Day 18: Vanilla

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Black
Brew Time & Temperature: 3 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Small, rolled black tea leaves with a few twigs only (nothing else added)
Color: Dark amber
Smell: Can't do this today at all, for reasons stated below
Recommended with/as: As is, honey, sugar, milk
Rating: 8.5/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
When this tea came out of the number generator, I was kind of dreading it. Vanilla, to me, is nice when matched with other flavors, but on it's own? No thank you.

However, when I tasted it, I was mildly surprised. I was expecting an intoxicating vanilla syrup taste and smell, but it was mild enough from what I could tell. The vanilla I could taste was somewhat like vanilla ice cream or a vanilla milk drink- like a float. It's sweet and not too strong, smooth, and for sure a good vanilla. I'd suggest it with milk or mixed with another tea (chocolate or sweet teas seem like a good pairing).

Other notes:
Getting better, but still sick. Coughing isn't as bad anymore, taste is sort of coming back, but my nose is so stuffy I couldn't even smell the tea well. To be honest, I didn't even account for this when I first thought of the project and set it up (this is like, the first time I've been sick in around 6 months). Luckily though, I've already tried most of the teas this week or have extra tea bags of them, so I might double up on reviews next week and re-do these.

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Kamairicha "Gokase"