Madagascar Vanilla

All right Golden Moon, you’re going to have a hard time living up to Mariage Freres Vanille des Iles or Black Orchid…let’s see what you’ve got. The aroma is promising, strong natural vanilla flavor, and some sweet background note as well, like malt or cocoa. I see a sliver or two of vanilla bean too, a great sign.

In the pot, it brews up a clear dark brown, and after three minutes I’m getting a woodsy scent in there now too. I like my vanilla tea strong, but I’ll stop at four minutes to see where we are with it. The first sip is…underwhelming. I taste the black tea, which is fine, but where the vanilla is supposed to be is a place holder value that’s not quite what I was expecting. There’s still a pleasant maltiness in the aftertaste. It’s trying really hard but is not yet there. Shucks! Maybe the addition of cream and sugar will bring out more flavors.

Not so much. The warmth of vanilla is there, but again it feels like it’s standing in for the real thing, which is waiting in the wings somewhere but never quite arriving. Overall a pleasant tea, but not enough vanilla flavor for my taste.

As inspired by Morgana’s “Tale of Three Vanillas” I chose this one out of my sampler for my morning tea. This is the first vanilla tea that I’ve ever had and it was nice. The dry leaf smell reminded me of Vanilla Silk (which is neither good nor bad – I just only have it with cereal and not as a straight drink). The steeped tea smelled like a gentler Vanilla Silk.

That being said – this is the first loose leaf black tea that was actually “smooth” to me. Maybe a little too smooth because it sort of bored me, but it did give me hope that someday I’ll like black teas more than I do at present. Ultimately it’s like this tea was going out of its way to be overly polite. M

I think the best way to describe this tea is “gentle”.

The leaves smell of vanilla and black tea. The brewed tea (hot with no additives) smell again like vanilla with a hint of flora aroma. The taste is “gentle”. There is a slight vanilla flavor to the otherwise naturally sweet black tea. It is not overpowering, it is not artificial, it is not overly sweet (with nothing added) and it is not bitter, but the flavor is there, just slightly, again, “gentle”.

I think I wanted something more out of this tea, I wanted it to be slightly more vanilla or a stronger black with less vanilla, something stronger than gentle. Oh well.

Our taster was disappointed with this tea. Vanilla Black tea is her number one favorite tea of all time (as in – vanilla tea must never be missing from the cupboard) but this one was found lacking in the vanilla flavor.

Golden Moon uses Vanilla extract and pieces of bean. Our taster said that it seemed like the vanilla flavor never took. There is a method for making vanilla bean-based teas that goes far beyond simply blending the ingredients together. The dry tea leaves need to absorb the vanilla oils and aroma and this takes time (about a month) and a sealed container (similar to making vanilla sugar) – using that method reduces the need for extracts which is a shortcut method.

Using extract to flavor vanilla tea is acceptable practice but it doesn’t always work well; some blenders manage it better than others. Whatever batch our sample came from; the result was disappointing.

Our taster also thought the tea as a whole seemed a little stale. It came to use in GM’s usual heat-sealed packaging so if it was stale or off then there may have been a storage issue at some point in its handling.

Golden Moon’s brewing instructions were followed: Infuse 3-4 minutes in freshly boiled water.

tl;dr: I don’t really like vanilla, but I quite liked this tea. Therefore, if you really like vanilla, this tea may leave you rather…dissatisfied.

Upon cutting open the packet, my first whiff was of a vanilla milkshake. I couldn’t smell any tea at all. Then, I took another whiff, and thought, oh, hey, there’s the tea! I have very low tolerance for caffeine, so I don’t drink black tea very frequently. For me, its fragrance is quite a treat.

The powerful vanilla fragrance died down quite a bit upon steeping the tea, to where it was comfortably sharing olfactory real estate with the base tea. Very pleasant.

As always, I took a sip untainted by milk or sweetener, and it was okay. Then I added some sugar, and discovered that I (unexpectedly) like this tea! It brought out both flavours equally. I do agree with some other folks who stated that the tea is a bit weak, not hitting the palate with enough oomph and not really lingering, either. I was expecting a heavier sip, especially with the added sugar, but it remained very light. Now, as I’m not a fan of vanilla (except ice cream and milkshakes), I might have had an entirely different complaint had the flavour been stronger and longer-lasting. I’m kind of a pain that way. =]

All in all, I’m happy with the vanilla/base tea balance here. It’s a bit too light, and I would like to turn up both the bass and the treble just a little bit, so for that I deduct some marks.

It smells like powdered vanilla flavored milk. The taste is so mild and there was enough for 2 separate steepings. The first time I had it, I had forgotten about it in the kitchen, and I remember it being mild in taste and not bitter at all. Very forgiving.

This time, I split it between 2 mugs for me and my boyfriend. It is delicious but nothing I would reach for often. Something is strange about the vanilla flavoring. Again… powdered milk with vanilla flavoring…

This tea confuses me. As I waited for it to steep, I stuck my nose in the leaves [again] to inhale the wonderfully vanilla scent. It’s subtle, but it’s there. And I will pick up on any hint of vanilla, anywhere. It’s a pretty awesome flavor.

First couple sips I deemed it “tasty.” The vanilla is still a bit subtle, but it’s enough to drown out any of the black tea aftertaste I’m bound to experience. Even the black tea itself isn’t so bad. [Side note: as I’m sitting here with my cup by the keyboard, the vanilla scent still infuses the air. Better than any scented candle, that’s for sure.]

Despite all that, once it cooled down from burn-your-tongue temperature, it was… all right. I don’t hate it, but I’m not standing in line to buy more. But I’ll probably make it again at some point for scent alone.

The dry leaves gave a quick vanilla shot when I opened the package, but either I got used to it or it faded quickly, as the rich vanilla smell dissipated in a few minutes. The tea brews a nice toasty brown and the vanilla smell is clear, if a bit sharp. The taste has a definite vanilla flavor and finish…sort of like a vanilla cake with a little excess vanilla. A good sipping tea.

Edit: 2nd steep…smells good, like baked goods with vanilla, but not much tea…sample was wrung out.
Edit #2: Over ice, Wow, this is great over ice. Nice refreshing vanilla aftertaste! Rating boost.

Hmm, the brewed scent is almost like sugared celery. I’ve never actually had celery with sugar—but it’s a fresh, stalky, sweet green aroma I’m sensing (strange for a black tea, I know). The sweetness deepens a little and gets toastier, upon cooldown. The vanilla has a soft and baked quality, but the flavor is faint. The black tea base is very mild and only slightly tannic.

This tea is fine. Nothing too extraordinary. An acceptable vanilla black tea.

A good choice for the conservative black tea drinker thinking to venture out unto flavored territory.

Just bought a cheap stove kettle, but no thermometer so I figured going with a black tea would be safe — picked this out of my sampler box.

The smell is overwhelmingly vanilla, before and after steeping. But there is still an obvious generic black tea smell to it. I’m debating adding milk and sugar, but i’ll try it first without. I’m not used to flavored black teas.

First sip. hmmm. i dunno. not really tasting much, and what i’m tasting i’m not liking. I guess skim milk + sugar is the way to go. Ah there we go, thats the typical black tea taste i love so much. The vanilla flavor still tastes a bit weird to me, but the tea isn’t /that/ bad. I’m not a huge fan of vanilla flavored things. Not much else to say, because I just don’t really know what to say about it.

Tasty and sweet because of the vanilla, but i’d like more of a black tea kick to it.