Organic Honey Vanilla White

Woo hoo I finally tried this tea thanks to RachanaC! Ummm nom nom nom this is so good and silky feeling and the vanilla and honey taste as if they were creamed together in perfect harmony. I find myself gulping this tea and then sipping it and maximize the pleasure I am getting from this… I am off to order a big tin of this while it is on sale! I can totally see this as being one of my “go to” teas like my jasmine pearls…something I can enjoy at anytime of the day. Ugh, this is SOOO good!

As I am not a huge fan of white tea because the flavor is to light for me this on the other hand made me appreciate a light tea. I can best describe this tea as gold, smooth, mellow, with a touch of cream and a dash of sweet tea. The flavors appear to be dancing slowly in rhythm in my mouth. I can’t wait to try this as a second steep. For now this tea has made me decide not to give up so easily on white teas because you can be surprised if you find just the right one. Thanks LeafSpa Tea this is a delicious jem!

I have Rachel to thank for sending me a sampling of this tea – and boy, am I glad she did! This is FANTASTIC!

I can see why everyone has rated this one so high. It delivers exactly as the name suggests, delicious honey and vanilla flavors on a light, white tea base.

So delicious! I just wrote a review for this one for the SororiTEA Sisters blog… it will publish soon!

It’s still hot (although not quite as bad as yesterday) and my AC is still broke. So I decided to have this cold in honor of todays Steepster Select!

6.5g leaf
6oz hot water
12oz cold water

Mmmm… light, sweet… a thicker mouth feel due to the honey and a perfect balance of flavors. The vanilla is stronger than I expected and is balanced perfectly by the complex, rich, and savory sweetness of the honey as well as the white tea base. It doesn’t have a refreshing thirst quenching crispness to it, but it is very good. It’s a perfect tea for every white tea lover- sweet enough that it doesn’t need extra sweetener, and not overly sweet for a person, like myself, who practically never sweetens her tea. And I’m not even a honey lover! Or a honey liker really… The only thing that made me momentarily debate not giving this a 100 is that I find it too strong using their steeping parameters, but I decided against it. This makes me want to run and by ROT’s vanilla bean honey for my chai! If you decide you do need more sweetness, I’d suggest using that even though I have yet to try it. Sounds like it’d make sense and be delicious:)

This is a refreshing for the summer. I brewed it over nite in the fridge using the cold brewing method and my Bodum iced tea pitcher (which is a great size- not too big and not too small). This tasted flowery , sweet like honey, and a perfect subtle mint flavor…highly recommended…..

Just made a pitcher of this iced as it’s going to be a hot and steamy one today. I absolutely love this tea and no sweetener required.

Thanks to Rachel for providing me with this very generous sample!

First, a backlog – I tried this cold brewed yesterday. It was my first time ever doing that, but it’s also the first time I’ve had a white tea in a while that the cold brew would ostensibly work for. So I tried it using a 750 ml insulated water bottle that had a mesh strainer in it (perfect how that worked out).

8 hours later and the tea was ice cold and tasted faintly of honey and vanilla in the sip. A little watery, which I then figured out had to be because you measure white teas by weight and not teaspoons or tablespoons, so the fault was entirely mine. But it was still good. Still really good. And I sensed it’s potential. :)

Today I used those leaves and then the rest of my sample to make about 16 oz of tea in my Breville using the parameters below. The liquor was a little dark for white teas, a medium yellowish color. It smelled very honeyish, which was very pleasant and new, as I didn’t get much of a scent the first time around with the cold brew.

This time the mouthfeel was just what I imagined it to be from the name – thick (not cloying or unpleasantly so) with both honey and vanilla laced delicately above the white tea flavor. It is not bitter at all, even with such a long steep time.

As it cools (and the last of it has gotten quite cold because I am SO SLOW when I drink tea) THIS is what I imagined the iced tea would taste like, and I can see where a lot of people were over the moon for it.

Sigh. I’m so glad I got to try it- and sad I missed buying it when it was still available…if anyone ever gets wind of that supposed liquidation sale I will be in the throng of people snapping this up.

I enjoyed this but not as much as my fellow steeps, of course because I’m a hard sell with flavorings. That said, I appreciated the smoothness and subtle minty aftertaste that Lori mentioned — a bit of a tingle at the end, interesting for a tea without mint. The vanilla and honey blend well. Although it’s soft and not perfumey, the vanilla overtakes the flavor of the tea, itself. I think it’d be a better iced tea, though, as everyone mentions, and I’ll look forward to that. But I’m rating here for hot, not iced…

Up until I tried some Silver Needles from a random teashop, I thought I’d never have any interest in White Teas. They are expensive and, from what I had thought, way too light for my liking (Oolong is usually my cup of tea),

Turns out I was totally wrong and with that now known, I decided to order this one from leafspa.

As with my previous white experiences, the taste was delicate but augmented by the honey flavor. Vanilla was more present in the aroma but could hardly be tasted (not a bad thing). Very soothing and comforting tea that somehow has a Winter feel to it.

Overall the Honey flavor is interesting and certainly gives a unique taste to this tea. Not an every day tea by all means but one to keep in your rotation.

I love honey and vanilla, white tea naturally is sweet too. This tea makes a really good combination of ingredients. I really enjoyed this cup.