The Good: Good, strong flavor, With sugar tastes delightfully maple
The Bad: Not very vanilla, Decaf
The Basics: A good tea, Canadian Vanilla Maple is a decent staple tea, but not one to rave about or pan.
There are very few teas from Celestial Seasonings that come only as decaffeinated options, without a caffeinated version. As one who loves caffeine in my teas, this is a real strike against the teas that do not have a caffeinated counterpart. As a result, it is a rare thing for me to recommend a decaf-only tea and it takes a special tea for me to consider it in an unbiased fashion. So, when my wife and I were out shopping and she looked over the tea aisle at the grocery store and asked "Which of these teas have you not reviewed yet?" I was just a little hesitant to note that the Canadian Vanilla Maple was the only Celestial Seasonings tea in stock that I had yet to sample.
Canadian Vanilla Maple is one of the rare black teas Celestial Seasonings produces that does not appear to have a caffeinated equivalent. This makes some sense if one looks at this beverage as a dessert tea, though I have found I enjoy the tea in the mid-afternoon and a hit of caffeine would be nice from this rich tea. As it is, Canadian Vanilla Maple offers a decent alternative to decaffeinated coffee as it has a rich taste, even though it takes a little doctoring to get it to live up to its taste potential.
Basics
Canadian Vanilla Maple is a 100% Natural Black Tea from Celestial Seasonings. This black tea is 100% natural but has been decaffeinated. This is a strong tea and while it tastes more like a generic black tea until sugar is added, it is not a bad flavor from the outset.
Canadian Vanilla Maple comes in Celestial Seasonings's standard stringless tea bags, which are paired together with easy to separate perforations that allow one to separate the tea bags. When I make pots of tea, I tend to use two bags and leave them connected. A box of Canadian Vanilla Maple comes with ten pairs (20 individual) of tea bags.
Ease Of Preparation
Canadian Vanilla Maple is your standard black tea as far as the preparation goes. A single tea bag will make the standard 8 oz. coffee mug worth of tea and could be reused and make a second cup of this tea with most of the flavor that the first cup yielded. The second cup, naturally, does not come out as strong as the first, but provided the first steeping was not more than the recommended upper recommended steeping time of five minutes, a second use can come out with about 3/4 strength. I tend to make my tea using a 32 oz. steeping tea pot and that works well for both a first and second steeping.
To prepare Canadian Vanilla Maple black tea, bring a pot of water to a boil and pour it over the tea bags. Experience has taught me this tea brews best and to its most flavorful when the water is at a rolling boil, not just barely there. This is a tea that wants to be burned by the water to release its full flavor! This tea takes three to five minutes to steep and when the water is seriously boiling, it comes out strong at the three minute point without needing any additional time. After five minutes, though, the flavor does not concentrate any more so there is no benefit to letting it steep longer than that.
Taste
Canadian Vanilla Maple is initially inviting to the consumer with a strong, vanilla scent. The aroma effervesces wonderfully, creating an atmosphere that is appropriately evocative of autumn and turning leaves. There is a slight maple scent as well, but oddly it is more the scent of wind through autumn trees than syrup.
Hot and on its own, Canadian Vanilla Maple is strong, nutty and a dark black tea. In fact, this has a flavor which more closely mimics a weak, traditional decaffeinated black coffee than a rich black tea. The aroma infuses the drink with a subtle spiced flavor, but the undoctored beverage is more generically rich than actually flavorful. After about thirty seconds, a dry aftertaste overcomes the tongue, making this beverage anything but a thirst quencher.
All of that changes with a single teaspoon of sugar. With a teaspoon of sugar, the tea suddenly comes alive with a syrupy taste that is entirely delightful and unique to the beverage. There is no taste I've found in the drink that actually simulates vanilla, but with the sugar, it is sweet and delicious and the aftertaste gets cut as well. With a splash of milk, this tea becomes a creamy drink that is a wonderful dessert in its own right.
Cold, the tea is utterly generic in its black tea flavor. In fact, there is nothing special about the tea, save a nutty aftertaste that indicates it was ever anything delicious and flavorful in its cool form. As such, this is not ideal for an iced tea experience.
Nutrition
This tea is a fairly strong black tea comprised primarily of decaffeinated black tea, roasted barley and roasted chicory. The aroma of maple and the faint taste of it presumably comes from the maple sugar crystals found near the bottom of the ingredient list. As with most Celestial Seasonings teas, there is nothing unpronouncable in this tea and it is 100% natural. It may contain gluten, though it is Kosher.
In terms of nutrition, I would not suggest trying to live on Canadian Vanilla Maple. In an 8 oz. mug, there are no calories, nor fat, nor sodium, nor carbs, nor protein. Any nutritional value would come from what you add to this. What the tea has is caffeine, is just the remnants of it. It rates a 5 on the caffeine meter, meaning it has the same amount of caffeine as a cup of decaffeinated coffee.
Storage/Clean-up
Canadian Vanilla Maple black tea is very easy to clean up after - the tea bags may be disposed in the garbage, or composted if you have a good garden and/or compost pile. The tea itself is a very dark tea and will stain most fabrics, so I tend to avoid drinking this one around anything that will easily stain.
Overall
Canadian Vanilla Maple is a good tea, but not an extraordinary one by any means. It carries its promised flavor best when additives are put in, but it is not unpleasant on its own. That makes it an easy "recommend," but not a tea to truly rave about.
For other Celestial Seasonings teas, please check out my reviews of:
Saphara White Tea With Schinzara Berries
Saphara Premier Estate Assam
Zingers To Go Blueberry Splash
6/10
For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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