Organic Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla

The Tea guy has really out done himself with this one. Subtle but tasty notes of vanilla. Not just your run of the mill vanilla either. It smells wonderful too. (Sidenote: I just picked up my 8 month old son and took a sip and he gave me this look and started licking his lips. I think he’s going to be a tea drinker!) Now for those who are looking for bourbon notes I’m going to warn you that they don’t pop out like the vanilla. Also if you’ve never had bourbon before you probably won’t quite know what you are looking for. The first time I discovered the bourbon it was like lightning. How did he do that! Oh I suppose I should also mention that the rooibos he uses is amazing.It is sweet and perfect for this blend.

Sipdown (239)

I had high hopes for this one given the awesome vanilla scent of the dry leaf. It does have a nice vanilla flavor to it but it also has a rooibos flavor to it which can be distracting. It’s a pretty good cup but not good enough that I need to seek it out again. Still it was fun to try so thank you Arby for the opportunity.

Sipdown! I never did brew this for a smoothie but I’m sure it would have been good. I’m enjoying the rest of this as a latte. Be proud of me because after all these years, I finally started actually making proper lattes rather than just dumping milk from out of the fridge into my mug. I’m actually heating and frothing the milk with the frothing wand I bought from IKEA a couple years ago.

Thank you to the TeaGuy for sending me a very generous sample of this my way!

Another generous sample from The TeaGuy — Thanks!!!

In the Bag: Large, reddish-orange flakes.
Smells like: Vanilla flavored tobacco.

Brewed in a mesh infuser basket in a mug.
Made a half cup, because other vanilla rooibos teas tend to give me heartburn.

Brews up: That reddish brown/whisky color of rooibos.
Smells like: Vanilla and a hint of old liquor.
Tastes like: Sweet vanilla candy.

So far, no heartburn!

Thank you to The Teaguy for sending me generous free samples. I look forward to trying them all. :)

Coldbrew, 2 tsp leaf in 500 mL water for 2 hours
The vanilla really comes through well. It tastes how good vanilla extract smells in the container. There’s that distinctive vanilla scent and also the smell of the alcohol it is infused into. This rooibos blend perfectly captures the alcohol aspect of vanilla which I LOVE. So often vanilla smells really good, but if you taste vanilla extract it isn’t nearly as good as you hoped. This is the perfect vanilla blend. I’m not sure there is a ton of bourbon, but it’s there enough to live up to its name. I think this could be made as a latte if steeped strong enough. It does well as a cold brew, but I can imagine it would be equally enjoyable hot.

I’m actually extremely impressed with this rooibos. I was expressing generic vanilla + rooibos and got something that stands out as being well crafted and accurate to its name.