Vanilla Ceylon

This morning I picked up this tea, one of the few other options at the coffee shop (I was disappointed that they don’t have any of their oolong teas for ordering; no doubt because they only have sachets at the shop). I steeped this for approximately 3 minutes, definitely not longer, and it still had a faint bitterness at first, though that faded as it cooled a bit. I’m getting the idea that the teas from this company are highly flavored, but so far they’ve been high quality flavors (if only the same thing could be said about their tea base). The vanilla here is strong but rich and a bit creamy with definite caramel notes. Unfortunately the black tea base has a tendancy to get bitter, and even when it’s not it’s not really that tasty. But a decent wake up tea this morning.

Hey I figured out how to use the sliders on my iPhone! Turns out my problem was trying to actually slide (silly me) them instead of just tapping. :p

Served: Iced
Amount: 1 sachet
Brewed In: 1.5 cups
Cup Size: 23oz tumbler full of ice
Sweetener: stevia in the raw
Temp: boiling
Steep Time: 4 min

Notes:
So a bit of back-story on this tea…

It was December 2011 and my husband & I had just landed in Detroit for a layover on our 24+ hour flight from Incheon (South Korea) to DFW.

We were returning to the States for the first time after 3 years of life in Korea & with us was our 14 year-old cranky cat (the 140 lb. dog shipped ahead of us 2 weeks before) & my husband was beyond sick & constantly coughing. (He wound up being hospitalized with a rare strain of pneumonia a few days later.)

Everything we owned was in 4 suitcases, we had no home, no car (it was being shipped back by boat) & I was beyond exhausted trying to care for a sick husband, a stressed-out cat & traveling for hours.

Turned out there was a Coffee Bean & Tea Company in the airport & I bought us two tall, hot cups of Vanilla Ceylon.

I can perfectly remember how buttery-hot it was – almost to the point of carmelization & it was heaven. It was my one moment of tranquility in a chaotic month.

Once we got settled in our new home, I quickly ordered 3 tins of it. And even though it’s almost summer now, I’ve really been enjoying it iced.

Yes! This tea was absolutely amazing. Careful not to over steep as this tea can very easily taste bitter. If you love vanilla (I do), you have to try this. Add milk! The perfect evening tea to read with, and so far my favorite black tea at Coffee Bean.

Very vanilla!

The hubby and I (and our froglet) were whizzing through the Atlanta airport last night when we spied this cafe in an alcove, so we decided to check them out. I didn’t get anything, because I was dreadfully overheated, but he ordered this tea. He sweetened it and we dashed, thinking he could stir it later. In a few minutes, as we were approaching the base of an escalator, he stopped at a trash can and took out what looked to be a GIANT teabag full of WAY too much leaf. Seriously, this was enough tea for a large pot, steeped in his maybe 16-oz. to-go cup. On top of that, when we finally had a moment to tend the tea, we realized that the wooden stirrer was not long enough to reach the bottom of the cup (wonderful), so we couldn’t even properly dissolve the sugar.

What with the over leafing and the useless sugar sitting in the bottom of the cup, this was undrinkable. A very disappointing experience. I suppose I blame the business more than the tea, but I have to rate it based on something.

If you love vanilla, this tea is great and a must try. If not so much, this will be too sweet for you. As said before, it’s easy to over steep this tea and it becomes very bitter tasting. I try to not steep the tea over 4 minutes, as I’ve found it gets bitter when you pass that mark.