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Tisano’s Vanilla Cacao Tea

Vanilla Cacao Tea by Tisano
Rooibos Infusion / Flavoured
$13.99USD for 4oz

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Tisano has provided me with Vanilla Cacao Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

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Tisano’s Vanilla Cacao Tea smelled absolutely heavenly as soon as I opened up the packaging. The smell of this tisane is primarily chocolate with a hint of vanilla. I don’t smell the rooibos at all, which isn’t a bad thing for me because I typically don’t enjoy rooibos infusions. The chocolate aroma reminds me of hot chocolate. I enjoy that Tisano’s packaging is resealable.

Vanilla Cacao Tea consists of cacao shells, organic rooibos, and organic vanilla.

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Preparation

Tisano recommends steeping Vanilla Cacao Tea in 212°F (100°C) water for 5 minutes. I steeped Vanilla Cacao Tea for an initial steep of 5 minutes.

First Taste

Vanilla Cacao Tea steeps to a bright golden yellow after the initial steep time of 5 minutes. The aroma that wafts up from the steeped infusion is malt chocolate and a hint of vanilla – I don’t smell the rooibos at all (another bonus!). I found that the taste of Vanilla Cacao Tea was primarily malt chocolate (if you’ve ever had Milo – a malt chocolate drink powder – you’ll know what I’m referring to), with a touch of bitterness that is found in dark chocolate, and there’s the vanilla flavours at the end of each sip. I did wind up adding a touch of milk to the infusion, and found that it helped to temper the bitterness from the chocolate and make it more like a hot chocolate drink.

I don’t think I tasted the rooibos at all – since I couldn’t smell it or taste it, I’m not sure if it really added anything to the blend by being in it.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Vanilla Cacao Tea once, and found that the flavour was quite watery compared to the first steep. I would say that Vanilla Cacao Tea is only good for one steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Tisano’s Vanilla Cacao Tea. I really enjoyed the malt chocolate flavour with the vanilla notes. It tastes very much like a watery hot chocolate until I added some milk to help temper the bitterness from the cacao shells. I’m not sure if there was a purpose of the rooibos as I couldn’t smell or taste it. I really enjoyed the vanilla notes in this blend, and it makes the cacao infusion that much richer.

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Golden Tea Leaf’s Pine Oolong

Pine Oolong by Golden Tea Leaf
Oolong Tea / Straight
$8.99 for 50g

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Golden Tea Leaf has provided me with Pine Oolong for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

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Pine Oolong came to me in single serving packets, all neatly prepared in pyramid sachets. There are some beautiful, full-looking leaves inside of the pyramid. There’s a slightly salty aroma to the tea leaves that contrasts from the sweet floral fragrance that also come from the tea leaves. I ripped open the pyramid sachets to get a better look at the tea leaves. Pine Oolong is a straight oolong tea, described as a semi-fermented green tea by Golden Tea Leaf.

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Preparation

Golden Tea Leaf recommends steeping Pine Oolong in 95°C (203°F) water for 2-3 minutes for the first steep, and for 3-5 minutes for the second steep. My initial steep of Pine Oolong was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Pine Oolong steeps to a beautiful golden honey colour. There’s a sweet floral aroma that wafts up from the tea. I did notice that the leaves had fully expanded to fill out the entire pyramid sachet – I definitely think that this tea should be steeped in a basket infuser and not in the sachet itself because of the need for the leaves to expand. The flavour of this oolong primarily sweet and floral, with just a little bit of umami at the end of each sip.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Pine Oolong for 3 minutes, and found the flavours to be still true to the initial steep. I managed to resteep Pine Oolong a total of four times (five steeps total), and adding 30 seconds per subsequent resteep. I found the floral sweetness to stay pretty strong up to the third steep total, and got a bit weaker for the fourth and fifth steep. The umami part stayed pretty true to the initial steep all the way through all of the steeps.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Golden Tea Leaf’s Pine Oolong. I really enjoyed the floral aromas and flavours that I found in the dry and steeped tea. The umami notes that I found in this tea made the flavour just a bit more complex and delicious to enjoy. The sweet floral notes hold strong throughout and it was a real treat to resteep over and over again. I think the tea would pair well with a meal because of the umami notes.

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Teazorean’s Broken Leaf

Broken Leaf by Teazorean
Black Tea / Straight
$14.83 for 32g

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Teazorean has provided me with Broken Leaf for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I mentioned some information of Teazorean’s conservation efforts in my last Teazorean (Orange Pekoe). The loose dry leaf came to me in a cute little tin, kind of the perfect size to tote extra tea in your bag around.  The dry leaf has a mixture of dark brown and reddish brown leaves, and there were some small sticks that I noticed in there as well. The sampler tin holds 10g of tea, I used approximately 3g for my small teapot.

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Broken Leaf is a straight black tea. The smell that comes from the black tea leaves was a malty aroma, that reminds me a bit of Assam tea, and there’s some peachy-apricot aromas coming from the tea leaves as well.

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Preparation

Teazorean recommends steeping Broken Leaf in 205°F (96°C) for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Broken Leaf steeps to a lovely light golden orange, it’s more pale that I expected for a black tea when I steeped it according to the length of time suggested by Teazorean. On first taste, the first thing that I noticed was the honey sweetness in this tea. Despite the aroma of the dry leaf having a maltiness to it, I noticed that there was quite the minimal malty flavour to it, and there was an apricot finish to each sip.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Broken Leaf two additional times. I found that the first resteep was slightly weaker than the inital steep – there was more apricot flavour that came out in the tea. The second resteep was weaker still, and not as enjoyable as the initial and first resteep. I would say that Broken Leaf is a good choice for one more steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Teazorean’s Broken Leaf. I found the aroma of the dry leaf and the taste of the steeped tea to be enjoyable. The honeyed sweetness and the apricot flavours are delicious, and I think it’d be a great alternative to the traditional Earl Grey for an afternoon tea because it has a different flavour profile, but still has the robust flavours of a strong black tea.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.