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“Merry belated, Steepsterites! We had English Christmas this year which involved roast turkey dinner, Christmas pudding (Americans, what do you traditionally eat for your Christmas dinner?), lots of...” Read full tasting note
“I only slightly oversteeped this one this time, however I think I preferred it with a longer steep time – it seemed to mellow it out more and bring out the vanilla better. For some reason, I’m...” Read full tasting note
“Mucked this one up yesterday latteing it too—if I’d seen ahead of time online (or just assumed based on TTL’s tendencies, which by the way often jive with my preferences) that the tea base was a...” Read full tasting note
“I drank this and something else before leaving the house….but i ..wait nm now i remember what it was lol. Testing is well underway so far but man, this is going to be a rough night. things are...” Read full tasting note
USDA Certified organic vanilla black is a delicious synergy between excellent high grown tea, rich fresh vanilla and a lovely cream character.
Our Vanilla Black Tea is a marvelous black tea. Vanilla has a reputation that reaches far back in history as a highly prized and delicious flavour. It is sweet, warm and gently which makes it the perfect companion to black tea. The robust and strong black tea is softened by the sweet warmth of the vanilla.
Amount: 3g per cup.
Temperature: 100°c /212°F
Steep Time: 2-3 minutes. This tea can be steeped two times.
Company description not available.
Merry belated, Steepsterites!
We had English Christmas this year which involved roast turkey dinner, Christmas pudding (Americans, what do you traditionally eat for your Christmas dinner?), lots of presents, Morris dancing in a pub carpark in the village and a pantomime in Ipswich during which I even took part in the shouting and booing (Oh yes I did!), and my bestest best present this year was a Kindle Paperwhite which I’ve been playing with today. I’m still at the stage of learning how to use it, but I have discovered that I can charge the battery using my phone charger and how to download classics for free from Project Gutenberg. And in case anybody was wondering, we were nowhere near any of the flooded areas and had power the entire time.
Before Christmas, however, I received a very sweet Christmas card from Sil who had decided to spoil me with a couple of samples of vanilla flavoured black tea. This is one of them.
It smells very sweet and vanilla-y, but also, I think, a little caramel-y. There is also an aroma as if it has a very powerful base or possibly a slightly smoky base, but I think that might be something to do with what I’ve had in this mug earlier today, so I don’t think it really belongs. (Mind you, it does smell rather like a sort of base that would be lovely with some added flavouring.)
Upon sipping… regards cup suspiciously it does actually seem to have a rather strong base. It tastes very Black Tea. All grain-y and full bodied. It’s a bit Assam-y and the vanilla is also coming out in the same sort of way that it often does on an Assam base, so if this is not Assam, I think it might be something fairly similar. And yes, I know I mentioned something earlier about having had something in this mug earlier this afternoon that may have ‘bled’ aromas into this cup, but I don’t think this experience has anything to do with that previous cup. That one was nothing like any sort of Assam at all, you see.
Anyway it strikes me as something along the lines of a vanilla-flavoured Assam, and I think Assam makes a really good vanilla base and provides a generally good experience. I’m very pleased with this tea.
I only slightly oversteeped this one this time, however I think I preferred it with a longer steep time – it seemed to mellow it out more and bring out the vanilla better. For some reason, I’m getting a nutty feel to this, and something slightly metallic from the vanilla. The base is interesting, yet I feel like I’ve either done something wrong, or it’s just a base that’s different from my liking. I want to have more, and then the metallic comes in, and a weird aftertaste. Hm. Going to chalk this up to user error again – I left it a touch too long to attend to my 6-year-old who hacking up a lung while playing games on my phone.
Thanks to Sil for generously sharing some of this with me!
1.5 tsp in 12oz.
Flavors: Metallic, Vanilla
haha. I haven’t quite decided how i feel about this one either.
Okay, well now I feel less, uh, bad, about this review!
OH like i care if others don’t like teas they get from me haha. to each their own silly :) Only way to get a fix on what ppl like is send them stuff, see how they feel and then note for next time…also…how else will you try ALL THE TEAS! :)
Ha! It’s more that I was wondering if it was just me… sometimes it’s really my palate messed up from, you know, things like zero sleep. If you’re also torn on this one, then I feel better with saying, “Yep, I tried it, and I’m cool with moving on now”.
ALL the teas! Heh. You’re well ahead of me on that one, for now. ;)
…for now.. heh i have to get pregnant at some point lol you can catch up then..
Mucked this one up yesterday latteing it too—if I’d seen ahead of time online (or just assumed based on TTL’s tendencies, which by the way often jive with my preferences) that the tea base was a starring player I’d have though twice about diluting that with milk. Alas, I know a lot of the charms of this tea were lost in a sea of foam, and I don’t have any of my sample left to give this its proper tasting. Even mishandled though, this was ok. Not remarkable, but fine. Whoops.
My comments keep going missing… If we ever do a swap, I can send you more to play with
that’s really kind of you to mention, Sil! i’d be up for a swap…someday, ha…i’m a little wiped out when it comes to swap boxes (i’m such a lightweight!). i feel like i spend 2 or 3 days a week every week in line at the post office and my postage funds are a bit depleted at the moment. but i’d love to swap sometime, maybe in a few weeks in spring, with you (and Cavo!).
also, if you can’t manage to find anyone with Lupicia’s Cookie i might be able to scrounge some up for you. i bought a packet loose a while back, but have given most of it away in various swaps and through my husband’s love for it for afternoon tea. i’m a little disorganized at the moment, but i think i might have a little bit left. when i know, and if you still need some, i can send it off if you like.
