Vanilla Oolong

nice simple vanilla oolong
light in it’s tea taste

So, next is Vanilla Oolong. It has a deep bronze liquor. The aroma is just vanilla and tea, heavy on the vanilla. The taste is copper Oolong and a nice minty vanilla. I admit to being impressed. I’m shy about flavored anything, but I had once bought Vanilla-flavored Rooibos and it was truly awful. So awful I don’t even think I logged it on Steepster. It was terrifyingly awful.

This cup of tea, in contrast, is perfectly sip-able. It is, however, very rich and not at all an “everyday” tea. It isn’t at all a “Grapefruit Oolong” or anything like as good(as I thought). As I reach for the bottom of the tea cup, the vanilla is getting on my nerves and the rating has dropped since I started this review. But it’s still a marvelous cup of tea.

I apologize for not remembering who sent me this sample!

The unsteeped dry leaves of this tea look old, dusty, and broken. I brewed it for 3 min at boiling. It’s just ok. It’s hard to judge it without comparing it to Harney’s Vanilla Comoro, which I seem to be drinking non-stop lately. This tea is clearly inferior to the Vanilla Comoro. The vanilla flavor in this tea is more like vanilla milkshake and has a slightly chocolately flavor, as if the milkshake was made with soy milk (not a bad flavor, just not what I want in vanilla tea). The oolong is completely lost in the flavor.

Found a tin of this tea this morning, and all I could think is “Where did this come from?” Duh, Adagio, but seriously, I do not remember ordering this at all. Anyway, since it looks mostly full, I supposed I never had it and should give it a shot. My theory is that when I brew my tea on the drive to work, I should always brew an oolong, green or white because they are more forgiving than say a black or a tisane. This of course also based on the ingredients in the blend. This tea is vanilla and oolong, so should be able to hold up to my hour long brew while commuting.

The smell of the leaves is overwhelmingly plain. No vanilla, no oolong, pretty much nothing. This concerned me a bit because as I said, I planned on way over-steeping this, so I added some rock sugar for safety and used below boiling water so that it did no scorch. Filled my travel mug with one heaping scoop of tea and 1/4 tsp of the rock sugar, added hot water and left for work. My first sip was around 7 minutes (so that I could get an accurate taste for this review). At this stage, the liquor is very pale, typical of oolong, there is a tiny hint of vanilla and oolong, but neither is a predominant or strong flavor, they both appear to be lost: hints of flavor hidden away in a background, calling faintly for your attention, but never quite getting it. I thought maybe I just needed some more time, so continued the infusion while driving, about 40 minutes. The liquor is now very dark, this is probably from the vanilla; the tea is still light in flavor and aroma.

The smell reminds me a little of oolong, but not really, something is lost in this, the vanilla kills the flavor I am used to and looking for. This is disappointing. There is vanilla flavor, but little to no oolong. Strangely, this is still a bit bitter with the sugar. I say strange because I very rarely find oolong to be bitter, it is also rare that I think vanilla is bitter, weird. Did I ruin it with my killer infusion? Maybe, but based on my first impressions, this was not what I was looking for anyway.

Oh well, I will finish the mug, because I prefer to start my day with oolong, it helps me get to that first coffee break, but it is looking more and more like that first break will be coming sooner rather than later. This is not undrinkable, just not what I was looking for this morning.

Taken plain and with sugar.
While this tea is hot the vanilla flavoring is stronger than the flavorings in most black teas that include vanilla which is nice because I like vanilla and when I have to try to find the hint of vanilla in a cup it is frustrating.
On the other hand when this tea cools off it does take on that same woody kinda quality as the peach oolong blend but it is much worse in this tea.
I agree with some of the other reviewers in that it takes on a tobacco like flavor that is pretty gross. It is clear that they used the same kind of oolong to mix this flavor as they used for their peach oolong, as indicated by the distinct presence of a wood brick, and I’m wondering if they always use this kind of mixer. Cause it’s not very good.
Good extremely hot…
and then terrible as it cools.

This is another one that I haven’t had for a looong time, and apparently my tastebuds have changed a bit. This has a very, very strong vanilla flavor that completely overpowers the oolong. The dry leaves smell like flavored tobacco, which I actually kind of like. This isn’t awful; I just wish the oolong was more present.

I learned how to speak English and Spanish at the same time (English at home with my USA born Mom and Spanish everywhere else in Ecuador!), which meant that I spoke my own version of “Spanglish” while I tried to make my kid-size brain make sense out of two separate languages. Somehow, I managed to figure out that vanilla was a word that when mentioned, always ended up in me getting something yummy flavored. It was a great word and great taste! I have grown up (quite a bit…) and now can fluently order any flavor I want, vanilla is still at the top of my list (along with blueberries)!

Adagio has one of the best vanilla flavoring I have tried. Their vanilla black is incredible! When sweetened it tastes creamy enough to almost make you believe that it has milk in it! I had high hopes for this vanilla Oolong!

The smell is very creamy, I couldn’t help think of vanilla ice cream as I measured the tea out for my brew. I could smell a lot of woodiness from the leaves as well, but since it is a rather dark Oolong, it was to be expected.

The resulting liquor was golden brown and delicious smelling. The entire room smelled like vanilla. : ) There was definitely still some woodiness to the smell, but the vanilla creaminess was sufficient to mask it.

The taste, while not as great as the vanilla black or green from Adagio, was still good. I enjoyed the first cup with a bit a brown sugar that helped covered up the woodiness (which I didn’t want) and helped bring out the vanilla. Sadly, the vanilla taste wasn’t nearly as strong as the vanilla smell of the brew. The second steep was much less vanilla and a lot more woody. It tasted almost like Adagio’s Oolong #8 (which got a 69 from me). So, having had this experience with the second brew, I ditched trying for a third.

With vanilla, it is hard to go wrong. This tea will make me smile any day, though it didn’t make spot #1 for my favorite vanilla tea. I bought a 4oz bag of it, so I’ll have some around for a while. I read that it is good iced, I will have to try it!

I enjoyed this tea, though I was not wowed by it. The leaves have a great aroma to them, with a sweet vanilla smell that’s accented by a slightly smokey/woodsy smell.

The tea itself is smooth tasting, though a lot of the vanilla flavor is mellowed out by steeping. It’s still got a nice hint of sweetness, and the vanilla is definitely present, I just wish the flavor matched the aroma and was a little stronger.

I’m worried, this is rated reallllly low here. Trying it for the first time on my way to grab a client for another appointment, hopefully I enjoy it enough. I’ll log the review later.

I Iced this tea and I wasn’t disappointed. Personally I like oolongs for their light flavor but this one definitely had a sweet kick. I enjoy fruity teas more especially in the summer but this one wasn’t all too bad.