Vanille des Îles

My bestie asked me to take a break tonight and come have tea with her. When I got there, she offered me a slice of her coconut cream pie with the tallest fluffiness meringue you have ever seen. I have never had ANY cream pie before. Oh. My. Goodness. It was so very good and I am so very stuffed! I got the recipe but I know my mother will be up in heaven looking down at me saying, “Gee, thanks! You couldn’t try it and fall in love with it while I was alive, eh?” She loved pie, and I never really ate any cream pies.

This tea was a very nice accompaniment to the pie. The base is good, smooth but not overly sweet, and the vanilla is just right – it doesn’t mask the tea but you don’t have to look for it, either.

I think it’s been a LONG time since I had this tea so I made a big teapot full. I’ve had this tea since May 2011 and it still tastes the same, that makes me happy!

I’m trying to study but I had to call my mom for a weekly chat and to remind her to send me half of the 12 days of Christmas from 52teas because it arrived the day after I left after Thanksgiving. And she of course deflated my entire mood for the day with some nonsense about how she won’t cosign for the last loan I’ll need for next fall as she doesn’t want to be on the line for it when I can’t find a job. Really nice coming from your own mom right? She seems to forget I’m not my brother’s idiot friends who have degrees that are serving them no purpose, like sports marketing. So irritated it just was so INCREDIBLY RUDE of her when she will never, ever have to pay them because that’s my responsibility and she apparently has no confidence in me? Not cool.

Okay. To the tea now that I’ve finally gotten that out.

I still love this tea very much because it’s kind of malty but still tastes like vanilla icing in tea form. I’ve still got a bit in my pot and it still tastes good even cooled off. Definitely not one I’d regularly drink cold but I think it actually gets kind of a creamy taste and even consistency this way.

I’m going to be sad when I run out of this tea, which is soon.

Mmmm. This smells like the best liquour dark chocolates ever. This makes me think of college when I would send chocolates to my now fiance more. I would sometimes send him a box of little chocolate mice filled with different ganaches and he would share them with me. This smells just like the fillings of one of the little mice (I think the cinnamon dark chocolate one).
This tastes dark, smokey, and slightly sweet. It has an incredible mouthfeel, dense and rich. I am in the mood for a little sweetness, so milk and sugar are being added but this can definitely stand on its own. I get a really neat little bourbon aftertaste.

Thanks momo for allowing me to try a few cups of this! Anything vanilla is my favorite. This is a milder tasting black tea base. It brews a medium brown color. Kind of malty. The base is perfect for the vanilla flavor that is neither too subtle or too strong. A tea that is smooth and sweet! I like it, of course (it’s vanilla). I can’t decide which is my favorite of the vanilla teas I’ve tried. I also like Harney’s Vanilla Comoro and ESP Emporium’s Vanilla Black. There was also a teabag I really loved: Numi’s India Night. But why pick favorites?

I’m worried about everyone on the east coast right now! Stay safe and drink some tea!

Tea of the morning….. (SRP #18)

This tea comes from Amanda. And of course, I had it as an inaugural cuppa in my daughter’s new Kati cup. (I know, kind of weird, but I asked her if I could use it to compare to my mug…)

This is lovely. This is my favorite Vanilla tea to date. The Harney Vanilla Black is a close second to this, but it oh so much more affordable, and much easier for me to obtain. I love Vanilla Comoro, but I can still taste the remnants of the decaffienation process, even though it is the best decaf vanilla tea out there, and I do score it a little higher than I normally would because I can drink it at night. I also have to say this is one of the first Mariage Freres teas I have really liked…well this one and The Au Tibet. I have tried a few other popular ones, but they just did not appeal. I am not sure it will make the shopping list due to there being only a few places in the US that carry this tea. I see a cup of Vanilla Black from Harney in my near future just to see if this would be worth the effort to get it.

All that nonsense aside, I am so grateful to Amanda for sharing this with me. It is really good! Thank you!

Usual mug method.

