Vanilla Oolong

This is truly one of my favorite teas, even more so when chilled. This is the other pitcher of tea I made for the inlaw invasion, but it wasn’t cool in time. Still, by the end of the night, it had cooled enough for me to have a cup and it was delicious. The vanilla and oolong wrap around each other so beautifully. This is the tea that made me go “Oh…that’s what people mean when they say oolongs are buttery.” I want to drink this one for days. I also love watching this one steep, I’m very grateful I set a timer or else I would have been completely distracted by the leaves and let it oversteep.

When we’re coming back from our trip to Tennessee, we’re stopping overnight in New York to visit my brother, and I am bringing him a ton of tea and a perfect mug XD. I’m bringing a pouch of this. He’s tried one oolong and said it tasted like feet, so I’m going to brew some of this up and see how he feels about it. If he likes it, he gets to keep the pouch. If he doesn’t, it is so coming back home with me! Hot or cold, this is a favorite of mine.

Enjoying a big cup of this thanks to Robyn!

The aroma is deliciously vanilla-y and creamy, and the flavour closely matches, with a lovely vanilla aftertaste, although there’s almost a bit of a sour note showing up. I can’t really tell that the base here is oolong, aside from a little bit of an oolongy aftertaste. I personally think that this oolong could have been executed a little bit better, but it is still pretty tasty to drink as is. Thanks again for passing this along, Robyn – it definitely has a better home here! :)

ETA: Whoops, oversteeped second infusion (4.5 or 5 minutes or however long I infused it for was too long). I was amused however, at the fact that when trying to figure out which tea was in the infuser, I could have sworn it was Citron Oolong in this one. So apparently I seem to be picking up some sort of lemoniness. I can kind of taste it in the cup as well. Not entirely sure I like it, but that’s ok! I suspect this one can continue for another infusion or so, but I think I’ve had enough of it for now. I’ll steep it properly next time…

You know, I’m so overwhelmed by samples that I totally forgot I had a whole bunch of them from DAVIDs! I got one of the sampler packs in the cute little tins, I forget which one but it has an absolutely gorgeous leaf design on the front. Classy! I’ve been working my way through them slowly, and decided it was about time to try them all out. This one was up first, since it smells like pudding which is never a bad thing.

I cold brewed this for 12 hours, even though the weather is getting a little chilly and perhaps it’s time to move back to warm teas. It was 75 this afternoon and it seemed hot in comparison to what we’ve been getting in NY! Fall really is pretty much here. Then again I drink iced tea in the dead of winter.

This tea reminds me a LOT of Silk Dragon and Mandarin Silk, both in appearance and taste. It’s got that pudding-like quality, though with the Silk Dragon it was more like delicate vanilla cupcakes. Here it’s POW vanilla right in the face, and sadly it’s a hair artificial. Not enough to ruin the cup, but I definitely prefer the other variations of this that I’ve tried. I mean, it’s still good, and if I hadn’t had Silk Dragon I’d probably rate it a lot higher, but… vanilla oolongs have been spoiled for me! Silk Dragon is the one.

Brought this one to my Shakespearean Acting class today. We’re all sitting at the table, and my professor pauses in his lecture, looks at me and goes “Is that wine?”

The class turns to stare at me… I raise my eyebrows at my professor like “Come on. Please.” and he goes “Oh no, this is you, that’s tea.”

“I have wine-flavored tea,” I say. “Oolong Chardonnay’s my jam!”

It’s his turn to roll his eyes at me. “I have wine flavored… wine,” he says.

“What are those… things… floating in your drink?” one of the other kids asks.

“Leaves!”

“What, you mean, like, tea leaves?”

“Yup!”

“Woahhhhh.”

“If any of you ever want tea… Michelle can hook you up,” says my professor.

#shakespearestories

Love this tea, love it. Creamy and sweet and oolongy goodness. Ah. So good. Doesn’t get bitter either!

Amanda – You spoil me! Thank YOU!!!

This one, at first, didn’t have enough flavor for me. BUT…as I was typing my tasting notes – after it had just a few minutes to cool at room temp…I decided to delete my notes and start again!

While this is super hot – the Vanilla wasn’t all that loud. As it cools the vanilla seemed to come out and play a bit more. It’s still not overly flavored, tho.

The oolong itself is quite nice. A great Pouchong, indeed! In the aftertaste I can pick up a subtle hint of citrus which was a nice surprise.

