Honeybush Vanilla

This is hard to review… I generally don’t love honeybush, there is something floral almost soapy in the aftertaste that makes me generally avoid them. On the other hand, I am obsessed with vanilla… So given that this is actually really cheap for Teavana (and in general…) I figured it was worth a try. It has sat in my cabinet for a while, I think I even sent some off in a swap at some point… But today is the first time I actually taste it.

I have had a long day, and I have an even longer day ahead of me. Tomorrow I have to give classes (I volunteered to do it for 4 weeks…) to a class of 5th graders from low income families at 7 am and then go to work, somehow live through the day (with tough meetings, of course…) and then get home at around 9pm… I am not looking forward to it… Caffeine usually has no effect on me, but to be on the safe side I took it as an opportunity to try this herbal tea…

Dry, it smells delicious. Very vanilla and very creamy. The honeybush floral notes are in tail end of the scent, but not too strong… All in all a pleasure to sniff at. The redish bits of honeybush have a few brown pieces mixed in, I assume that is the natural vanilla pieces that it supposedly has.

I brewed it in a dark mug, so I couldn’t really sea the color of the brew. It still smelled very good. The vanilla and cream were predominant with the honeybush in the background.

Tastewise, plain there was too much honeybush going on for my liking… Sooo…. I made it a late! And it was delicious. It tasted just like vanilla Nesquick I used to drink (or rather still do once in a while as a guilty pleasure…) when I was a kid. The honebush was still there, but it was played down and almost covered up by the vanilla and cream.

I am happily sipping the rest of my tea while I dread waking up super early tomorrow… Well… It’s for a good cause! : )

Ninavampi sent this to me, and I’m certain I’ve tried it hot at some point, but as it doesn’t appear that I wrote about it at the time, I honestly can’t remember what I thought of it. I can’t have thought it was particularly outstanding, as I’m sure I would have been able to remember that.

Instead of another round of hot, however, I made the rest of it in a cold brew, which I initially thought was slightly odd. That only lasted until I got over the fact that it’s a honeybush base, not a tea one.

The vanilla comes out very nicely in the cold brew and it mixes well with the slightly wooden flavour of the honeybush. I find it’s at it’s very best when it has just come out of the fridge and is still as chilled as possible. The honeybush starts to take over a bit as it warms up.

Yeah, just a short one here. Those wigsaws don’t do themselves, you know!

This came as a Christmas gift from my brother with 3 other Teavana teas, I am tempted to tell him I don’t need any more tea but it’s hard to pass up tea gifts, isn’t it?

I’m not a big expert on honeybush, I’ve just had a few that came from 52Teas. I think its more appealing than rooibos but it seems to be more rare.

I let this steep for over 6 minutes by accident, my cup came out really dark. The resulting flavor seems to me like carob. It reminds me of Teecino which I don’t really mind. The vanilla is a nice addition here (but not really prominent) and then I ended up adding almond milk which doesn’t seem to be as good for tea as my usual Silk soymilk. It does have a pretty sweet aftertaste which is good for a dessert tea.

It is acceptable but I doubt I’ll be clamoring for more when the current supply runs out. I am inspired to look for some more honeybush teas now, however.

This tisane is relatively nice by itself, but ohhhhhh it really shines as a blending agent. I can pretty much take a teaspoon of any rooibos blend in my cupboard and pair it with a teaspoon of this, and it becomes the most delicious vanilla creme concoction imaginable! Last night I used Samovar’s Berry Rooibos and this: Raspberry. Creme. Heaven.

I must admit that I hate this fact! I didn’t want to fall in love with a tea from Teavana. I certainly didn’t want to love a Fake Creme Flavor … even more than a Real Vanilla Bean! But I do. It’s shameful, but I do.

My pouch is getting very low and I can’t wait to get paid next week so I can order an enormous bag of artificial vanilla goodness.

Hmph!

