Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black Tea & Rooibos
Where to Buy: Octavia Tea
Tea Description:
As if the individual ingredients weren’t tasty enough on their own… brought all together, this blend delivers YUM in spades. The apple does well in this blend and the red rooibos base stands its ground. You’ll probably want to make a whole pot of this one.
Learn more about this blend here.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
My monthly tea tasting box from Amoda Tea arrived a couple of days ago, and this Vanilla Coconut Black Tea Blend from Octavia Tea is the first tea that I’ve tried from it. This month, Amoda Tea has selected Octavia Tea as their tea company of the month.
And this is Vanilla Coconut tea is really YUM! The black tea base is fairly mild – there’s not an aggressive black tea taste here. The rooibos adds some lightness to the overall cup too, I think, so we get an earthy, slightly woody background of flavor that is a bit on the lighter side. The base does more to complement the flavors of vanilla, coconut and chocolate (YES, chocolate!) than stand on its own in this cup. Everything seems to meld together to create an enjoyable union of tastes.
The vanilla is what I notice most prominently. It is sweet and creamy and adds a certain decadent quality to the cup. Then I notice the delectable flavor of the coconut. The coconut is not quite as strong a flavor as I think it should be, given that this tea is called “Vanilla Coconut” but, I do like the accent of coconut flavor here, and I find that more coconut notes come through if I slurp the tea. It might not sound like a very well-mannered thing to do – slurping the tea – but it certainly does enhance the flavor, and since i’m sitting here by myself at the moment, I’m going to slurp!
The chocolate is a soft flavor but, I like how it seems to accentuate the flavor of the black tea. These two flavors are very synergistic, they seem to play off each other very well … each flavor benefiting from the presence of the other.
And then we have the apple bits. Usually, the apple bits do more to increase the visual appeal of the blend than really add a whole lot of flavor to the cup, but, as the tea cools and as I reach the end of my cup, I am starting to pick up on hints of apple-y flavor. The apple adds a little bit of contrast for the palate, a slight sweet-tart taste that’s very enjoyable.
This isn’t the first tea I’ve tried from Octavia, but, it’s nice to be sampling their teas again! Thanks to Amoda Tea for making Octavia Tea the focus of your tea box this month!
And speaking of Amoda Tea, they have made some changes to their box which became effective this month. The first thing that I noticed – the box is a little smaller. (The boxes are super cool, they’re flat (maybe 3/4 of an inch?) and they’re about 10″ long, and about 4″ wide.) The samples are also smaller – just enough for a pot of tea. And with the smaller sizes came a smaller price. I’m really thrilled with the changes that Amoda has made to their monthly box!
