Vanilla Plantation

I’m having a lovely latte cup of this tea this morning while i try to get going. I had a hugely long day of work yesterday, followed by a distinct lack of sleep (i’ve been up for 4 hours) – an overall crappy day in which i was clearly affected by something given my inability to let things slide – which i’m normally pretty good at. So today, i’m taking it easy and trying to still do work, but from home, in my pj’s while drinking tea.

I missed out on all cyber monday purchases yesterday because of work but i did get a lovely card in the mail from grace, which helped improve my day a bunch. It also occurred to me last night that you guys all rock my socks. I really do love the sense of community we have going on here and the inclination that a huge number of people have to just be awesome. The sharing, the conversation – everything just makes my days a little sunshinier for having the steepster folks around :) So I’ll raise a cup of tea this morning in your honor and be thankful for the comraderie that is abundant here on steepster, that keeps me going some day.

Thank you all for just being awesome. keep it up!

(oh and the tea? it’s a lovely cup of delicious vanilla warmth)

My friend drove us down to a nearby DavidsTea after class, and after I picked up a couple of their new ones, we headed down to Silk Road. I picked out a couple, and when I introduced him to the Lapsang Souchong, he sprang for a mini tin of that, plus some Japanese Sour Cherry. Yay!

This was actually my first Silk Road purchase. Loving all things vanilla, I wanted to try this first. My friend commented on the overwhelmingly sweet aroma wafting from the huge canister. And he’s right, I wasn’t expecting that. But it’s sweet in a good way.

Ever smell something one moment and revisit the scent not too long after, only for it to smell completely different? That’s what’s going on now. The dry leaf in my tin smells nothing like it did in the store, where it was an obvious vanilla bean. Now it smells like stewed tomatoes. That’s right. Stewed. Tomatoes.

Once steeped, the stewed tomatoes confusion disappears and it’s back to vanilla bean.

The vanilla is lovely, really. Velvety, almost like vanilla whipped cream. The base is a little too brisk for my liking. Detracts from the smoothness of the vanilla. It makes me want 52teas French Vanilla Assam. I’ve hereby decided that Assam is a better choice than Ceylon when we’re dealing with vanilla.

But if that’s what you are looking for, a Ceylon-based vanilla, this one is very well blended and it’s worth trying.

snagged this one the other day at the grocery store (one of the perks of living 10 minutes away from the main store downtown… you can find it at the grocery store!!!).

anyway, this blend started me on a vanilla kick; comparing and contrasting…. except i only had the one (therein a problem lies, lol). for all of my grouchiness towards david’s teas and their ingredients listing policies i do like to give vendors a chance to get better and evolve— my opinions aren’t set in stone. so i grabbed two vanilla teas from there to compare to this one in the next little while.

vanilla plantation is absolutely vanilla, a warm vanilla wafts out when the tin is opened. however, while it is smooth and cleanly executed (seriously, i don’t think silk road is capable of anything harsh) vanilla is not the only thing i get from this blend. to me the warmth of the smell plus some interaction between the tea and the vanilla pieces i actually get more of a buttercream essence! not unpleasant, but not strictly vanilla either.

Sometimes, I just want something predictable to wind down with. No crazy ingredients, funky aromas, or overwhelming flavours- just a nice and simple tea.

Vanilla Plantation is a flavoured tea but it’s a straightforward and honest one. The vanilla here is not overwhelming enough to cause a headache, like some jasmine and vanilla teas. Instead, it maintains its simple Ceylon base with only enough vanilla bean to create a mellow and creamy sweet cloud.

There has never been even a hint of bitterness in all the times I’ve had this although there is a slight pleasant pungency which keeps the tea from being too soft and dull. Undoubtedly, there are better vanilla blacks out there but this is the nicest I’ve had so far. It’s so rich it tastes like it already has milk. It’s similar to Silk Road’s London Fog, with a creamy start than a pointy black base to skim through it.

The dry leaves smell of vanilla with something vaguely citrus-like. The liquor is a bright gold. Wet leaves are brown and fragrant and hold up well for two steeps.

I’ve also had this iced with chocolate soy milk which is very tasty. I’m glad my friend convinced me to buy this- it’s become one of my favourite Silk Road teas.

Thank you JustJames for a sample tin of this lovely tea! I am liking it. But I am a fan of vanilla.

This is smooth, silky, and creamy. The vanilla adds a touch of sweetness, but not too much. The vanilla is not over-powering, but definitely coming through in flavour.

There’s another tea I have stashed away somewhere in the house that is also a vanilla black tea…I think I prefer this one…the other was a little too subtle for my liking. This one from Silk Road has stronger vanilla flavour which works for me.

From the Great Canadian TTB.

This one is pretty good. It is not as good as Silk Roads lychee fruit that I just had but it is still very well done. The dry tea smells like vanilla beans but it is not overpowering.

The brewed tea has a very light vanilla smell. I actually wondered if it would taste like anything based on the smell. The tea tastes quite good. The Ceylon base is smooth, not too stringent, although it is slightly drying. However I think this works well with the vanilla notes. The vanilla is calm, smooth with no bite, it adds creamy notes to the tea. I bet this one would be great as a latte.

I’m not a huge black tea drinker, but this one just smelled so good I had to pick up a small tin. It smells so sweet and vanilla-y.
It also tastes very sweet, somewhat of vanilla, but also of something almost like strawberries. Very nice and not bitter or strong like some blacks.

Another review of this tea mentioned that they smelled stewed tomatoes while drinking this, and while I found the exact same thing with another one of silk road’s teas (Lychee Fruit), I am luckily not finding it with this one.

This is a nice creamy vanilla tea. It is good, but not as good as their London fog which I am sadly out of so this will have to do. I think I will send this rest of this off with the tea box I am expecting in the next few weeks so that someone else can enjoy this as I am making another order and getting me some more London fog, Japanese Sour Cherry and Sublime!

The smell is intoxicating but I find the vanilla to be heavy that mutes the character of the ceylon base. It is heavy to a point of tasting artificial.

Simple, fragrant and pleasant. Love the little blossoms.