Sitting down to watch the final two episodes of Downton Abbey – and thought, hmm, I need something different to try today rather than one of my old faithfuls. I’m on a black tea kick as of late, so I chose this one. It looks beautiful in the packaging – huge cornflowers tantalizingly dancing among the tea. And the smell! Oooh, delightful and oh so promising!
I brewed it for just over 4 minutes – I wondered if I should brew it longer, but it seems to be pretty good. It looks particularly becoming in the blush coloured E.B. Foley bone china teacup that I’m using today. The smell is slightly different than the atypical vanilla smell, I think. This one is more on the creamy side – as others have mentioned, it has a high quality ice-cream vanilla smell to it. Very lovely.
I am drinking the first cup straight (and I must note that I rarely enjoy my black teas straight), and while it isn’t very sweet to taste per se, the finish is slightly astringent with a cream vanilla aftertaste. I love a malty tea, and this one is robust, but not so much that it overpowers the vanilla. I think they have found a beautiful balance in this one.
I am so glad that I was able to get this one “out of retirement” from Iheartteas.com!
Ok, back to Downton Abbey and some Fox’s butter crinkles ;)
Season 1 or 2? :)
hehe Season 1. Oh my goodness, I need to get my hands on Season 2 asap, as I’m just watching the last episode, and I’m already going into withdrawal LOL :D