French Vanilla Decaf

D: Oh man! Bigelow, I do not want you in my cupboard anymore. I wanted some decaf teas. I can’t have a lot of caffeine due to my migraines and my stomach condition, so I can’t drink more than one cup of caffeinated tea a day. I bought the Bigelow variety decaf pack so I could try a bunch of stuff and have some decaf in the house. And so far nearly every flavor has been a huge disappointment.

The French Vanilla has artificial flavoring in it, and when you open the package, that fake vanilla smell comes on really, really strong. I love the taste of vanilla, but only when it’s a natural vanilla. Fake vanilla makes me feel nauseous.

The saving grace of this tea is that the taste is not overwhelmingly vanilla. In fact, it tastes like an extremely plain black tea with just the faintest wisp of a vanilla aftertaste. That aftertaste is pretty artificial, but it tastes more realistic than it smells. The smell really is so awfully overpowering, though. I love breathing in tea. This one brought no enjoyment whatsoever in that regard.

I don’t want to drink this again, but I have two more bags so we’ll see what happens.

This is nothing special. The scent is decent enough — simple, but not overwheming. The taste, though, is merely that of a black bagged tea with the tiniest hint of vanilla. Drinkable if it’s your only choice, but not worth making any effort to get.

I moved abroad almost a decade ago, so when I am back in the US I have the guilty pleasure of wandering through any nearby grocery stores and stocking up on my favoite (usu. Celestial Seasonings) and any intriguing flavors. And as I have a thing for foodie chocolate/vanilla/etc. type teas, I thought this would be a winner (even despite the roobis that I ’ve yet to have a good experience with)

OMG this one was crap! I just can’t put into words what a let down this one is.
With milk, without. Tea bag in for a bit, the whole time. Nada. This is not one I want
to ever drink on purpose again. bleh

I bought this tea because I was in a pinch and really wanted a black decaf tea to have with chocolate cake. It served this purpose well, and was pleasant to drink with milk and sugar. The jury is still out on whether I really enjoy it. The flavor was a little odd – not as vanilla-y as I would have though, and reminded me a little of coffee although it wasn’t exactly bitter. I might prefer tea with a little vanilla extract, if I want a subtle vanilla flavor. I’ll give it another shot tonight, probably.

Backlog.
The artificial flavouring in this tea made it gross. Just gross.

This was a desperation move. I couldn’t find any of the teabags I usually had with me, and this was in our departmental conference room. I didn’t want to sit through class with nothing to drink (habit), so I tried a bag. BLEGH. Bad, artificial vanilla. The scent alone reminded me of a car air freshener. I don’t mind vanilla in teas at all, but it’s definitely got to be real.