My friend drove us down to a nearby DavidsTea after class, and after I picked up a couple of their new ones, we headed down to Silk Road. I picked out a couple, and when I introduced him to the Lapsang Souchong, he sprang for a mini tin of that, plus some Japanese Sour Cherry. Yay!
This was actually my first Silk Road purchase. Loving all things vanilla, I wanted to try this first. My friend commented on the overwhelmingly sweet aroma wafting from the huge canister. And he’s right, I wasn’t expecting that. But it’s sweet in a good way.
Ever smell something one moment and revisit the scent not too long after, only for it to smell completely different? That’s what’s going on now. The dry leaf in my tin smells nothing like it did in the store, where it was an obvious vanilla bean. Now it smells like stewed tomatoes. That’s right. Stewed. Tomatoes.
Once steeped, the stewed tomatoes confusion disappears and it’s back to vanilla bean.
The vanilla is lovely, really. Velvety, almost like vanilla whipped cream. The base is a little too brisk for my liking. Detracts from the smoothness of the vanilla. It makes me want 52teas French Vanilla Assam. I’ve hereby decided that Assam is a better choice than Ceylon when we’re dealing with vanilla.
But if that’s what you are looking for, a Ceylon-based vanilla, this one is very well blended and it’s worth trying.
