Clearview Tea Co’s Creme de Menthe. Black Tea. Vanilla. Mint. Sounds like the perfect makings for an after-dinner latte to me.
Preparing this latte, I noticed that the dry leaf even had a creamy smell to it, probably thanks to the vanilla. The mint, though abundant, did not take over scentwise but rather balanced the sweet creaminess. As I steeped the tea for 3 minutes in 200F water, I hoped that quality would transfer over to the taste as well.
Sipping on it now, I can say that this is quite lovely. It is a touch more muted than I expected given the large quantity of mint in the mix. However what you do get in the forefront, besides a touch of malt from the black base, is that smooth and creamy vanilla. It is a soft vanilla so if you aren’t paying attention it would be easy to miss but it is definitely there. The mint actually lingers underneath everything else and presents itself more in the end of the sip/aftertaste. The whole thing, despite being made as a latte, is very light and fresh, which makes for a great evening treat as it doesn’t leave you feeling heavy after you’re done.
This is not in-your-face by any means and the flavors are gentle but still very much present. I would say high quality ingredients were used here because the vanilla has more of a fluffy vanilla bean quality to it and the mint is by no means harsh or medicinal, which can sometimes be the case with teas such as this.
With that said, it is worth noting that there are a lot of vanilla mint teas on the market, some amazing and some less so. This leans more towards the former though I will say that although this is very good, it doesn’t stand out among the rest of the pack so much that I would go out of my way to have this particular vanilla mint tea. If this is easily accessible, I would say this is a great option but I would not go as far to say that this is the “gotta have” vanilla mint tea. Basically I would add it to a cart but I would not specifically place an order to have this stocked.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Clearview Tea Company
Description
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