I remember not loving this tea the first time I had it. I didn’t necessarily dislike it but the citrus was too strong and a bit bitter—either I got a weird batch, there was some cross-contamination in the sample, or I over-leafed my cold brew. But this has such rave reviews I wanted to give it another shot, so I threw a sample of it into my last Persimmon Tree order.
So much better this time! The vanilla is sweet and creamy, they could totally call this “vanilla pudding tea” it would be quite accurate. Delish! And the cirtusy vibe is softer now, in the background and cuts the vanilla a bit making it a light and refreshing brew despite the dessert-y quality of the vanilla.
I think DavidsTea’s Vanilla Orchid is my current favorite vanilla oolong (and boy are there a lot of them!) but this is close behind. It reminds me so strongly of the Tea Merchant’s Silk Dragon, but if you look closely between them, Persimmon Tree and Art of Tea many of the blends are near-identical! Persimmon will always be my favorite though because of their great customer service, sample sizes and loyalty program. It’s funny how much difference things like that can make when you’re shopping for tea!
