Just Naughty 'Nilla

Oh dear.

I wanted to love this tea. I just got my pack of samples from Just Organic. When I opened it there was a strong smell of something that reminded me of slippery elm bark which I detest. I don’t know if all the samples were contaminated by this flavor what ever it is but this tea seems to suffer.

First the good. I love the base. Not to astringent, nice and smooth but not meek.

The vanilla flavor is mild and pleasant. Not a huge fan of carob so that might be tripping me up a bit too.

I’m drinking as I write this and have realized it’s more the smell than the taste that bothers me. I wish I had more than one cups worth of leaf so I could mess around with it but I’m getting some more from the kickstarter campaign so I’ll try to come back and update once I’ve messed with the parameters. I very rarely sweeten tea but this might benefit from a pinch of sugar.

Verdict—Undecided, postponed until further tasting.

Today Ben and I went for a hair cut, he for practical finding a summer job while school is out reasons, and me because I was getting really sick of my hair. I am blessed/cursed with thick, fluffy hair that goes everywhere and has a perpetual cowlick, when it is short it is quite cute and manageable, when it is long I get lost in it Cousin It style. It is safe to say that with my now very short asymmetrical pixie cut I feel like my head is 10 pounds lighter. Perfect for the inevitable onslaught of summer.

Today’s tea has nothing to do with hair, in some cases that is sad (a non fuzzy silver needle would be so weird) but in the case of Just Naughty ’Nilla by Just Organic Tea, that is probably for the best. This dessert like tea is a blend of Black Tea, Carob, and Natural Vanilla Extract. The aroma is malty, rich, and sweet with a nice kick of vanilla and a mild woody chocolate finish. I always find that carob smells like a mix of wood and chocolate, just different enough to not be chocolate.

The brewed and now quite soggy leaves have an earthy, woody, and malty aroma with a very nice and sweet vanilla note along with a finish of rich chocolate. It smells more like chocolate and less like carob, but I admit most my experience with the stuff is in food and not tea. The liquid is mostly creamy and rich vanilla with a pleasant malty finish.

The tea is quite brisk and wakes you up, there are nice notes of malt and vanilla with a finish of chocolate/woody carob. This tea was surprisingly not very sweet on its own, it had the taste and olfactory pleasure of vanilla and chocolate but not of the sweetness. Adding a bit of sugar did bring it out some, bit oddly I preferred it unsweetened because with sugar it seemed a bit fake. I am not sure I would seek this tea out on my own, but I certainly would not say no to it if offered.

For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/05/just-organic-tea-just-naughty-nilla-tea.html

I received this sample from Just Organic. My fiance and I shared a mug of this last night and we didn’t agree on what it tasted like. He tasted black tea, vanilla, and maple syrup. And I swear it tasted like vanilla indian food to me. I have no idea why but I thought it smelled like I walked into an indian restaurant. Cardamom, curry. So I didn’t love it because my tastes buds seemed a little off.

The dry leaves of Just Naughty ’Nilla, as of yet untouched by the water that will steep them, let off a sweet-but-not-cloying aroma of vanilla and slightly-malty black tea. The vanilla scent seems solid throughout the blend, and I begin the steep. A recommendation of 195ºF water, steeping for 3-5 minutes, leads me to the happy median of 4 minutes in water that is just off boil.

Sniffing at the steeping tea, I am surprised at how subdued the vanilla aroma has become. The blend now smells much more of the black tea, which reminds me of a Keemun. Finished steeping, this tea smells slightly sweet, and I wonder greatly about the taste.

My first sip is very, very smooth. The subtle sweetness surprises me. I was not expecting the natural sweet flavors, but they are much more pleasant than artificial vanilla flavoring. When I say that I was not expecting them, I mean that I was not expecting just how natural the flavor would be. The carob in this blend lends some molasses notes. However, to be sure, these are not unpleasant. Molasses in black tea can be very hit-and-miss. In this blend, it is subtle and not a primary flavor. The tea itself has light, malty notes. Many black teas with vanilla use either malty or quite weak black teas. Just Organic Tea has chosen a nice base for their blend. It will not overpower your senses, but the sipping experience will be a pleasant one.

On my personal enjoyment scale, I would rate this tea an 87/100.

I just got my Kickstarter packet! Wow that took a long time. Between signing up for backing and getting the package it feels like 3 months? Something like that.

I don’t know what I was thinking when I requested more of this stuff, because my previous review of it was quite ‘meh’.

It’s very carob-ey. Previously I didn’t know what carob was. So carob is (to me) like the savory cross between chocolate and coffee with nuttiness. This tea, when I brewed it up was SUPER carob-ey. I still didn’t get much vanilla, which is kind of sad.

I received a sample of this in the sample pack that Just Organic sent out. Thank you!

Straight vanilla flavored teas and I haven’t been getting along too well. I want more, and I think the combination of the two, tea and vanilla, may not be meant to be for me despite how lovely it sounds. This however, was probably one of the best vanilla teas I have had. I would like a little more out of the base of the tea, but the vanilla was a well rounded flavor that seemed to compliment the tea. If I would have been at home I might have added milk to this to see what happened. I could taste the base, I got a nice vanilla accent, and there was a nice hint of honey.

This one was a bit more remarkable than most of the others I have tried so far, which were all good but not necessarily better than other companies. I am really impressed. It is one of the smoothest black teas I’ve had, and it has a really nice rich flavor. However, it really needs a bit more punch of vanilla to knock it out of the ballpark, as the flavor is present but faint.

Just Naughty ‘Nilla is incredibly smooth as far as black teas go. It’s combination with carob is a bold move, but well executed. While possessing a wonderful flavor, I wish it had stronger hints of vanilla. Regardless, still a good tea.

This is the first of the sample pack from Just Organic Tea that I picked out to try. I was intrigued by the use of carob in a vanilla tea… hence the name Naughty I would suspect. ;)

I got a faint bit of vanilla from the dry leaf. It steeps up a rich, full, and smooth black tea with a nice natural light vanilla flavor. No smokey or earthy flavors which I appreciated with this blend. I didn’t get carob or chocolate so to speak, but maybe a bit of richness/smoothness coming from it and adding to the flavor of the base tea. As it cooled I got a bit more vanilla and maybe caramel if I tried.

This smells like pancake syrup or maple syrup to me… though it does not taste anything like either…. haha. It is definitely very warm and pleasant smelling.

I have no idea what Carob tastes like, so I couldn’t tell you if it lends its flavor to this tea or not. I don’t taste a whole lot of vanilla, but it is evident that it is there. Some of the blame for me not being able to taste the flavors entirely is probably on the fact that my water was a little cooler than it called for… but I our water cooler at work only does one temperature… 180 is the best I could do this morning.

Overall its a nice smooth black tea with a warm pleasant flavor, but not one I would run out to purchase again.