This is a cheat note – I’ve had this numerous times already. It’s been this year’s holiday tea, as I got if for Christmas. Well, sticking with the theme, it was technically a cheat Christmas gift. Something I was supposed to get did not arrive on time and so I was tasked with finding a temporary replacement thing for myself (I’m sorry, but I really do love when this happens). No peeking! (I would like to emphasize I avoided the ‘no pekoe-ing’ pun here. Again – kindly award points accordingly.)

So T, who was visiting, kindly agreed to being dragged to Dagnino – that’s where you go if you need to get your Mariage Frères fix in Rome. There’s a nice full wall of MF tea on the upper landing – both tins and bags. I got a tin, but I think you could get as little as 50 grams. And yes, I know I should add this to the tea store review part of the site, but not today.

They made me a very pretty package and I expressed unparallelled surprise as I unwrapped it.

In the tin, this carries a nicely mellow note of caramel vanilla. I thought this would be a knockout, heavy vanilla – the Vanilla of Vanillas, because that’s what island vanilla is to me. In the kitchen, I use Nielsen-Massey’s Madagascar Bourbon, and I was hoping for something along those lines.

Alas, no – not in the cup either. But that doesn’t make it bad at all; in fact, it’s quite lovely – milky, almost; round, comforting and velvety. I’m surprised I like this as much as I do, considering how present the tea base is, but maybe I’m growing up, or something equally terrifying.

So the hunt for the perfect vanilla tea goes on, but I look forward to spending some serious quality time with this one while I look.

(And writing that made me realize these tea notes could be read as dating notes and now I will never be able to stop thinking exactly that as I scroll down my dash. Thick, sweet, lush, fruity, entertaining, playful, full-bodied. This is going to be so bad.)

[Purchased at Dagnino in Rome, December 2013.]

I am just coming back from the Mariage Frères shop Place de la Madeleine in Paris.
I needed to refill my box of Prince Igor …so bought 100gr BUT of course I cannot enter a MF shop without buying other teas…
I wanted to taste this one for ages so here it is !
I am terrible with vanilla : I had too much vanilla teas or ice creams made with a stupid artificial vanilla now I am suspicious.
I generally refuse any vanilla ice cream except those of 2 or 3 brands and I do the same with teas.

Knowing Mariage Frères I was sure the vanilla was a good vanilla and I am not disappointed at all.
This is a sumptuous Bourbon vanilla…meaning the Vanilla comes from the following islands ONLY : La Réunion, Mauritius,Madagascar or Comoros. This is the same Vanilla as the one used in Wedding Impérial but of course here no caramel and the tea base is not an assam but probably a Chinese tea and it is so mellow, awwwww love it !

This blend is perfectly balanced between the flavour and the tea base.
I think it can become one staple.

Another excellent sampling from Amanda this has been on my shopping list and will remain there now that I finally got to try it it is worth the purchase! Creamy vanilla black tea – what more needs be said other than it is a VERY GOOD vanilla!

Another one from Amanda! She spoiled me!!!

I have been wanting to try this for a long time! It was worth the wait!
I’m on my 2nd cup and it’s lovely. It’s a nice black tea base – medium strength and even from start to finish with a different sort of a vanilla flavor…it’s vanilla but….sugary-frosting like…but isn’t really creamy, per say. It has a toasted-bread like flavor right at the end of the sip and lingers slightly into the aftertaste but the vanilla kicks in again by then. It’s unlike other vanilla’s I have tried and it quite special. Neat flavored black tea :)

This tea is awesome.

Dry the leaves are quite large are smell of a natural, soft, sweet vanilla definitely not overpowering or artificial.

Hot the smell is divine it’s a vanilla teacake cooling on a windowsill.

The ‘tea’ component is very light, and as far as away from bitter as you can imagine. I infused it for quite a long time and seemed it to make the tea sweeter rather than stronger which was awesome!

The vanilla is a sweet vanilla – very sweet and so tasty.

It’s the perfect afternoon tea. Absolutely delish! I highly recommend this to everyone. :)