P.S. Teavana says there is real vanilla in this, and there probably is. BUT there is definitely a creme flavoring added as well. I’ve had a few different vanilla rooibos tisanes, and have even added vanilla beans myself, and this has something else. It could be a “natural” creme flavoring. But it is not solely real vanilla.

A nice, simple tea I enjoy drinking at night to wind down. No weird woody flavor, but there’s something in there besides pure vanilla. It’s not unpleasant, I just can’t identify it. I’ve heard this is a great tea for mixing, I’ll have to try it!

I haven’t been able to shake this cold. I don’t know where it goes when it leaves me, but after a brief vacation it always seems to slink back in just enough to reduce my ability to properly taste food, no more and no less, which is rather cunning…any more and I might be compelled to seek proper treatment to kick it for good.

Having been therefore naughty in my reckless consumption of things I can taste — i.e., some chai with milk that assuredly does not help my mucus situation — I am prescribing myself some tea to remedy what some of my other tea has done to me. This sounds irresponsible, but I count it as a twofer.

This was an interesting choice. I think I overdid the amount of tea that I steeped by just a hair, but it didn’t really suffer for all that. The first cup was not as good as the second…it seems like the sweetness from the vanilla accrues, and the squeaky-clean mouth sensation that it left behind seemed as though it wanted some (I can’t believe I’m saying this, because I rarely like it) very subtle mint, or some other sort of ‘cooling’ addition. That last could just be because I’m still a little bit under the weather, I don’t know. I’d like to try it iced, and can see combining it with all sorts of teas for that little extra bit of sweet. Not my first pick for an evening tea, but a nice option to have, and it seems to live up to its end of the ‘keep my pipes clear’ bargain.

I am a major sweets fan. Actually, I’m really a fan-atic. If I hear about a naturally sweet tea, I’m there! The sales person at our local Teavana store placed the huge open cannister of this tea under my nose while she waved the lid to force the incredible aroma of this blend up my nostrils. I was immediately sold!

While brewing this tea, a wonderful sweet smell filled the room. It wasn’t distinctly vanilla or honey, but a nice combination of both. After six minutes of steeping at 212 degrees, a rich dark amber color appeared.

The flavor of this tea is incredibly smooth and sweet. The vanilla is not overpowering and the taste is very natural. The honey flavor is definitely active and integrates perfectly with the honeybush and vanilla. The aftertaste is sweet and lingers with no bitterness to report.

This is a delicious sweet herbal tea. I also tried brewing it with an equal portion of Teavana’s Spice Of Life tea. That produced an AMAZING sweet, nutty, and fruity blend! This Honeybush Vanilla tea may become my go-to variety when I feel the urge to sweeten up ANY of my morning teas.

Fan-freaking-tastic. I went out on a limb a little when I bought this the first time, but man, was it worth it. The sweet, rounded note at the end has so much sustain (now I’m talking in guitar terms, oh dear) that even in the minutes between sips I still have that marvelous taste. When I first got this, I opened the bag and it smelled like frosting—no lie. I’ve since learned that the fragrance of Teavana’s teas can be super strong at first. This tastes nothing at all like frosting, and is malty, smoooooooth, and satisfying. I’ve recently been experimenting with multiple steeps for this, and it’ll go at least 3 times while still tasting yummy (and, as sophistre said, it does lose all of the very-slight astringency that I feel honeybush has after the first steeping.) I drink this all day. You should too. Also great when blended with Teasource’s Lazy Susan.

Another gift from mum! Thanks mum!

MMM I LOVE THIS! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Sweet and smooth, the vanilla is perfect. It’s got the right amount of rusticy rooibos flavor to even out the sweetness to the right level. This is what I want before bed. I will have lovely dreams tonight!

I also brewed this in my fancy new Teavana single serving tea strainer thingy. What a great invention! I am a happy camper.

