Well, this one was a bust for me. Someone else described it as “dusty”, and I have to agree. I knew I would dislike it as soon as I smelled the dry leaves because it smells of vanillin and not vanilla beans. The smell is very flat, lacking the subtlety and full bodied-ness of the beans.
Once brewed, the leaves look great. Full green leaves. Definitely a Chinese green base, and the tea itself actually tastes great but the fake vanilla smells terrible. I even tried adding a piece of vanilla bean that I had, and some vanilla sugar, but the damage was done. The only reason I didn’t give this a lower score is because if you let it cool so that the smell goes away, it’s actually an ok green tea.
