Vanilla black tea

I’m trying a new morning schedule. Starting today, I’m waking up an hour and a half before I have to leave for work rather than an hour, which was resulting in me being cramped for time, not getting enough breakfast, not being able to make tea, looking like poop when I left the house, and being late anyway.

I am happy to announce that I have been left with enough time to make and enjoy a nice, big cup of tea. The thing I like about this tea is it’s simple. I don’t have to feel guilty when I make it wrong and can’t taste any of the little nuances. Also, I am surprisingly close to a sipdown!

Oh hi, Zen teas that I purchased back in April but still haven’t touched yet! As I’m sure everyone knows, I’m always on the hunt for a wonderful vanilla black. Zen’s prices are super sweet so I definitely couldn’t pass this one up.

The dry leaf is quite bland. It smells sweet, but like a watered down sugary vanilla. Like adding a drop of vanilla to corn syrup. It doesn’t quite grab your senses. It’s also not an obvious vanilla. If I were to smell this without knowing what it’s supposed to be, I’d just assume it’s a vaguely sugary black tea.

Without any additives, it’s also very bland. The base itself is on the weaker side even though I steeped it for three minutes as per their directions. While it’s nice to not have an extremely robust or astringent base blocking out the vanilla, I still expected more from the base itself.

The flavouring doesn’t even taste like vanilla to me either. Maybe like a light vanilla caramel, but artificial. I added some soy milk and while I prefer to drink it this way, it’s ultimately underwhelming. Maybe I’m going crazy but after a while, so many of these flavoured teas start to taste the same. You know, like a vaguely sugared up black tea.

Tea of the morning. I had to be out of the house earlier than usual, so I grabbed the first sample I laid my hands on and decided it would be in my travel mug asap. This cup wasn’t quite as good as the last offering from this sample. The vanilla doesn’t seem to be as strong. Still, it’s a very nice cup. Strong, smooth, and sweet. I can think of worse ways to start a Monday.

This one is pretty good. I’m glad I only got a sample, though. I’m not sure that Vanilla Tea is for me.

It’s a little bitter when steeped. Even after adding a little milk and sugar. It’s also a little too much like artificial vanilla extract, rather than rich vanilla beans. Since my sugar has a couple vanilla pods in it, I’m pretty certain of the differences.

While I’m glad I tried this, I think I’m going to add it to the Swap List. (Sorry Victoria, you’re out of luck. Your package is already all taped up!)

Sip down! Which is totally weird because apparently I never logged this prior to the sip down. This is a nice enough vanilla black but I prefer the version from steeped and infused. Th black is a little lighter than I’d reefer and the vanilla not as strong. Still I’m grateful for the sample from zen tea!

Oops! I never logged this tea lol. Well, it was a free sample from Zen Tea Life, thanks! I got about 3-4 cups out of the little packet. This vanilla black isn’t too bad, pretty mild on the vanilla though. The black base is ok, but not the best. But I managed to sip it down at least :) I steeped for 3 minutes as per the directions, 2 probably would have sufficed actually. Oh and I enlisted my boyfriend’s help in my sipdowns, I made him 2 cups of my Tung Ting oolong from DAVIDsTEA tonight (overleafed on the second to get in a sipdown haha, but he still likes it, I steeped less to compensate). So yay, 2 more teas down! I’d probably purchase some Tung Ting again if I run out of oolongs from Verdant, as it is pretty tasty! Anyways, back to this one. Not bad, not the best, but drinkable. And free samples with orders are nice!

I always love a good vanilla tea, so I like to try as many as I can! This tea is just ok for me at this point. The black tea base is a little bit astringent so maybe I will try a 2 minute steep next time. The vanilla is ok, slightly sweet.

So far this is the only one from Zen Tea that’s been a miss for me. It’s not bad, but there are other vanilla black teas I like a lot more. To me both the scent and flavour are a lot more vanilla extract and less vanilla bean, and the base tea is more Ceylon and less Chinese, and apparently my tastes run heavily toward Chinese teas with vanilla bean flavour, so there you go.

I was given a new travel mug, and it’s pretty much a thermos. Hours later, and my tea is still piping hot to the point that I’d actually like it marginally cooler to drink. (Mind, if I were to leave the top open, it would probably cool down more. I’m just REALLY IMPRESSED, okay?)
The tea has a nice vanilla taste to it. Adding milk added a creaminess that matched the taste well; I think having the tea with something sweet and creamy (a milk custard bun comes to mind?) might have had the same effect.
I like this better than a lot of other vanilla teas that I’ve had, but it’s still not necessarily a favourite. Still, pretty good.

I was really looking forward to trying this one as I LOVE vanilla. To not have a bottle of nielsen massey in the house is akin to high treason in my family.

The aroma is very vanilla, mmmmmmmm. Slightly artificial but not much, although that’s me being very picky with my really sensitive nose.

Oooh!! There are sliced vanilla pods in the tea!

Straight – the vanilla note is there, but its weak, beautiful tea base though. Just the tiny tiny hint of astringency, so I’d try it at 2:30-2:45 if I was drinking it plain.
w/ sugar – Doesn’t really change the overall taste or bring out different notes.
w/ milk – Decent.
w/ milk and sugar – the vanilla note comes out a bit more. Interesting.

Overall not a *super** vanillary tea, but a light vanilla tea with a beautiful base.

*That being said, I love vanilla and like it STRONG. I restrained myself from adding my homemade vanilla sugar to this tea since I wanted to judge it on it’s own merits, but that’s what I would do in future.