After I gave this a 2nd chance – it turned out fairly satisfying. If you are looking for super intense vanilla – this really isn’t it, but it’s still tasty with the oolong base.

Since I just made a note on Vanilla Orchid I felt it was only fair to pay homage to its predecessor: The original Vanilla Oolong. I made both of these together so I could get the full effect of their differences.

Instead of the beautiful green balls of the updated version this oolong has long black wiry leaves that unravel green during steep. They’re also accompanied by a marigold and lemon myrtle tag team. It has more of a boozy bottle kind of vanilla aroma than the milky kind observed in Orchid during dry stage.

Steeped: I can barely smell any vanilla compared to Orchid cup. The taste is also not as smooth- the creamy vegetal Pouchong carrying most of the flavour profile. It’s nowhere as milky sweet as the newer model and the finish has an odd lemon-y flavour too it that makes it a tad sour and more astringent. There’s something a tad artificial about it too.

This is not a bad cup at all but it is in need of some creaminess and cohesion. Vanilla Orchid almost has too much floral cream in comparison- it’s so rich and buttery! The more I drink the Orchid the more the Vanilla ‘O’ tastes weak and watery. I don’t even want to re-steep it (I always feel like a criminal when I don’t re-steep my oolong).

I think taking out some of the additives and changing the type of oolong was a good move. I like flowers and vanilla bean ice cream, and I’m for this upgrade.

Have you ever seen the Friends episode where the guys are avoiding Central Perk because they don’t want to get in a fight with some other guys there. So they make instant Cappuccino at their house, only its not working right, so Chandler yells “Keep stirring, keep stirring… never let it settle!”

I feel that way about this tea… kind of. Except less with the compulsive stirring, and more with the compulsive drinking. It’s getting less tasty as it cools… like… noticeably by the minute.

Although, let me back up about ten minutes. Freshly brewed, this tea SMELLS DIVINE. If judged by a panel of tongueless… uh… tea judges I guess, this tea would win all the awards. All of them.

The first sip almost lives up to the promise that the aroma offers. It’s good, it’s actually very good, one of the best non-minerally oolongs I’ve had (I’m not terribly fond of green oolongs, TGYs and the like… no real reason, they just don’t do it for me). It’s sweet, and creamy, with the tiniest hint of that juniper-y oolong flavor, and a faint aftertaste of lemon. It doesn’t quite live up to the aromatic pleasure that you’re expecting, but close.

But each successive sip… the sweet creaminess waned, and this sour bite started coming in stronger and stronger. Had I chugged this like mad, I would probably rate this really highly… but for a slow, sipping kind of tea that I expect oolong to be… no sir, I don’t like it.

Backlog:

I think that TeaEqualsBliss sent me a bit of this tea too. Thanks!

I really like this one. I don’t recall offhand if I’ve had another vanilla Oolong, I very well may have … but, none come to mind immediately. I love the way vanilla and Oolong work together. A really stunning combination.

Sweet, creamy, notes of vegetation (but only slight notes) … the vanilla is really luxurious and decadent in this! So sweet and smooth and creamy! YUM!

When I bake something that called for 1 tsp of vanilla, I usually dump in about 2 tablespoons. I can’t get enough of that boozy delicious vanilla smell when I make cookies, or anything that calls for vanilla! Yum! But if I am ever silly enough to taste it on it’s own.. blech!

This tea is like fulfilling my Vanilla fantasy! The smell is so deep and rich vanilla that it is like drinking true vanilla extract, but it tasted good! Really good! Creamy and wonderful, I love the the oolong peeks out.
My first steep was only 2 minutes, so my second for 5 was still vanilla flavoured, but much less so. Still an amazing 2nd steep, but not enough flavour to keep me going for more.

4 of 4! while i wouldn’t be diametrically opposed to a cup of this tea… in comparison to it’s david’s tea-mate ‘vanilla orchid’ this one is not nearly as brilliant. following that metaphor i feel rather as though i might have to squint to see it. however, neither is it the vanilla tea i like least from my 24 hour marathon.

the order (favourite to not-so-much): vanilla orchid by david’s teas, vanilla plantation by silk road, vanilla oolong by david’s teas and lastly vanilla black by harney and sons.

this last tea blend gave me vanilla buttercream again, but with an orange hint. i’m not sure exactly what i don’t like about it… it might be that it’s the combination of base teas? oolong and green… i can be a bit twitchy about hybrids sometimes.

either way, david’s teas surprised me today. i appreciate being able to support canadian business.