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Cteresa knows my unquenchable thirst for vanilla flavoured things, so she kindly shared some of this with me. I must get an MF order together one of these days. That shop is well within my reach, they have a number of things I would like to try (and one or two that I would like to own) and yet I never seem to get around to it. It will happen eventually. Just… not quite yet, because of Reasons.

You may remember that I had a long hunt for the perfect vanilla flavoured black and finally found it in a newly opened local shop, therefore this tea will be held up in comparison to that shining beacon of vanilla-y exquisiteness. Not because I want to do that, but because I sincerely doubt that I can avoid it.

All this in spite of the fact that cteresa warned me explicitly that I would most likely find it quite different from most ‘standard’ vanilla flavoured teas. I am taking that into account; I merely don’t believe that I can help it. Because that’s just how my brain works.

A-NY-WAY, when I first opened the bag I didn’t even have to sniff the leaves. The most amazing aroma of vanilla came right up at me. It smelled like sweeties! Always a good quality with a dessert flavoured tea. It does after steeping as well. It quite simply smells perfect. Full marks so far! On aroma, this is a serious contender for being perfection in a vanilla cup. (Fru P still has the advantage, mind, of being available locally without any sort of mail order fuss and such. That’s pretty hard to beat.)

I see now why cteresa said I might find it a little different. It is a little different. I mean, it’s still vanilla-y and sweetie-like, but there’s something else too. It’s like… vanilla that has grown up. No, that’s not what I mean, really. It’s like… vanilla for grown ups. No, that’s not quite right either. It’s like, there’s something else in here. Something just veeeery borderline floral. Not floral-floral, but sort of smelling vaguely like something that might once have seen some flowers.

Gosh, this is unbelievably difficult to describe! Let’s just skip it and go back to the comparison approach.

Now. My perfect vanilla tea has a fairly strong flavouring. It is sweet and creamy and has a funny sort of note to it that reminds me of the actual vanilla pod. The shiny black leathery way it looks and the way it feels when you touch it. This last note, the podness, is actually the most important of the three.

This black orchid is fairly strongly flavoured with recognisable vanilla, so check.

It’s very sweet and gives a creamy sort of impression when I swallow, so check, although I like the creamyness to be a little bit heavier, detectable in the entire sip and not just the swallow.

The podness, though. The podness is quite an abstract sort of thing to search for, really. It’s either there or it isn’t, and I have to say that in this tea, it… isn’t. Fail. But there’s something else, though. There’s that thing that I have such difficulty explaining what is. The non-floral floral-ness of vanilla for adults. Well, it’s new. I’m not sure I wouldn’t still prefer podness, though. Podness in combination with this would have been fanfreakingtastic!

This is an extremely good vanilla black for anybody who likes vanilla flavoured teas. But it’s not perfect.

In other news, childish soul alert: Neopets.com is eating my life. I played this for a couple of years nearly ten years ago and a couple of weeks ago decided to try it again. No clue what the details of the old account was anymore. Or even the username. Or even the email I’d used. I had a green kougra though, but I’ve forgotten what the name was. I have a blue Kau now which is painted baby (random event) called Semi-Skimmed. And I’m having GREAT FUN!