absolutely! I am never in a rush to swap – i usually try to line myself up with whomever i’m swapping with at least in terms of their preferences heh. I’m pretty easy going and i’m happy as long as they are :)
Appreciate the coOkie offer, Katiek is going to send me a teabag to try but if the postal system eats it…i will drop you a line in future heh :)
cool, cool. i’m glad you’ll get to try it first—to be candid i didn’t understand what all the fuss was about (it’s certainly not bad, but it didn’t leave much of an impression on me). i’ll try to find mine and yeah, feel free to drop me a line if you decide you must have more. (:
I drank this and something else before leaving the house….but i ..wait nm now i remember what it was lol. Testing is well underway so far but man, this is going to be a rough night. things are progressing slow, so there’s like 14-16 hours left of being in a cold-ish room, in the middle of nowhere, close to nothing else not much to drink/eat that is delicious. this tea gets more and more average the more i drink it. on the whole, i’m pretty much done with drinking it i think. just not a long term tea to have a around, but nice enough from time to time..
I basically expected to be underwhelmed by this tea based on its very subtle vanilla aroma. My world was not rocked by the first couple of sips, but as I continued I realized I actually really loved it! It’s subtle, for sure. It doesn’t beat you over the head with vanilla or with sweetness. But it’s a very nice, balanced black with an awesome creamy quality added by the vanilla.
Oooh, yeah, this is the business. I’ve been drinking milk oolong for the past couple of days and have been loving it. However, I woke up today underslept and needed a bang, howdy doody kind of tea and this one was it. I am nearing the bottom of my pouch of this and the vanilla bits must have settled, so today’s cups are punchy malty vanilla goodness. Perfection.
I find this one does best with water well under boiling and a speedy steep to keep it smooth. Ayup, works for me.
I forgot if this was from a tea box or if this was from a swap, but either way, I got this from Sil!
I have too much tea and I’m going to drink as much as I can bc I need to get rid of them all.
Straight:
- Smells like a subtle and light black tea with more hits of coco and vanilla.
- Tastes like black tea. Nothing too special. The vanilla and chocolate aroma was lost
With milk and sugar, that helps the bitterness of the tea. Love the creaminess and I think the vanilla is coming back :)
Cries bc I’m just about to take my last final of undergrad. Beer final, here I come!
Flavors: Vanilla
I don’t know about the States, but here in Canada the usual supper is either glazed ham or turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce accompanied by mashed potatoes and various other veggie side dishes like brussel sprouts (ew). My mom also makes this delicious dish of baked acorn squash and apples.
I’m glad you enjoyed it :)
Happy holidays to you too! Jillian’s right about Canada. My family also prepares various Ukrainian dishes. Desserts vary with every family, I think? Usually cookies are common. My grandma also made lemon pie this year.
That sounds like just about every fancy Christmas dinner I’ve ever had here in Canada. This year, my Aunt made a Pecan and Pumpkin pie for dessert. My Mom tends to make croissants with “Holiday Dip” (it’s like this cream cheese type dip but with cranberry in it too) for dessert.
Sounds like an awesome fun time!
Tony’s xmas dinner for his kids was a spread of lunchmeats, cheeses, breads, various olives, etc.
Me & my kids do xmas breakfast. When they were younger it was Kugle (kind of like mac & cheese, only with apples & cinnamon added), fruit salad, scones. We used to also do a turkey dinner, pretty much a repeat of thanksgiving.
Most American dinners are very similar to the one Jillian described and as Terri noted, pretty much the same as Thanksgiving dinners. In my mom’s family, we often skip the turkey and have a pork roast of some kind instead. This year it was a fantastic pork wellington stuffed with apples and wrapped with pancetta.
When my parents were living it seemed like a replay of Thanksgiving with turkey. Now…I changed it all to ribs! We’re a blended ethnic family AND Eastern Orthodox Christians. We observe the traditional 6 week Nativity Fast and don’t eat meat or dairy until Christmas day (little ones have dairy). African-American Soul Food for dinner and Scots Eggs with scones for brunch is how we FEAST! (The Russians and Ukrainians held a 12 dish dinner at Church Christmas Eve after Liturgy).
This year for New Year’s Day I’m making (Greek) Vasilopita (St. Basil’s Bread) with a coin in it. You can see a picture and get the recipe on my Pinterest under Bonnie Johnstone…Eastern Orthodox Food board.
Thanksgiving with my parents is usually turkey and the traditional sides. Christmas is turkey and prime rib roast, along with crab. This year, my brother decided he wanted filet mignon roast as a side dish to the other two meats.
For us its usually Turkey of some sort, with mash potatoes, vegetables of some sort, red cabbage, salad, and sometimes. Turnip. When I was little we would often have carrot pudding, or mincemeat tart for dessert, but now it’s usually lemon cake and cookies sent by one on aunts great aunts from Germany, My uncle usually brings Shrimp. If at one of my other Aunts it turns into a three day gourmet fest competition between her and her sisters with Champagne breakfast, and meal consisting of pancetta stuffed roast in mediera, and poultry of all sorts. Very dangerous… Though one year we had a Vegetarian Christmas when my cousin was going through her continental vegetarian phase. To be quite honest though at that time I rarely ate meat as well.
Everyone’s food sounds great! I am always alone for New Year’s. It’s been this way for a long time. Sooooo, if you get depressed…drop me a note. I don’t get depressed, but I’ll be glad to keep your company!
Most of my life, Christmas dinner was pretty much a replay of Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied yams or sweet potato casserole, rolls, cakes, pies. But for the past few years I have been making eye of round roast instead, as the family seemed to tire of the turkey leftovers too quickly since they had just had them a few weeks before. Of course, gravy and mashed potatoes are still a MUST because it is some of the best food on Earth! We had creamed spinach and always macaroni and cheese with both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, as well as usually corn on the cob.