Okay, I’ve got some tea in me now and some other cool stuff has happened and I’ve listened to a cool song, so I’m feeling a bit more optimistic about the rest of the day now.
Still, I do have domestic chores to ignore, and what better way to do it than having another cup of tea.
This is a Sudden Inspiration blend. Kind of brave actually because it consists of my Caramel tea from Luka with half a teaspoon of Vanilla from Adagio in it. The brave thing about it is that the Caramel is a resteep of the cup I had a couple of hours ago, and I haven’t got the foggiest clue as to how well that tea handles resteeps… I may have just made myself something that will be rather weak and taste slighly of vanilla.
The aroma is quite nice. There are definite vanilla and caramel notes in it. A bit fleeting which I imagine must have something to do with most of it being a resteep.
Oh my GOD! This is… I can’t even… I just…!!! The caramel SO didn’t get hurt in the resteep and the vanilla is really bringing out the sweetness in it. Like a bit of sugar can bring out the sweetness more, but this is just without that side-flavour of sugar. I will totally have to try this again except without the caramel being a resteep. The whole thing is rounded off by the astringency of the tea, so it doesn’t get cloying.
I had expected it would be nice, but I’m surprised that it was THIS nice. It reminds me a bit of the Elephant Vanilla Chai that I had yesterday. Only sad thing is that I’m running very low on the vanilla sample from Adagio. I should be able to get a vanilla black from my local shop, though, so I just hope that it’s as good as Adagio’s.
Sounds fabulous! I’ve been on the hunt for a really good sweet vanilla type tea for ages, and it sounds like you’ve found it.
I wouldn’t say it’s really sweet-sweet. It’s not something you get in your mouth and think ‘oh, this is sweet’. I could have wished for a bit more of that actually. The aroma of it is sweet but the flavour is more sort of rough. Like a proper vanilla pod as opposed to that powdered vanilla sugar stuff. Kind of hard to explain. But it underlines the sweetness of the caramel. I don’t really think I’ve been drinking this vanilla on it’s own as much as I’ve used it in blending experiments.
“Oh my GOD! This is… I can’t even… I just…!!!”
Hehe, I think we just saw your head asplode. Love it.
I know, I was SHOCKED at how good it was. :)
This might be out of the norm. But if you’re having a hard time finding a good vanilla tea. You might just want to purchase some vanilla pods, and then while the water is coming to a boil, scrap the vanilla from one pod into a pot with your favorite black tea and see how the oils from both blend once you pour the boiling water over it. You can’t go wrong with pure vanilla. Let me know how it goes because I haven’t tried something like that. It was just a thought I had while reading your comments.
I like the vanilla pod idea … a lot of the flavored vanilla teas I’ve tried taste a little chemically to me.
Amy, I’ll try my local shop for a vanilla tea first. I know they’ve got one (I looked). Adagio’s is the only vanilla tea I’ve ever tried, so I don’t have anything to compare it with. I like it as it is, but I have no clue how it holds up to other brands.
I’ve tried sweetening with that vanilla sugar powder stuff, though, and it didn’t really work like I had imagined.