Vanilla.  The word is often used to describe something nondescript or boring.  But, I for one happen to love vanilla, and I think it’s unfortunate that it’s been characterized as “boring.”  It is not only delightfully fragrant, but also delicious – smooth, rich and creamy.  Decadent!

Many tea artisans seem to agree with me, because there seems to be quite a few vanilla flavored teas out there.  However, despite the vast number of vanilla teas out there, it isn’t often that I come across a vanilla tea that I actually like.  Sure, there have been a few that I’ve fancied, and I’ve even reviewed one or two for this blog, but, it doesn’t happen nearly as often as I would like it to, or as often as I think it should given the fact that there are so many vanilla teas out there.

But this vanilla tea – Madagascar Vanilla from Golden Moon Tea – I like a lot!  In fact, it is one of the best vanilla flavored teas I’ve tried to date.  This delicately scented tea brews into a lovely coppery cup that is so rich and delicious!

Golden Moon Tea describes this tea as

Our Madagascar Tea is a unique blend of black tea and vanilla leaves. The flavor of the tea leaf is rich and dark while the flavor of the vanilla is mellow, rich, sweet and mysterious with caramel-like depth resulting in a rich but smooth tea drink.

The vanilla is soft in this tea (as vanilla should be!) and gently curbs some of the briskness of the black tea used in this blend.  A small amount of sweetener adds some depth to the flavor, and while I did not add milk or cream to my tea, I do believe it would be a very nice addition.  As for me, I wanted to enjoy the vanilla tea without adding the cream and possibly muting the delicate balance of it, which is incredibly delightful.

The tea used is a somewhat mild yet slightly earthy black tea base; most likely a Ceylon is used here, although it may be part of a blend of several different types of black teas.  A stronger tea would have probably destroyed the melodious sweetness of the vanilla here.  There is also a notable floral undertone to the profile of this tea which comes across as quite mysterious and very pleasant.

I would not recommend drinking this tea iced; I think that the softer yet highly enjoyable notes of this tea would be lost if the tea were to be chilled.  However, it is quite lovely served hot, and would make a very nice tea to serve for a weekend brunch or perhaps in the early afternoon with a plate of cookies – it’s really quite nice with Maple Cookies I might add!  It would also be quite nice with some citrus, such as lime or orange, however, I fear that lemon would overpower the subtle layers of this tea.

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