Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The Secret Garden Tea Co.
Tea Description:
One of our staff favourites! Pair with desserts such as marzipan pear tarts, lavender shortbread, and chocolate bon-bons for a decadent treat.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This Vanilla Almond Tea from Secret Garden is so smooth!
By the time I started writing this review, I was more than halfway finished with my first cup! It is just so tasty and so unbelievably smooth and easy to drink that it began to disappear quickly.
The dry leaf is quite appealing to the eye with lots of almond slivers and bright orange-yellow petals (calendula and sunflower) mixed in with the dark brown tea leaves. To brew this tea, I used my Breville One-Touch and added 2 bamboo scoops to the basket and poured 500ml of water into the jug. I set the temperature to 212°F and the timer for 2 1/2 minutes and I let the machine do it’s thing.
The tea brews up dark and sweet smelling. I can pick up on delicate notes of almond and vanilla but mostly what I’m smelling is the black tea. It’s not an overly fragrant brewed tea but I still find the aroma quite pleasant. It reminds me a bit of freshly baked cookies!
But the real treat is in the sip. As I mentioned above, it is one of the smoothest teas I’ve tasted lately. There is very little astringency, especially the first few sips. Now that I’m nearly finished with my first cup, I am picking up on more astringency than I experienced at the beginning of the cup. It’s a slightly dry sensation that I’m experiencing but it’s quite slight especially in comparison to other black teas that I’ve consumed.
This is so smooth from start to finish. It starts out smooth and creamy, I pick up on the vanilla immediately. As the sip progresses, I notice the almond and the sweet, nutty flavor accentuates the creamy, sweet vanilla tones beautifully. These two flavors were made for one another!
The black tea is a smooth, even-tasting black tea. It’s probably a Ceylon. It isn’t an aggressive, astringent, bitter or overly robust black tea. It is smooth. It melds amazingly well with the flavors of almond and vanilla. There is a slight caramel-y undertone to the black tea that further highlights the sweetness of this blend. I like that it is a sweet drink but not cloying.
Because it isn’t an overly sweet or cloying tea, I think it would make the perfect tea to serve along with dessert. You really wouldn’t want something too sweet paired with dessert because the dessert is already sweet. This is smooth, not too robust nor is it bitter or overly astringent. It wouldn’t detract from the delightful confection that you’re enjoying for dessert.
It would also make a lovely afternoon tea. A great tea to choose for a tea party or perhaps something to serve to guests after dinner. I find it to be a very “welcoming” sort of tea. When I sip it, I feel like it’s communicating to me: “Welcome home.”
