thepuriTea Loose Leaf Black Tea 'French Vanilla Black Tea'

Tea Information:
Tea: French Vanilla Black Tea
Type: Black Tea
Packaging: Loose Leaf
Company: thepuriTea
Purchase: Here
Description: Here at thepuriTea, we love vanilla. Vanilla ice cream, vanilla cake, you name it – we love it. That’s why we decided to celebrate the delectable flavor of sweet vanilla beans by combining it with premium Ceylon black tea to create our fantastically flavorful and aromatic French Vanilla Black Tea. Seductive aromas and flavors of butter, caramel, vanilla, baked apple and warming spice are balanced with rich undertones of bold, tannic tea for an unforgettable (and wonderfully pairiable) tea. Try with milk or sugar, brew it as a latte, add a bit of honey or drink it alongside sweet breakfast pastries, baguette with brie and purple grapes, or gingerbread cake. Delicious!

Steep Information:
Amount: 2-3 tsp, one entire sample bag
Water: 500ml filtered 212° water
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL (black, strong)
Steep Time: 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: French vanilla, which made me think coffee
Steeped Tea Smell: french vanilla, milky, coffee
Flavor: bitter, astringent, milky, french vanilla creamer, black tea
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: astringent, black tea
Liquor: Opaque dark brown, like coffee

I placed a large order of mostly samples so I could experiment with more flavors from thepuriTea, it's sort of like pokemon, I want to try them all (mostly).

I think the 3 was a bit long, perhaps 2 or even 1 minute would have left this tea less bitter and astringent.

The flavor though is a very milky smooth wawa french vanilla coffee and creamer. I am not sure if it is the fact french vanilla is permanently affixed to coffee in my head or there is really a coffee flavor to the tea. MilitiaJim agrees.

Post-Steep Additives: German rock sugar, sweeter, no longer bitter but still astringent. The sweetener brings out the sugar more.

Rating: 2/4 leaves


Leaf system:
1=Bleh! not again if it were free
2=Acceptable, if it were free or there were limited other tea options
3=I might purchase this tea from time to time, or select it while out
4=A staple in our cupboard from now on, I will purchase and keep purchasing