Vanilla Tea

This is another tea from Michelle! Many thanks!

I had this with lunch today because I have felt like staying cozy today. This is a good tea for cozy time. The vanilla seems much lighter than Harney’s Vanilla Black, but overall this is a really comfortable, drinkable tea. This is the sort you can sip lots and lots of while enjoying a book. It isn’t flashy, more immediately familiar and undemanding like an old friend. I think I found this one to be more of a cozy comfort than the tea of that name.

Thank you, Michelle!

Thanks so much, Michelle!  I am always willing to try ANY and ALL vanilla teas.   This is another bargain from San Fran herb.   I was really trying to spy the vanilla pieces in this blend but they must be hiding in that black tea.  It’s vanilla, it’s black tea – to be honest this seems to scream at me that it’s a forceful Ceylon tea – like it just wants to be over the top and above that Ceylon flavor profile.  Some may love that, but it’s not my favorite.  So without this vanilla, I would probably pass on this tea.  Like Michelle says in her note, it’s like an ice cream type vanilla, so there must be some flavoring here as well.  Two steeps that resulted in fairly similar in flavor.
Steep #1 //  1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 25 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

I don’t crave often for dessert tea. But when I do, it is tea from Michelle recently. Thank you!

Yes, it is my second cup of this tea. First one reminded me cocoa, but maybe it was a bit affected of puerhs it was sent with. Or my taste (and smell) buds were off. Happens to me somehow very often recently.

But this second steep was… just great. I steeped one tea spoon in 400 ml mug. I let it steep for 4-5 minutes, as I haven’t been too much attentive to time. It was so pure vanilla in aroma. And even better, there was no artificial note. It was like a pure vanilla pod (or it is bean in English?).

In taste, however, the base tea was present. Not so much, no flavours or scents from it, but it wasn’t pure vanilla. That isn’t a flaw though. I liked it was reliable tea base and complements the vanilla very, very well.

Vanilla in taste was mellow, sweet and creamy. The last adjective was the most present in my mind while sipping. Yum!

V is for… Vanilla Tea.

From Michelle. Thank you!

I think next time I might try steeping this at a higher temperature, maybe boiling, to see how it comes out. Michelle’s instructions gave a range of 190° – 212° so I’ll play around with it. This has a really authentic vanilla bean flavor!

Should I do something special for my 100th tasting note, or is it just another cup of tea?

How my tea tastes have changed since my first few reviews when I thought Teavana and Mighty leaf were the best teas, through the Steepster Select experiment, to now when I look for tasty bagged tea or a chocolatey yunnan black or a creamy shu puerh.

I thank the Steepster community for introducing me to Butiki, traveling tea boxes, and secret pumpkin swaps. So many yummy teas I have discovered since logging onto this site!

I do love a bargin, and this Vanilla Tea is just that. To me a bargin is quality at a lower price, and I like the challenge of paying less for a similar good product that others may pay more for. I have tried many steeps looking for a flaw in this tea, could it be an aftertaste, a bitterness, too much astringency? I haven’t found much negative here, its a single note tea, but it does it quite well. It reminds me of a Bryers Ice cream natural vanilla, but not so sweet. This is comfort food at its best, the reason why vanilla is a favorite dessert flavor, and why do other vanilla teas end up with a weird after taste? I am still impressed by every sip and have been unable to oversteep. Is it the vanilla bean or the vanilla flavor that is spot on? Maybe my only complaint is the black tea base isn’t really there, its just a conveyance for the vanilla.
I will order this again, and I will savor the sips of this comforting tea that only needs one flavor note to be delicious.