Golden Moon random sample No. 18 of 31. With the way my luck is going I will draw Kashmiri Chai dead last. ;-)
Dry leaves have a creamy vanilla scent, similar to the creaminess of the Vanilla Mint. An ice creamy sort of vanilla. It’s not as rich, deep or powerful a fragrance out of the box as I recall the Mariage Freres Black Orchid, which is a pretty high standard to live up to. I can see little pieces of vanilla bean among the dark brown leaves.
The aroma is quite nice. I do smell a somewhat alcoholic note, which I suppose could be rum and a sweet underlying black tea smell along with the vanilla which continues to be an ice creamy/cream soda-y vanilla fragrance. I notice there’s a reference to tropical flowers and I am reminded that some tropical flowers do have a vanilla-like fragrance. I think some orchids do. In any case, if this was meant to refer to other tropical floral scents I’m getting a goose egg, though there is vanilla in spades.
Flavor wise, this is a decent vanilla black, but not spectacular. Far better than the Numi decaf, not as good as the Mariage Freres Black Orchid, possibly not even as good as the Jade Teapot Starry Night, even considering the missing stars and all.
It would not be my go-to vanilla, but I’d be happy to accept it were things I like better not available.
