Bing Cherry Vanilla

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. My life has been absolutely crazy since the 1st of this month. I interviewed for a position within my company that would involve relocating to Florida. I still haven’t heard too much, other than that I have made it to the “narrowed down” list. (Whatever that means.) My patience is truly being tested. I’m trying to remain positive…but not to the point of devastation if I don’t get it.

Anyway, on to the tea. Unfortunately, it sucks. There ya go…great review, huh? For starters, the tea leaves are very broken…not coffee grounds, but quite broken. The smell of the dry leaves was not very impressive either. It wasn’t quite cherry or vanilla, but something sour smelling. Meh. After steeping, only the faintest wisp of cherry/vanilla was present in the smell and taste…and that only happened after the cup cooled to lukewarm. Bland, bland, bland…and super astringent. I feel like this marks the last of my flavored tea purchases. (Other than chocolate…Numi’s Chocolate Pu-erh comes to mind.) I picked this up at Whole Foods on a whim. I’m much more into blends at the moment and picking out the notes of unflavored teas. Another phase of my tea drinking, I suppose.

Well, back to waiting and positive thinking.

Should I be afraid!? I see lots of not-so-good reviews on this one!? Oh well…I’m up for the challenge…

I must say when I see BING Cherry in tea – most places tend to over due it either with tarty-bitterness in flavor or a harsh fake smell! This it’s over the top on scent…I can smell the vanilla more than the BING.

I wouldn’t say it’s a stereotypical taste of either Bing Cherry OR Vanilla. I can taste the vanilla more than the berry-ness. It has a slight ‘roasted’ taste at first but then evens out. Yeah…certainly more vanilla over the cherry. Thankfully I didn’t fully judge it on my first sip because I made a funny face.

I must say it’s not my favorite and it’s not memorable but I can drink it and it’s better than not having any tea at all, eh!?

I will also say that when my black an flavored black teas were at a low – this could have come in handy because I was REALLY needing a black flavored tea!!!

I will hang on to this one for a standby. The more I drink the more drinkable it seems to be but…I would choose several other ‘like’ teas before this one. It’s not bad just not excellent! Soooooo glad I got to try at it and add it to my collection, tho, thanks to Doulton!

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 heaping teaspoons
Water: 750 milliliters filtered, 212°
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL (Black, Strong, Auto start)
Steep Time: a little over 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: Strong vanilla, hints sweet cherry not fake but real fruity scent
Steeped Tea Smell: Sweet vanilla black tea
Flavor: Astringent, slightly bitter black tea a hint of vanilla
Body: Full
Aftertaste: Astringent, slightly bitter
Liquor: Mostly opaque dark brown with slight reddish orange hints

Post-Steep Additives:
+German Rock Sugar – no more bitterness, brings out the vanilla, still not getting the cherry
+Lactose-free milk – less astringency much better

This is from LENA in the wonderful little Tupperware containers! Yes another one I have been hiding away and am finally getting to.

This tea is a good strong wake you up black with a bad astringency problem. I am very glad I didn’t order a whole tin! Thank you again LENA for helping me satisfy my curiosity and not end up drowning in ‘Meh’ tea.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/05/republic-of-tea-loose-leaf-black-tea.html

Meh.

I am just not finding this tea impressive. I’ve had bad luck with cherry flavored teas – can’t find one I like. I’m finding this one hard to brew without bitterness, and there’s very little that stands out as yummy. No happy flavor of tea leaf, no creamy from the vanilla, and no juicy cherry flavor.

I’m just not impressed.

I decided to give this tea another try this morning, and it’s just on the meah side of okay. I don’t taste cherry or vanilla, but the black tea isn’t completely objectionable. I drank it. I don’t care to drink it again anytime soon.

I feel a little guilty about my run of negative Republic of Tea reviews lately. I really do think that they have some good blends, I just haven’t been drinking any of those lately :/

Has a delicate sweetness that I like a lot on mornings where bolder teas might be too much. Not a strong flavor, so it isn’t going to make up for soda, but it is a nice hint of sweet that makes the basic black tea pop.

I tried a sample of this in Harry & David’s last night, so I can’t give a steep time or anything since I didn’t do that part. What I can tell you is that this is one of my favorites that I’ve tried in a long time. It was a nice mild black tea and the cherry and vanilla flavors were delicate notes in the brew. Had this one without cream or sugar (which is odd for me) and I still thought this one was fantastic. I will definitely be purchasing this in the near future!

30 second decaffeination rinse. First sip way more astringent than I expected. Added a little half & half and 1 packet of stevia, still not thrilled. I’m going to try again tomorrow morning and see how the flavor is with no decaf time, and a 3 minute steep.