272/365
Made this one up as a Thai Iced Tea, following the recipe on T2’s website. It’s basically a concentrate made of 5 tsp leaf brewed in 300ml water, with 50g of brown sugar added. I diluted it roughly 60:40 with coconut milk.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, other than something (perhaps) viciously sweet. In practice, it was actually pretty nice. The tea has a pleasantly strong vanilla flavour, plus a kind of deep, dark, fruity jamminess from the Keemun in the base. The sugar helped to amplify the vanilla – and added a delicious toffee-esque aspect all its own. I wasn’t sure how well that flavour profile was going to work with coconut, but I actually didn’t mind it. I wouldn’t say it’s a perfect fit, but it’s certainly not jarring. Coconut-vanilla is a reasonable thing.
If I were to make this again in the future, I might try a nut milk, or maybe just plain old cow’s milk. I think I’d also use slightly less tea (maybe 4 tsp max.) as it was becoming astringent, although not irredeemably so. I could take it a little more subtle, though.
I have a feeling I’ll drink a decent quantity of this one either black or with a splash of milk, though – it doesn’t really need fancying up. A good vanilla black is a cupboard staple for me, and this particular blend is among the best I’ve tried recently. Glad to have it around!
