Black Orchid

In my last post I mentioned Reasons. Well, having just suffered a disappointing setback to do with Reasons, I’m comforting myself with the last of this leaf and reminding myself that there are other fish in the sea and the battle may be lost but the war is not over and it’s not over until the fat lady sings and to get back in the saddle and whichever other cliches you can think of. But BOOOO! at the world in general. shakes fist

It’s the last of the leaf, and I’ve suddenly realised something. There’s a berry-y note in here and it’s pretty strong. How did I not notice this before. Or maybe more cherry than berry really (lookit me rhyme!). If I had never had this before now, I would have thought it was fruit flavoured along with the vanilla. I don’t really understand how it isn’t.

Everybody who has some of this tea, go and make a cup now and see if you think I’m right or just crazy.

(Should I point out that Reasons are a good thing, or is that obvious?)

I have a cold and I am not able to smell the dry leaf unfortunately.
But my taste remains intact and this vanilla tea is really different from the ones I have had until now.

The mellowness of this tea is incredible, it’s so smooth, delicious feeling.
The Vanilla is not a sweet vanilla, it’s a lovely sharp Vanilla to me but it may come from my steeping time (4,5 min) and the tea base used by MF.
I think there is some assam probably here because I get a hint of astringency at the very end of the sip and it may be different with a shorter steep – I’ll retry next time with 2,5 or 3 min.
Anyway this astringency is a pleasant one so I can rate this high quality tea.

Thank you so much cteresa for this sample, this is lovely.

Next to the last serving of one of my all-time favorite teas from my all-time favorite tea house. It’s vanilla with an overlay of malt and at least one other flavor I have a hard time fully ID’ing – could be brandy or whisky, or even pipe tobacco. Something sweet but sharp, heady and aromatic, and truly irresistible. Excellent with cream and sugar.

I am not going to rate this yet, because I am not quite sure what i think of it. My second time having it and not only my feelings changed from the first experiment, but my feelings are changing as I drink the cup.

First, the scent – this has an extraordinary scent, a rich, sultry vanilla scent, totally different from cloying one-note artificial vanilla scents and a scent which reminds you that why yes, vanilla is a flower, an orchid (ok, yellow orchid which then creates a black pod, and yes, it´s the seed pod, but still vanilla is floral). Sultry vanilla caramel, that is it. This went on my wishlist the moment I smelled it. Right now I was in the mood for a vanilla tea, and I went on a walk which accidentally took me past the tea shop and well, it came home…

Expectations are funny things which get in the way of appreciating what we get instead. This tea is not truthful to the scent. It´s much more sedate, much less exuberant, maybe classier than its scent. No caramel after all. So I was underwhelmed at first, since it was so very different from what I expected from its scent. But if what I was expecting this as a lightly naturally flavored vanilla tea then well this is indeed lovely. It´s got an incredibly smooth base (thank you Mariage Frères, for not using the same base for *everything) which I think has some, but not a lot, of Assam on it. And a lovely aftertaste. I am getting to like this more each time I have it, I will make another taste note after I have it a few more times.

Angrboda, not sure this will be your vanilla tea indeed, but if you ever want to try it, let me know!

Soft vanilla flavor. Slight notes of cherry cough syrup (!!). Malty black tea taste. Not getting much spice. Maybe a bit of cinnamon? I think my water is not hot enough.

I don’t know why I’m detecting cherry cough syrup in vanilla teas nowadays. Luckily, it’s not that strong in this one. But I’m surprised to find it in a Mariage Freres.

The best vanilla flavor in a tea has to be H&S’s Vanilla Comoro. For me, it’s unsurpassed (even if it is decaf).

I missed my workout today and desperately need to go do it, but it’s been a long week and I’m not exactly perky at the moment. So I’m going to start a little adventure called a tale of three vanillas in the hopes that by the end I’ll be energized enough to work out.

This is the first in the saga, to be followed by a rerun of The Jade Teapot’s Starry Night and my sample of the Samovar Vanilla Dian Hong.

Gee, this tea smells terrific! No, really, it is a tantalizing smell coming out of the tin, a sultry vanilla smell. It’s incredible, you can actually smell the beany grain of the vanilla which gives it a slight resemblence to the smell of coffee. It’s like being inside a vanilla bean, or rather, swimming in a vat of vanilla beans like toddlers do in those ball pit things. There’s a dark roasty smell as well, which is certainly the tea, which is dark brown and luscious. You can see pieces of vanilla bean among the leaves.

The aroma during steeping is equally delicious. I think vanilla may be a hard flavoring to get exactly right and it seems as though its success is highly dependent on the quality of the vanilla used to flavor as well as the thing being flavored. My experience with the Numi Vanilla Decaf was pretty bad, and though I thought it unlikely this experience would be similar I was relieved to be right. The vanilla aroma rises gently and organically out of the cup, along with a malty, sugary tea smell that is quite enticing.

The liquor is lighter in color than I’d expected from the darkness of the leaves, a sort of burnt orangish brown.

Yum. It tastes smoother and more delicate than I expected. It’s not a shot over the bow so much as a gentle rumble. The vanilla is sweet and delicious, and it melds with the tea’s own sweetness to create something that, astonishingly, is just the right amount of sweet. The flavors lean on each other nicely. A wonderful cup.

I’m not sure exactly what the right steeping time for this one will turn out to be. It was fine at 3 minutes but a bit better at 4. I might try 5 next time, just for laughs.

And as a postscript — the empty cup smells nommy!

I’m really enjoying this tea. I love vanilla, but most vanilla teas don’t impress me. I don’t know what is different about this one, but I like it. It has the lightest malt to it that works well with the vanilla. I love complexity of multiple flavors in tea working off each other, but this is really just vanilla and for whatever reason that’s all I need it to be.

I have always loved Mariage Freres teas, until this one. It is deeply disappointing. The aroma is close to cheap caramel. I do get some vanilla notes in the flavor.

I’ve fallen behind on my swap teas, so if you’ve sent something and I haven’t mentioned it here yet I promise I’m working through them! This one was a gift from Dustin and one I’ve been wanting to try for a while. It has a strong vanilla flavor and a sort of nuttiness to it. James said it tasted like vanilla but then pickles (??), so I’m pretty glad I’m not picking up on that particular flavor. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite vanilla black, but it’s certainly enjoyable. Thank you, Dustin!

French… Saturday?! I only have two of these samplers from Dustin left (thank you!) so I’m trying to finish them off.

I’ve brewed a warm cuppa to sip on this morning while I’m working on house chores (my best friend Todd is coming to visit next weekend, the first time I’ll have seen him in person since 2019!). Soon enough I’ll be right back to my bottles of coldbrew, but I find first thing in the morning or late in the evening after the sun has gone down I feel more amenable towards warm tea.

The dry leaf of this smells pleasantly of vanilla, but something about it is a bit fudgy in aroma, as well. 2.4g to 350ml of 205F water, steeped 3 minutes. My steeped cup is a little oily on top (not something that really bothers me, but I know it gets to others), but it smells richly of vanilla. I finished off a 50g bag of a vanilla tea recently (Moon Over Madagascar from TeaSource) and this aroma is coming off more strongly than that tea. Not sure if that is a matter of the vanilla flavoring used, or the age of the tea, though.

Mmm. Nice. The base is slightly bready with a smidge of raisin, with a rich vanilla flavoring that leaves a very silky mouthfeel. Something about the sweet vanilla mixed with this base is creating a sort of carmelly flavor note that I’m really digging.

A perfectly pleasant vanilla black!