amber.

The flavor of the first sip was smooth and breakfast-tea-like with mild vanilla undertones. As I drank more and more of this selection, the vanilla taste became more obvious.

I did detect a slight twinge of something additional with the vanilla flavor. I am not quite sure what it was. It wasn’t bitter and it wasn’t astringent but it did seem to be pointing in that direction. I noticed a similar attribute in another vanilla tea I tried a while back. Maybe it is just the chemical reaction of the vanilla bean when boiled in tea.

In any event, this was a pleasant enough tea with sufficient vanilla flavor to keep me from craving more. It became even more satisfying with a couple of English tea biscuits!

this tea seems pretty well liked by steepsterites, and i’m always glad when someone finds a tea to love xox … but … and you knew there was a but … it did not impress me. i’m gonna have to give it a few more rounds of course, once is never enough, but i’ve met other vanillas i liked more.

Finished off my sample of this! Of course I had it with my missed shortbread cookies :] What a delicious snack.
When I first opened the bag it smelled like vanilla bean cup cakes. The flavor is very light but blends well with the malty black tea base. Very simple. Not a whole lot to say.

hmmm. I am taste testing this a few days after drinking the Vanilla Black from Rishi.

The Rishi tea definitely wins in terms of aroma + organic and fair trade.

However I am scoring this tea slightly higher because it has a smoother mouth-feel and taste. The vanilla is subtle and nice. I needed some soymilk to really bring it out and now I’m pretty happy.

Not sure I would buy this again because I am not MAD for vanilla, but if you are looking for a good vanilla tea you might try this one.

Brewed a little hotter than normal, resulting in an ever-so-slightly smoky finish, but no bitterness. This is a pretty simple afternoon/dessert tea, quite satisfying.

Delicious vanilla aroma and flavor, nicely balanced with black tea. Although I usually take my tea without anything in it, I do prefer a splash of half & half to enhance the already slightly creamy brew. Hold the sugar, though, I am not a fan of over-sweetened drinks and this one is naturally just a bit sweet on its own.

Recently I’ve been trying local honey in my tea as a way to battle seasonal allergies. I thought vanilla and honey sounded lovely and it has been. I have sweetened this with sugar as well and enjoyed it. I usually make tea lattes with it and really enjoy the vanilla flavour. It’s not overpowering (could vanilla ever be?) but it’s strong enough that when I got down to the end of the tin I was able to blend one teaspoon straight black tea (Allegro) and one teaspoon of this and still taste some vanilla. (My desire to stretch it out for so long says a lot – not the least of the message is that I need to find someplace closer that stocks this tea.)

This is a good vanilla black tea. I find the flavor a good balance between authenticity (Adagio’s in particular always tastes fake, more like frosting, to me) and strength of flavor (vanilla teas flavored just with vanilla bean tend to be overpowered by the black tea). This will likely be included in my next order to Harney.

I’m backlogging from a weekend w/o internet, so I can’t remember anything more nuanced about the flavor. It was very satisfying though.

Sweet and vanilla in flavor. Not too strong or overpowering. Pretty good dessert or afternoon tea if you feel like vanilla flavor. Does not taste artificial at all.