This mixes well with literally everything. It’s fabulous on its own but is also great with my Adagio Chocolate and Hazelnut teas. I think this is just a good all around base for flavored teas and it cuts down on the caffeine in your cup if that’s something you’re looking for.

I just ordered a bunch of flavored teas from Adagio and I think I will be mixing them with this a ton. It’s about $4.80 per 2oz, which is good for Teavana but I think I can find it cheaper elsewhere for the same quality or better.

If you’re a Teavana fan, put this in your cupboard, you’ll use it!

I’m a big fan of the rooibos and honeybush teas. I really love vanilla too. I didn’t pick up the vanilla so much in this tea. It does have a creamy taste to it. It has the spicy residual flavor I expect from rooibos or honeybush.

There is a lovely woman who goes to a three-day camping event that I attend every year, puts up a canvas wall tent, and sells iced teas of 7 or 8 different types. I like a lot of what she brings; she obviously knows her tea and knows how to brew it and keep it tasting good in the plastic dispensers. Also it’s usually hot as hell and just about any drink tastes good when you need it that much.

But the one I keep coming back to is her honeybush tea, and now—ta da!—I think I’ve found it! (Or rather, my friend Sarah found it for me, and gifted me with it today, along with other yummy stuff in a gift bag. I adore Sarah!) I can’t recall if “The Tea Lady” at my camping event uses vanilla honeybush or just honeybush. But I know she sweetens it slightly, and it’s just perfect on a hot day.

Having just discussed happy memories of iced honeybush, here I am drinking it hot. It is January 1st in Wisconsin, after all. It’s a lovely surprise to find it’s good hot too! I have a spoonful or two of Teavana’s sugar crystals in it, and (because I’m kind of a sugar fiend) it is really tasty, but I tasted it before sugaring it and it was very good that way too: smooth, sweetish, slightly woody. The pre-brewing leaf seems to have a lot of woody-looking bits in it too, more than I remember seeing in other honeybush teas, but then maybe I wasn’t paying attention.

I can say that the honeybush teas I’ve tried in pursuit of the lovely, sweet, resinous taste I get in that wonderful Tea Lady’s iced tea, have been a disappointment. This one: not a bit. Can’t wait to try it iced when springtime comes!

Made 16oz with 2 teaspoons of tea to share with my boyfriend. It was alright, but very sweet. I’ll have to try it without honey or blended with something else to offset its sweetness (maybe peppermint?) or maybe make it weaker. For now, though, this stays at my boyfriend’s house.

Vanilla. I can sense some of the vanilla in this, but I don’t know… I’m not sure how to rate this. Not sure if I really like this, as I’ve tasted better. Thankfully I don’t have too much of this. I split the small amount with a cousin of mine.

It’s very cold this morning in Ohio yet I’m very awake. So I opted for something without caffeine, I may need it later. I prepared this with milk and a little sugar. I’ve blended this tea with others in my collection and it always adds a little sweetness.

Probably one of the best things I’ve ever tasted, honestly.

That honey taste is unbelievable, especially to me because I tend not to care much for honey or honey flavor.

Barely needs any sugar (again, notable for me, I’m known to oversugar stuff occasionally), makes a beautiful deep red color, and tastes unbelievably good with a lovely, sweet aftertaste. Just finished up my jar of it yesterday and I’m still lamenting it a bit.

I bought this to mix with Matevana. I’m glad I did because it’s really sweet and adds a nice smooth vanilla and honey mix to the earthy chocolate of Matevana. I have not tried it on it’s own but have given it to my husband when he wasn’t well and his throat hurt.

Mixed with My Morning Mate. Better than I expected.

Maybe it’s me, but this tea was WAY to strong. While the taste of the tea wasn’t terrible the aroma was to much for me and took away from enjoying it at all. Maybe I’ll try it again sometime… :-/

I don’t care for any of the Rooibos teas or it’s cousins. I don’t know why, but the aftertaste just doesn’t sit well with me. My wife loves it though. This is her favorite.