I am surprised that I haven’t written a tasting note for this one yet. For a while it was my morning tea, nearly everyday.
I really enjoy vanilla. While it is one of the most simple flavors, it is also one of the hardest ones to actually get right. I have had quite a few vanilla teas, many that taste too mineral or too artificial. To me a good vanilla tea has to be creamy, very strongly flavored, work well with milk and sugar and not over power the tea. Wow… Those a lot of requirements…
The leaves of this tea are dark brown, so dark that they seem black unless you stare at them for a while. The scent is sweet and inviting. The tea base smells dark and woodsy. The Ceylon used as the base tea tends to be “moody”, Adagio black teas are way too easy to over steep. So, after a bit of practice the 2 tsp for 12oz of water for 3min was just right.
As the brews, the scent makes it evident (in a 3m radius) that you are steeping vanilla tea. I love this. My kitchen smelling like vanilla is glorious.
The resulting brew is dark brown with a reddish tinge to it. Sadly, all of my glass Bodum tea cups have shattered and I am drinking out of a dark blue mug. I miss being able to look at the colors of tea while I drink them…
Unsweetened, the tea is very creamy followed by evident astringency from the Ceylon. While I have enjoyed it straight, this is a tea that benefits from being sweetened. The sweetness enhances the vanilla making it taste a lot like a hot vanilla ice cream float made in Ceylon! With a dash of milk (or even better, condensed milk or vanilla soy milk!) it is delicious and rich. The vanilla is strong enough to hold up to the milk and make it an easy cup to enjoy.
While it is rather simple, I really enjoy it. I dug it up this morning and remembering how much I used to love it made me smile. I am on my third cup of it today. This is one of my comfort teas. Nothing spectacular, but always there to make me smile. : )
