Vanilla Bean Black Tea

So, with so many vanilla flavored teas on the market, why would you bother blending your own at home? The answer is simple, taste. Ever tried adding a drop or two of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste to your hot latte or iced tea? If you have, you probably already know that tea and vanilla are a match made in heaven. When it comes to flavoring tea with vanilla, we often unknowingly accept a lot of substitutes. Ingredients like vanillin or natural vanilla flavor are added to give you vanilla-like taste while keeping costs affordable.Now just because a tea has one of the above mentioned, it doesn’t mean that you won’t like it–this is a personal preference. What it does mean is that the full, rich experience of true vanilla flavor might not (fully) be there. That’s where making Vanilla Bean Tea comes into play.This is an easy recipe, but a luxurious one. Pure and simple, there are only 3 ingredients in this blend: best-quality black tea (I’m using Valerie Confections’ English Breakfast Blend), cut vanilla beans (the best you can find!) and time (2 weeks to be exact!). The result is a dreamy, orchid-infused steep that’s equally delicious served hot or cold, with or without milk or sugar. And don’t use too fine of a strainer here. You want those teeny tiny vanilla beans floating throughout your steep–the more the better!

Vanilla Bean Black Tea

Ingredients:

1 cup black tea, loose-leaf (I used Valerie Confections’ English Breakfast, a mix of Assam and Yunnan)

4 vanilla beans, cut into very small pieces

Equipment:

airtight tin

Directions:

1. Combine dry tea and vanilla beans together and place in a tin. For most fragrant taste, enjoy steeping the tea 2 weeks later, after the ingredients have had a change to mingle.

2. Steep the tea for 5 minutes. Serve hot or chilled. Both versions pair nicely with sweeteners and milk additions, but I would suggest trying the brew plain first. Enjoy!

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Catherine Carroca

Bonnie that looks amazing!! I have some grade A vanilla beans that ai have been saving. This is perfect!!

Reply
Bonnie Eng

Thank you so much, Beth! Hope you can enjoy sometime soon! 🙂

Reply
RO

Great idea to come up with such creative flavors. I never would have thought these flavors would have worked but I tried a Vanilla Bean Black Tea sample the other day that I loved. Now that I see your idea, I can make my own! (lol) Hugs…RO

Reply
Bonnie Eng

Yes, you can make your own now! I love that you can use the real stuff here, no substitutes…thanks for the message, Ro!!! 🙂

Reply
amtusa

I like to drink black tea, very tasty, its effect is excellent, especially reduce the fat in the blood

Reply
Margo

Hey Bonnie – what’s the shelf life of a blend like this with whole pieces of vanilla bean? Do you know if the seed paste adds unwanted moisture to the tea leaves after a long time? Or if the flavor becomes too strong after a certain point? (Seems like a silly question, can’t imagine a tea like this lasting very long it sounds so good!! But I’ve got to ask:) ) Thank you!

Reply
Rachel

Hi, I’m wondering the same thing as to Bonnie – does the moisture affect the tea? Would one need to dry out the vanilla bean if you want it to last a long time (I’m thinking of making a big batch with dried strawberry pieces and vanilla!)?
Thanks

Reply
La'Reyce

Hi Bonnie! I was wondering how many tablespoons of the tea you use to steep? And also, how strong does that vanilla flavor come through if you wait the two weeks? Like, is it a noteable flavor?

Thanks!

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