French Breakfast

I made this according to the suggestions of all who liked it. Boiling water and steeped for 3-4 minutes, but mine came out SO bitter! I finished the cup, but I had to force myself to do it because I don’t like tossing out tea if I can help it. I have another cups worth of a sample to try again. Maybe I should let it steep more/less thoughts?

Thankfully this was just a sample size!

The tea ingredients interested me: black tea, vanilla, and rose petals. In the bag, the dry tea smells scrumptious, with a prominent bright, berry scent, not much vanilla or caramel, however. I brewed the tea exactly as suggested on the company’s website. The bright note remains in the brewed tea, but I don’t really sense vanilla or caramel. Personally, I’d like more vanilla. No roses for me. (Later, I added some vanilla-flavored coconut milk, and it is a nice combination, but I don’t want to have to add additional products or flavors.) I’d recommend it to people who like fairly strong and bright black teas and who don’t necessarily look for strong dessert flavors.

Strange VariaTEA TTB – Tea #10

Good morning! Back to the TTB.

I’m glad I looked at the ingredients on this one, as I expected a French breakfast tea to have lavender, but this is just a vanilla black tea with rose petals. It’s always interesting how companies interpret “French”, like T2’s French Earl Grey is super fruity which is never what I would expect ha ha.

Anyway! This is a tasty enough tea. I would think it had vanilla pieces in it because it has that somewhat woody vanilla note, but it’s actually flavoring. The base is very smooth with some malty, woody, and earthy notes going on. Overall the flavoring is quite mild, actually I think I would like a bit more vanilla here.

Enjoyable but not amazing. There is one more serving left, I think I’ll leave it for someone else to try.

Result: Tried

TTB 2022
An interesting combination of vanilla and rose with the vanilla more dominant. I’ll throw in my favorite vanilla tea so the next folks can compare if they want. I prefer the SFherb vanilla blend, but then I brew it up nice and strong. There is one scoop left in this french breakfast pack. The rose here is subtle but you can tell its there. Overall a very enjoyable cup.

I don’t have any French teas (I tried samples of several for the first time last year, courtesy of Dustin and Cameron! But, in a surprising turn of events, I actually finished them off in a timely manner and didn’t horde them.) So I’m using this for the sipdown prompt “Drink a French tea” since it has “French” in the title.

This is such a lovely vanilla rose black tea. It reminds me a lot of Tea Chai Te’s “Vanilla Rose Chai” or 52Teas’ “Breakfast in Bed” but sans any spices. The base is sweet with just a hint of smokiness from the Chinese black, which comes out with a sort of honey/caramel note mixed with the vanilla. The rose is sweet but it is not strongly floral (since I love rose I could’ve done with even more, but this gentler touch is still very pleasant).

Hmmm…

Not nearly as mind blowing as the last time I had this. I mean, it was still really delicious and it totally had lots of vanilla flavour, but also lots of average quality black tea base coming through which kind of negated some of that delicious vanilla flavour. The nuanced rose and other floral notes in the backdrop of the sip are pleasant though; I didn’t really observe them the first time around – but they’re present here.

I wonder what the difference in flavour is? I think I used the same amount of leaf as last time but maybe not the same steep time or temperature? Hard to say.

We found this tea at a local international market. It smelled so good. Even better brewed, I get a nice floral scent, with some nice notes of sweet vanilla. Having my third cup while watching Star Trek. The base tea is nice, and pairs well with the floral/ vanilla flavour.

If you like Octavia teas and want to find it for a great deal, here is a new place that sells it. Maybe I’m a little biased because it belongs to my daughter and I. Here is our little shout out we’ve been sharing; that many have appreciated. Hope you do as well. :) :):)
Hi,
My daughter and I have just created an online tea cottage & Garden, that features all the Octavia teas and wanted to share the Great news with you and yours. www.mumandmetea.com. When you get a chance we hope you stop by for a visit and cup of tea on us. Sending Much Love and Many, Many, Many Blessings.

Mum & Me :) :) :)

The rose petals in this tea may make me bias ;3 but this is the only “desserty” kind of tea I’ve ever enjoyed.