No matter how many black vanilla tea blends I try, even if I really enjoy them, I am ALWAYS on the hunt for more. Whenever I’m cruising through a tea website looking for tea samples, if I see a vanilla black tea, I am BOOM! on it like a car bonnet- I’ve gotta give it a try. I adore this flavor combination so much I find myself kinda using it as a standard to judge the overall quality and value of taste a tea company has- get it right, you’ll make Black Cat Bytes delight..ed! 😛

I was overjoyed when I was approached by M&K’s tea to give some of their blends a try. Their website is full of exotic, unique, and really well priced teas- I’ll be doing quite a few little reviews on what they have to offer over the next few months. However, in typical Black Cat Bytes style, their first tea I had to taste was their Sicilian Vanilla blend, knowing it would set the tone for how I would view the rest of the multitude of samples they had sent me. Drumroll pleaaase!

Shop Link: M&K’s Sicilian Vanilla Black Tea

Ingredients: A blend of Kenilworth Estate Sri Lankan and Anhui Chinese black teas, helichrysum flowers, vanilla bean, vanilla extract, fiori di sicilia essential oil blend, aroma panettone essential oil blend.

I love the visual composition of this blend- looks so much better and more refreshing than “blends” consisting of only tiny black leaf bits with added flavoring. Even if the flowers are only an embellishment, they are beautiful and make the tea steeping process a little treat for one’s senses. The scent of the dried blend is nothing short of intoxicating- almost like freshly made cinnamon buns.

Brew Temperature: ~100° C/ 212° F

Leaf Amount/Steep Time: 2 tsp / 8 oz of water, 1 minute

I increased the leaf amount and decreased the recommended steep time due to my “gongfu-style” teapot which does better with stronger, shorter infusions.

The resulting brew is a beautiful shade of orange-red, and smells lightly toasted and smokey- how unique! I’ve never had a vanilla black with this sort of scent profile before. The tea tastes strongly of rich molasses or homemade gingerbread cookies, with a delightfully thick and satisfying mouthfeel. There is just the tiniest bit of an astringent aftertaste, which I think suits the tea perfectly.

As I was standing at my kitchen counter, sipping away and jotting down a few tasting notes on this tea, I couldn’t help but notice I had a glass jar full of those Lotus Biscoff cookies sitting just an arm’s length away from me. At that moment, I realized it was my destiny to bring this tea and cookie together- and the results.. were just incredible. The carmalized gingerbready goodness of the cookie, combined with the warm smoothness of the Sicilian Vanilla- they complimented and rounded each other out so well I could only shake my head in dreamy disbelief. SO good.

After looking at some other reviews of this tea, I was surprised to find a few folks tasted rather prevalent floral and citrus notes in it- I did not personally find this to be the case at all and am certainly glad for it. The recipe may have been tweaked slightly since those reviews were written, or perhaps my tea sample had been allowed some time after blending for the flavors to mature before it was sent out to me. Either way, I am pretty confident that when I order this tea (and maybe you will too!) that the flavor profile will be similar to what I enjoyed when I wrote this review.

M&K’s Sicilian Vanilla is definitely a cupboard staple for me- rich, satisfying, and warming. I’ve never felt so bummed out about having such a small sample size of a tea before! M&K’s has passed my vanilla black blend test with flying colors- I cannot wait to find out what tastes the rest of their teas have in store for me. 🙂

Shop Link: M&K’s Sicilian Vanilla Black Tea

Tea provided by M&K’s Tea Co. for review! Thanks guys!