Cinnamon Vanilla

Sipping as I unwind for the evening. This is one of my favorite herbals and I hate to see it gone from the shelves (was a holiday tea).

The boyfriend and I went into Long Beach for a nice quiet dinner at this Pakistani restaurant in which we instead got big bold flavors, complimentary chai tea and Pakistani pop music videos- but we discovered that our moods readily welcomed the hub-bub.

After a night of tikka masala, saffron rice and mango lassi, the muted cinnamon and gentle vanilla of this tea both compliment and calm down what otherwise could be a sensory overload.

It’s been a good night. Not saying “good night,” just saying.

I’m not really a rooibos/honeybush fan in most cases but I decided to give this a shot anyway because I DO LOVE CINNAMON AND VANILLA. Ended up not being… horrible? Definitely taste the rooibos but it’s not overwhelming IN FACT ITS INCREDIBLY… UNDERWHELMING the smell is a lot stronger than the taste. I DUNNO it’s not fantastic but for a free work tisane it will do just fine!

I did not enjoy this tea. It smelled very medicinal even before I opened the wrapper. I expected some vanilla and cinnamon to come through, but there wasn’t any. After steeping for 3 minutes I tasted it, but the only thing I could make out was the rooibos. I steeped it for an additional 4 minutes, but there was still no hint of any flavor other than rooibos. Very disappointing.

The aroma is wonderful, very spicy and sweet. The tea itself was a little underwhelming. I steeped it longer than usual based on other reviews so that it would, hopefully, have a more robust taste. It has a light sweet flavor but it doesn’t taste like either cinnamon or vanilla. I mostly taste the chamomile and rooibos. I would drink it again but not if I was specifically craving a cinnamon tea.

Sipdown! (17 | 364)

This had potential, but it ends up just a bit weird.

I think it’s the sarsaparilla. It takes what should be a cozy, slightly sweet cinnamon tisane and makes it taste more like those root beer barrel hard candies. And don’t get me wrong, I like root beer, but this is supposed to be cinnamon and vanilla. I do taste some cinnamon, but it sort of gets melded into the sarsaparilla, and I’m not picking up on vanilla at all. There’s a slight waxy quality, maybe that’s coming from the vanilla?

It’s not awful, but not one I would purchase.

I made two lattes tonight using sample teabags from Stash. I have had these for about nine months, so they are not fresh but not too old, either. Honestly, this one smelled pretty bad to me, and now I realize it was the sarsaparilla. If you love sarsaparilla, you will probably like this more than I did. But it was mainly the aroma of the dry tea bag that I disliked.

I tasted this one before handing it off to Ashman, who said he really liked it. He has a real sweet tooth and he is working late and has a lot still to do, so after tasting it and finding it to be a bit bland, I jazzed this up with half water, half milk, our homemade vanilla extract, lots of sugar, and whipped cream on top.

The thing is, this is what it would take to make this enjoyable to me. It is not a tea I would crave or relish as a plain, hot cuppa. Not something I plan to order, but thankful for the sample, and so glad that he enjoyed it on his work break.

Note not about the tea: has anyone tried Bakers Tennis Biscuits and are they worth hunting down?

This is tea 20/50 I bought in a Stash Assortment. The cinnamon and vanilla aroma was delightful. The flavors were light as I have come to expect from this collection. Nice for a cold evening.

I received these for free with a recent order from Stash. A perfectly fine tea, but it’s nothing special. A very sharp cinnamon, which covers the rooibos flavor. Not much of a vanilla note. I’ll finish the box of bags that I got, but probably wouldn’t revisit this one.

Light, pleasant, warm – nice in the evening. Has a holiday feel. I do feel like it could easily be substituted with another holiday tea and I wouldn’t notice. Really anything with cinnamon in it could take its place. Tasted 09.2018

One of the worst herbal teas I have ever tried, and I’ve tried a lot of horrible-tasting detox/ “wellness” teas before. Tastes like hot water strongly scented with cinnamon and a bit of chamomile. The cinnamon also smells off to me (sort of tart/ astringent?), and definitely different from other cinnamon drinks I’ve tried before.