Vanilla Orchid

I received this as a sample with my last order. I decided to play with it and do a few steeps. The first one was very rich. The vanilla was creamy but I could still taste the Oolong behind it. It was lovely. The second steep wasn’t as good. It has a slight bitterness to it… But it was still ok. I loved the vanilla in this one though.

Finally, Davidstea! A non-tisane mix I like! I was not impressed by their other oolongs I tried. But this one smells, and tastes like slightly sour vanilla yogurt, and is quite lovely. We’ll see if it will resteep, if so I may be looking to buy more than a sample of this in the future.

When I first smelled this tea prepared it seemed like something really familiar. At first I couldn’t quite figure out what is smelled like and then BAMM! – it hit me – it smells like vanilla yogurt, with an oolong scent underneath it. It’s not like a sugary sweet vanilla that you may smell in baked goods, but there’s a sort of tangy kick to it. It may sound strange but it just smells so darn good.

Now, as for the taste, if you like stronger flavored teas, this may disappoint slightly. For a flavored tea, I thought the vanilla-yogurt (is the yogurt scent from the orchid?) would be more present, but I mainly taste only the oolong.

On the second steeping, the aroma has lost most of the vanilla-yogurtness, and the tea tastes like a weak oolong.

Overall, it is pleasantly clean, but not one that I would go out of my way to repurchase.

First time trying a flavoured oolong. I quite enjoyed it, but then again, I’m a freak for vanilla, especialy if it’s high quality. The oolong tea in this one is mild with a relatively low oxidation, and the liquor is very clear. It smells like heaven in a cup. Very low astringency, and mild on the finish. It tastes just how it smells and is all around delicious. My only complaint is that it doesn’t hold up to multiple steeps well; even the second steeping was significantly lacking in flavour, and the third was very weak despite steeping for nearly 10 minutes. Overall a delicious tea though, and the vanilla and oolong are a fabulous pairing!

A great creamy, vanilla Oolong tea…reminds me of pure vanilla ice cream that is warmed and melted…so good.

My second oolong! My first one was Vanilla Oolong, which I did not like one bit due to the buttery/milky taste. I was kind of afraid this would be the same since it was a DT vanilla blend, but it smelled SO good in the store that I couldn’t resist a 12g bag to sample.
The aroma of this tea is to die for. It is the best tea scent I’ve ever smelled, hands down. Rich, sweet vanilla with a slight hint of sophisticated orchid. This made my husband say “See, this is why Davids Tea should start making scented candles or something!” as the tea was steeping.
After steeping it’s a pale yellow shade. The hot sips are surpisingly watery. I don’t taste any tea here, although I’m new to oolong, so maybe it’s not a “slap in your face” tea. I tasted vanilla (like vanilla bean ice cream, as others mentioned, without that cloying milkiness of Vanilla Oolong). It was just okay. After this one cools a little, it’s much better. The orchid flavour comes out a little more, although I’d say it’s 85:15 vanilla/orchid ratio. Oddly enough, I struggled to taste the orchid while the mister took a sip and exclaimed “wow, you can really taste flowers!”. So it’s very possible that there’s some sort of weird taste bud variance at play here.
Next time I’d steep this for longer and do a solid 5 minutes instead of 4 to see if that resulted in stronger flavour.
Overall, this is a really smooth, easy drinking tea with a very beautiful scent. It’s not a tea that’ll slap you in the face with flavour, but the flavour that is there sure is good.

Yum yum! I absolutely love this tea! The vanilla and oolong go perfectly together. Tastes just like vanilla ice cream. This tea is better then having dessert :) Steeped it is a light green colour, and the aroma is quite sweet. I actually find that this tea tastes even better then the smell! This is by far my favourite oolong tea so far!!

First reaction to the dry leaf is a delicious vanilla-y sweetness. I can smell the butter creaminess. It’s such a pleasant scent.

I’m new to the world of re-steeping, but am going to give it a go with this. I don’t have a variable temp kettle (Yet! Getting one tonight!) so I have no idea how hot the water was. I let it boil & unplug, put some peanuts out for the birds, dished out my tea, then poured the water. I put a bit extra tea in and let it steep for 1 minute the first go ’round.

First sip is quite vanilla-y with a hint of that delicious butter creaminess. Fairly light flavour, which I expected for a first steep. In terms of vanilla, people were accurate to mention to think vanilla bean ice cream or yogurt, NOT extract! Oh gosh this is just so delicious. Every few minutes my rating slider creeps up a bit. I’m trying not to gobble this up, but I’m so impatient for a second steep! The after taste is pleasant and mild.

Second steep. I totally forgot to time it. 2 minutes? Maybe 3+? Dang.

Anyway. A definite change in taste. Still getting the vanilla, but it’s taken a backseat and now the oolong is coming through. Fascinating! After taste is now more tea-like. (Astringent? I’m not sure on the word I’m looking for, still new to this!)

I feel like a third steep might be too thin. Next time I’ll pay more attention to my second steep time. (plus I’m getting a bit full of liquid and don’t want the leaves to sit out)

Definitely picking up a bigger bag of this.

This is my third oolong. I haven’t written on the first two because I’m pretty sure I screwed up the steeping the first couple times. Shoulda just come on Steepster to see what everyone was steeping at. So I’ll go back later and note those.

This is awesome. I definitely get the vanilla, then cream, then orchid. This is a yummy cup. A real treat. Not as oolong-y as the last cups I made. I think I steeped too long on those because this has an earthy oolong undertone but it isn’t all I taste for once. It has a lot of delicate layers. Delicious. I really get the orchid at the end. Pretty floral.

Second steep. This one is much more floral than the first. The vanilla has almost vanished and your left with a creamy orchid. Not bad. However, I must say that the leaves the second steep smelled completely unappetizing. Don’t know what that was about. It smelled very “green”. Like vegetable greens. Anyway….

It’s a good one. I think I like the first steep the best because there’s more vanilla but that’s just me. :)

LOVE this one. I’m usually all about the crazy sugary flavours, but this one is wonderfully simple, while still having a discernible flavour (as opposed to the milk oolong, which didn’t taste like anything in particular). A little bit of vanilla is all I need to have a delicious cup of tea.