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This is a perfectly satisfactory vanilla tea that has nonetheless left me a bit confused. As the name suggests, it tastes of ice cream. Why? I mean, obviously it has the creaminess of vanilla that one associates with a vanilla sundae. But it’s a hot drink! Why doesn’t the creamy vanilla flavour remind me of custard instead?
I’ve had quite a few cups now for research purposes and nope, it’s definitely ice cream, not custard. Maybe it’s the power of suggestion.
I also can’t work out how sweet this tea is. The first cup I had felt a bit too sugary for my liking but subsequent cups don’t actually seem that sweet, after all. There’s no sugar listed in the ingredients. I presume teamongers aren’t allowed to sneak sweeteners into their products under the generic “natural flavourings” part of their ingredients list. That would be a somewhat underhanded thing to do.
So, again, maybe it just tasted sugary because I was expecting it to. I’d like to think I have a refined tea palette, but Whitard have made me doubt myself. What if I am that easily led by a product description? If Whittard released the exact same tea blend, under the name ‘Black Forest Gateau’, would I be swearing that I could taste the cherries?
I’m going to need another cup of tea while I sort out my existential angst.
Today’s featured book is Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction by Veronique Mottier. Because when I say the word ‘vanilla’, I kind of want to say the word ‘sex’ afterwards.
