I have a soft spot for Adagio’s vanilla teas. That being said, this is my least favorite of them. I think that the main issue is that green tea seams to work better on its own than flavored to me most of the time. It can work with fruity, but I have yet to find a creamy flavored green tea in which the vegetable flavor doesn’t seem to get in the way of the tea as a whole.
The dry tea leaves are bright green and a joy to look at. They look green, fresh and inviting. The vanilla aroma is very strong (points in favor!) followed by the familiar green tea plantiness. In fact, if the vanilla flower (it is an orchid) smells like vanilla (I am not sure it does…) it probably would smell a lot like this tea.
While brewing, my 2 tsp of leaves unfurled quite nicely and gave of a smell very similar to that of the dry leaves except that once wet, the vegetable in them gets a tad bit stronger.
The liquor is a nice golden/green color.
The unsweetened tea is overwhelmingly vegetable that clashes with the vanilla. The individual flavors are great, but together they just confuse me. Sweetened it works much better. Why? Well, sweetened the green tea vegetable taste is highly disguised as, well…, sweet. This way the vanilla becomes the protagonist and the the green tea is like a pleasant little reminder that you are drinking more than just vanilla sugar water.
I enjoy it, don’t love it. I will happily finish what I have of it, I will just keep in mind that creamy greens just are not my thing.
That is exactly how I feel about green teas – they just work better on their own. If I’m going flavored, I would rather it be black or honeybush!
Agreed!