Creamy Vanilla

Our Creamy Vanilla combines the rich and warm dark sugar aroma of vanilla with mellow and grounding Rooibos herb from South Africa. Soothing, sweet, and very 'beany' vanilla fragrance (like warm sugar cookies made with fresh vanilla beans). Naturally caffeine-free!!
 
This tea contains no caffeine | Steep at 212° for 7-10 minutes.
 
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Ingredients & Lore:
 
Blended With: Rooibos Tea, Ginger, Cinnamon, Cloves, Cardamom, Orange & Natural Vanilla Flavor
 
You’ve probably heard of vanilla beans, but did you know they’re actually a fruit? The vanilla orchid grows as a vine on support trees, with vines growing, at least in the wild, as high as they can reach. In industrial settings, new growth is manually turned down to stay at human height. Flowers are then pollinated via pollinators like bees or hummingbirds or by hand-pollination, with one pod resulting from each flower. Rooibos, a bush-like plant from South Africa, isn’t quite as hard to produce, with the leaves themselves being used to make tea after oxidization.
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All our tea comes from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. The styles of tea are produced by altering the shape and chemistry of the leaf, rather unromantically called 'processing' or 'manufacturing'.' To ensure the best quality and value, we import our teas directly from the countries in which they are grown, working closely with the farmers who tender them.
 
For our flavor teas, we use high grown teas from the top 3 tea growing regions of Sri Lanka - Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, and Uva. These three high-grown districts produce flavorful teas that have classic 'Ceylon' tea character which is noted by floral bouquet and flavor notes, touches of mild astringency, bright coppery color and, most importantly - perfect for use as the base tea of our flavored teas. (We have tested teas from various other origins around the world as base stock for our flavored teas, but none of these teas made the grade.) Dimbula and the western estates of Nuwara Eliya have a major quality peak during Jan/Feb, whereas Uva and the eastern estates of Nuwara Eliya have their peak in July/Aug. This 'dual peak period' allow us to buy the best for our flavored tea blends several times during the year, ensuring top quality and freshness.
 
We specifically use only natural flavors. High quality tea tastes good and natural flavors do not mask the natural taste of the high grown tea. (The norm for many making flavored tea is to use overpowering artificial flavors, which can be used to hide lower quality tea). Natural flavors do not leave an aftertaste giving the tea a clean and true character. It should be noted that natural flavors tend to be somewhat 'soft ' and the flavors slightly muted, but for many this is a refreshing change and one of the desired attributes of our naturally flavored teas.