Vanille des Îles

Interesting but not more that that. I like vanilla, but not when it’s the entire point of the tea. And I mean it – I couldn’t even really taste much of the base tea itself. Satisfied my curiosity, now in need to pass this to some friend…

This is personally one of my very favorite teas. The vanilla is strong when you open the tin and warm in your cup. I find Mariage Freres never lets me down. Sweet and with a lovely color, I find it is wonderful alone or even with a snack. I even made a very nice iced tea out of it. I do not suggest a hot cup for a heavy meal, but it can be a great dessert tea. The iced tea can actually make a nice friend for a sandwich or picnic on a sunny afternoon.

Nice and smooth with a very light taste of vanilla. After the heavenly vanilla smell of the leaves, I expected a more intense flavor. Nice but not outstanding.

YEP. I tasted a vanilla tea the other day that I found a bit weak and dull, it really didn’t do much for me except get the response ‘eh’. This, on the other hand, is Vanilla Tea. I can taste a smooth, black tea, and the vanilla used is a mirror of the vanilla bean paste that I buy at a local spice shop……it has the rich sweetness of tobacco without the smoke, the smoothness of rum without the alcohol, and dan absolutely intoxicating, but comforting vanilla scent. The taste of this blew the other one away, hands down, no doubt…..

Even my 15 year old son was all ‘oh. is this what vanilla tea is supposed to taste like?’

Yes, grasshopper, yes. Learn the flavor well. Only good tea for my offspring.

This tea is manly. Upon opening the tin, it smells like vanilla tobacco, which said to me I was about to have a very unique taste experience. While hot, the vanilla was very much a background note. I was tasting woody, smoky, pipe tobacco-y, but smooth tea. The vanilla is a complement to all that and it was very delightful. It reminds me of woodworking and scotch.

My favorite vanilla black, finally back in my cupboard. A friend of mine was going to Paris and asked if she could bring back any tea for me. I kind of felt bad, but, as long as she was asking, I said, “Sure!” and proceeded to extoll the virtues of this tea. I said to her what I always say when describing it: “It’s so vanilla, it’s practically chocolate!” And so it is – you just have to taste it and then you’ll understand what I mean. Anyway, I just opened the package today to have some for the first time in way too long. It’s still the same, excellent vanilla black I remember. Luscious, not-too-sweet vanilla flavor along with a subtle smoky, woody aspect. Very satisfying, especially when it’s what I expect and remember.

Could I have ordered this myself instead of getting my friend to bring it back for me? Of course. But I always seem to have an excuse not to do that (“I already have too much tea!” or “I need to try new ones!”). So glad I relented, it’s like having an old friend back for a visit.

In-store this smelled amazing, and I struggled to choose between this and Paris Breakfast (which smelled equally vanilla-y, with perhaps some sort of caramel). There’s a woody, almost paper-like taste to this, as well as a rich softness. The vanilla is divine, hard to describe, not as punchy as I’d like it, but really smooth and elegant. I do like this, a lot.

Grabbed at a chocolate shop in the heart of Brussels, March 16, 2015.

This one is a sample from Sara. I happen to love vanilla, but I don’t feel I’ve found my perfect vanilla tea just yet. Always on the lookout for more! This one has rather tiny black tea leaves. The dry scent reminds me of vanilla bean ice cream, yum!

Once steeped, the tea smells more woody, which always makes me immediately think of bourbon vanilla. I added a tad bit of raw sugar to my cup, as I am wont to do with flavored teas lately. The flavor is somewhat woody as well, which seems a perfectly natural combination with vanilla to me. The vanilla flavor is definitely similar to a good vanilla extract, and it’s of medium strength. It’s a perfectly nice, slightly more manly vanilla tea (as opposed to the custardy dessert kind).

A sample from Ysaurella! This was Saturday morning’s cup. I’ve been so tired lately, I felt I needed something sweet and decadent to help me get going. A treat in tea form. This one seemed like the perfect choice! I used 1 tsp of leaf, and followed Ysaurella’s advice with regard to brewing for only 2 minutes in water around 90 degrees. The resulting liquor was fairly dark, so I added a splash of milk.

I was expecting quite a strong hit of vanilla, but this one is actually quite gentle. Creamy, delicate, soothing. It’s a completely natural vanilla taste — no artifice here. It reminds me a little of the vanilla ice cream I made myself a few months back — such a change from the vanilla-flavoured ice cream I’d been eating up until that point. Similarly with this tea.

