This is a nice tea. When I opened the fresh box, I really liked the pear scent & flavor and the vanilla didn’t take over the tea. Now that the box is about three weeks old, the scent and flavor have changed considerably. The vanilla scent is much too strong and the flavor is too unbalanced to enjoy. Since I throw my “boxed” teas separated in air-tight canisters (learned that the hard way!), I don’t see how the pear could have dissipated to this point in 3 weeks.
When new I kept the steep time down to about a minute or so and the light pear flavor came through well. I agree that the vanilla was not always a good addition, based on what I was eating at the same time. I use “getting close to boiling” water, around 195 to 200F.
I don’t know that I’d purchase it again since the flavors were good only for the first week or so after the box was opened.
195 °F / 90 °C
2 min, 30 sec
