Solstice Loose Leaf Vanilla Black Tea (8-Ounce Bulk Bag); Makes 100+ Cups of Tea

I drink tea at work to avoid coffee, which keeps me up all night. I'm an Earl Grey/English Breakfast guy, and usually use Twinings pre-packaged bags. I decided to give loose tea a try and I'm never going back. I sought out Black Currant since I worked at Jason's Deli in college and got hooked on that tea. Carefully measured and steeped, this hits the mark. I drink it hot and unsweetened, 4-6 cups a day. Does not disappoint.

♦️ TASTE: Mild vanilla flavor. I expected it to have a more malty flavor (like an English Breakfast) as a black tea but it did not.♦️ QUANTITY: The product listing states: "Loose Leaf Vanilla Black Tea (8-Ounce Bulk Bag); Makes 100+ Cups of Tea" but the product description says "8-OUNCE BULK BAG: Receive 8 ounces of tea, more than 4 cups of tea leaves, making 150+ cups of tea". Not sure whether it's 100 or 150? For this review, I'm going to assume it's 100 cups of tea.♦️ VALUE: For $13, it's a pretty good value for 8oz of loose-leaf tea. The instructions call for 1 teaspoon for 8oz of water so you could make 100 cups for about $0.13/cup. Personally, I prefer a stronger flavor (even with tea bags, I'd always use 2 tea bags instead of 1 per cup of water) so I use 2 teaspoons per 8oz cup. If you do that, it'll be about 50 cups of tea (or about $0.26 per cup, not bad!)♦️ TIPS: I really like adding condensed milk to the tea for sweetener! Super tasty!Overall, this tea was a lot milder than I anticipated (even though I used 2x the amount of tea). At 2 tsp for 8oz of water, it was still a milder flavor. I also tried brewing the tea a bit longer but the flavor wasn't that much stronger. I have bought other brands of vanilla tea which had such a strong vanilla scent that it filled the room. This one was more like LIGHT vanilla flavor and scent - which might be your CUP OF TEA ;) haha (sorry - I couldn't resist!)I included a photo of how big the bag is with a quarter for size reference (a quarter is about 2.5cm). Overall, good value for the price! I think I'll try a different brand or variation next time though for a more malty brew and stronger vanilla flavor.

I didn't expect a budget tea to taste so good. I've purchased more expensive Earl gray teas that I didn't like, due to a floral taste, indicative of blending to hide the use less Bergamot oil. This tea has a great "traditional" earl grey taste. You taste the earthiness of the black tea, you get a citrus note as it rolls across your palette, and a hint of bitterness of the Bergamot orange peel in the finish. I've tasted many packaged/boxed earl grey teas and if you concentrate hard enough you taste the artificial flavoring, not so with this batch. The leave unfurl fully after a few seconds and i find a two minute and 15 to 30 second steep to be sufficient if you have 200 degree F water. if you leave it to steep longer, you taste less of the Bergamot oil because it will kinda cook off, so to speak. I make a big thermos of tea every morning with raw unfiltered honey, no sugar, and the flavor is wonderful all day long. Every one has different tastes, but I like this tea quite a bit. I will purchase this again.

EDIT: The tea in the bottom fourth of the bag is delicious. I'd give it a 4-star rating, or, taking the price into account, even a 5-star rating. The tea in the top 3/4 of the bag was mediocre.ORIGINAL REVIEW:Sometimes you will find an excellent darjeeling tea at a discount price when you buy "broken leaf" grade, or BOP. BOP is not expensive as darjeeling tea goes and it can indeed be "champagne quality without the champagne price" as the Seller's description puts it. So I'm always willing to try one even though it's a gamble. However, this Solstice brand broken-leaf darjeeling was unexceptional. The tea lacks brightness and has no muscat or floral notes. If you are outdoors on a cold day and need something bracing to warm you up, a thermos of this tea would do very nicely. But if you want to experience the flavors that could turn you into a darjeeling lover, this is not the tea for you.

I had a loose leaf black vanilla tea from a tea shop in my very small town that I absolutely loved, until the shop owner retired and had to close. I have been looking for a replacement for years and couldn't find anything with enough vanilla flavor. So far this tea is the closest I have been able to find so far. It has a great aroma and pretty good flavor, not to mention the price is great for the amount you get. Overall I am very satisfied and would buy again.

My husband and I usually drink a minimum of a full pot of tea each evening starting with dinner. a couple of years ago, one of our grandsons gave me a fancy jar with bags of different loose leaf teas, including one of blackberry I returned to the shop where he purchased it without any luck in buying more After many tea shop visits all overNM and Co, I found the most flavorful blackberry tea at Amazon! after trying just one cup, I ordered the 3# bag. I need not add sweetener, either. (I am from northwestern US, so blackberries are essential to my diet!

The ingredients are not properly provided. I enjoy tea daily and do not like artificial or “natural flavoring” added. This tea has additional flavoring and tastes extremely artificial. I emailed the seller and they promptly replied, however, they told me they would get back to me with the ingredients and never did.

I got the black currant and passionfruit teas. The black currant was good but the passionfruit was excellent. I drink iced tea all day and have tried many brands. This delivers good flavor and for the price seems reasonable with similar brands. Love that i can just amazon prime my tea now.