This was the first time I’ve tried this tea. The box says, “Now with richer vanilla flavor!” but I can’t comment on that because I haven’t tried previous versions.
I was shocked at how quickly the teabag colored my water! It’s definitely a quick-steep tea, not unlike the PG Tips black tea that’s usually in my house. I think I left the bag in for less than a minute. My parents stock the cabinets with pretty small teacups (maybe 6-ounce cups), so depending on how much water you use, you might want to leave it for maybe 2 minutes. The tea steeped really darkly and I added 2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp evaporated milk, so it ended up looking sort of muddy. Even with the short steep and adding sugar and milk, it turned out a little bitter. The black tea was pretty satisfying, though, and I got quite a bit of smooth vanilla flavor with some cinnamon background notes. It tasted smooth and would probably have tasted better if I took the teabag out even earlier! Overall, the flavor was rich (maybe no richer than last year) and I definitely think I could have brewed this in a 16-ounce cup without losing any flavor with one teabag, which is great because I like really strong flavors in my tea. For a tea this affordable, I think it’s a great purchase.
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