I think the milk has aided the creaminess a little, and I’m glad I didn’t steep as long as I would have without a warning, because I fear the base may have overtaken the flavour completely had I done that. It’s quite a present base, as is. This is definitely black tea and vanilla, rather than just vanilla tea. It’s delicious for it, though, and it makes for a wonderful breakfast time treat. Enough black tea not to be overpowering, enough vanilla to be a pleasant treat and a gentle wake-up.

I like this one lots. It’s up there with the best vanilla teas I’ve tried this far, and it’s definitely one I’d like to add to my cupboard when I get the chance. Many thanks to Ysaurella for giving me the chance to try this one!

From the queue, written April 2nd 2014

Another sample that Anna shared with me. I’m less concerned about this one than other Anna – sample, because it’s one that I’ve been interested in long before Anna was on Steepster. For some reason this makes a difference. Highly illogical, I know, but it does make a difference in my head. You’d think that Anna, being my taste opposite, liking this would make my interest cool, but it seems to have not registered at all. It must be because it’s a vanilla tea and all vanilla blacks are by definition lovely.

I do, however, seem to recall being warned at one time ( Cteresa, was it you?) that this one was A Bit Different to other vanilla blacks, but I don’t know in what way it’s supposed to be so. (Or was that a completely different French vanilla blend…? I’m confused now!)

Anyway, the aroma is quite subtle on the vanilla and I’m getting a lot of the base. It smells like a fairly strong base with a great deal of malty, grainy notes to it. The vanilla is there, giving it sweetness, but it does not smell saturated by vanilla. This is not necessarily a bad thing, mind you.

It is indeed a quite strong base. It tastes a little non-descript to me. A little default tea-ish. I don’t think this is a fault of the base. I think these things just happen sometimes in the flavouring process. As if the add flavouring alters some of the natural notes and mutes them. Still, it’s fairly strong and tastes suitable for the morning hours even though it’s flavoured. (Lately I’ve found myself paying attention to the time of days when choosing a tea to drink. I’d never do a herbal or a flavoured first thing in the morning, for example, unless I had already been awake for a little while. Never cared about that before. I’d still happily have a morning tea in the afternoon though.)

The vanilla is very subtle. I get it mostly in the background. At no point, when just taking a mouthful do I think ‘oh vanilla’, but then when I’ve had it in my mouth for the short while it takes me to put the cup down and before I swallow, that’s when I get a good deal of vanilla. So it’s there but it’s hidden. It’s the sort of thing like that drawing of a toad and then when you turn the picture 90 degrees, it turns into a drawing of a horse’s head. When you first look at it, you can’t see the horse, but as soon as you’ve found the horse, it’s never just a toad again. It’s like that with the vanilla. Until you find it, it’s elusive. But once you’ve discovered it, there’s actually rather a lot of it.

My cup had cooled a little way beyond drinkable temperature, so if I’d had it when it was slightly warmer, my impression might have been different. I find that if I sip a tea while it’s piping hot I can’t taste plock all, so it’s possible that this is actually even more subtle than I think it is. I’ve got half the sample Anna gave me left, so I can test it. But Luna was being a WILD kitty with a capital WILD, so I spent some time playing with her to help her burn off some of all that energy. A toy on a string tied to an old wooden cooking spoon = Cat fishing rod. Great fun for all participants! :D

This is not how I prefer my vanilla black. I like a completely saturated vanilla tea. Which is peculiar because it goes against how I otherwise prefer my flavoured blacks. It’s still a lovely tea, though. (Yes, by definition. ;)

Addition, written May 8th 2014

I had the rest of this sample while watching the first Eurovision semifinal on Tuesday, and I had much the same experience with it as above, so it seems a pretty consistent blend and it was a very suitable to treat while watching the show. Although I cannot for the life of me understand the outcome of the semifinal! How could Iceland qualify, but Portugal didn’t??? Portugal had a totally jolly and fun salsa-y song and Iceland’s song was just… Well, it wasn’t that good. Of my own six favourites, only three qualified and the look on my face when they had announced all ten was a bit like this: O.O And Armenia’s song is a bookmaker favourite because… why, exactly? At least my absolute favourite so far that I hope will win (Netherlands) qualified. I’m going to watch the second semifinal tonight if I can stay awake for it. Hopefully that one will be less shocking. The hosts all have that dreadful Danish accent to their English, though. I hope I don’t sound like that. I’ve told Husband to lie to me if I do.