Vanilla Sencha

So, we were supposed to get this tea AGES ago – back when Green Spiral, Jasmine Peony, and Sun Moon Black all came out. Due to a bit of a kerfuffle, many stores are only just not receiving it though, mine included.

I feel kind of ‘meh’ about this one; it actually smells quite nice and very intensely vanilla bean heavy. Like, good vanilla too – the Madagascar or Tahitian shit. However, I don’t really love green tea, and typically Sencha is my least favourite of ALL the green teas. Also, it bugs me a little bit that this is a flavoured tea BUT it’s getting classed on the tea wall as a ‘straight tea’. In general, scented teas that are classed as straight teas is already a little on the fence for me because (while they are ONLY tea leaf) they’ve still been altered in some way. We also don’t class our Milk Oolong as a straight tea because it’s flavoured, and we didn’t class Butter Sencha as a straight tea when we had that one – so what makes this one special/different!? I don’t know the answer – it’s just a question I have…

Eventually I will try this one straight though; in fact that was my plan for it today. However conversation on UNYtea’s live Instagram session kind of changed my plans for this tea in the moment. We ended up talking about tea flavoured or infused ice cream as well as tea and ice cream pairings. Of course, that made me remember that I had a container of matcha flavoured ice cream in the freezer. So, spur of the moment I made myself a creamy, rich ‘green tea float’ using this tea as my liquid base and the ice cream as the, well, ice cream.

Photo/Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh97uS8H2GY/?taken-by=ros_strange

Man, it was so good. I mean, really the whole drink had two flavours: sweet, rich and authentic tasting vanilla and smooth, full bodied green tea/matcha. I didn’t even mind that this was a Sencha green tea; the whole thing was just elevated to this level of decadence that was really indulgent, and the mouthfeel was thick, and frothy. Plus, the vanilla was strong and really saved the drink/brought it all together.

I’ll be honest, it actually made me excited to try this tea straight and see what I think.

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

This one has a strong scent of vanilla when first smelling the loose leaf. I steeped it for 2 minutes at 85c, and it’s almost perfect – I taste that vanilla, and I also get that hint of green tea base. Maybe next time I’ll steep for 1.5 min. This tea is pretty good – I was not sure whether I’d like it since others said it reminded them of butter sencha or vallilla orchid (neither of which I like) But this is actually pretty good for a straight/flavoured green.

Well. I ordered 100 grams of Vanilla Sencha and immediately ordered 250 grams more, after trying my first cup, if that tells you anything. I’ve now been drinking this all week and can’t get enough of it. I love Butter Sencha and Vanilla Orchid from DavidsTea, and Vanilla Sencha is basically like the perfect marriage of those two. The scent that comes off of this is strong and smells like sticking your nose into a vanilla frosted vanilla cupcake from heaven. It has a great vanilla flavor over a bed of vegetal green. It’s so rich and delicious, and I love it so much. A perfect vanilla and a perfect mix of sweet and refreshing.