Not Worth Stocking Up On, Madagascar Vanilla Red In The Six-Pack Is Unimpressive.
Written: Nov 07 '09
Product Rating:
Pros: Tastes good without sugar, Nothing bad in it.
Cons: Caffeine Free, Does not taste like Vanilla, Environmentally irresponsible bulk
The Bottom Line: Not remarkable in any way, Madagascar Vanilla Red is a tea not worth stocking up on in the six pack, making it easy to pass by in this form.
wlswarts's Full Review: Celestial Seasonings Madagascar Vanilla Red Tea Ca...
As a reviewer of many, many teas, I have been discovering the joy of refining my palate and trying so many different types of food (in addition to giving me an unfortunate, slight paunch). This, I believe, allows me to bring some authority to the reviews of products for bulk packs. After all, if a product succeeds in smaller quantities, it is one thing, but a question that ought to be asked about every multipack is "Do you truly want to be saddled with an excess of this product?" In the case of Madagascar Vanilla Red tea, my answer is "no." Given the packaging is wasteful as well, this is one of Celestial Seasonings' more mediocre teas and while it might be fine in small quantities, it is likely to expire before one gets through an entire six-pack of it.
The tea itself is average and is crippled by the fact that it tastes nothing like vanilla. Add to that, Celestial Seasonings is usually such an environmentally responsible company, but this multipack is not at all respectful of the environment. Instead of creating a bulk pack that uses less cellophane and cardboard and conserves space, this uses just as much cardboard as the individual packs and uses even more cellophane! This is pretty much the final nail in the coffin for me and makes it easy to not recommend stocking up.
Basics
Madagascar Vanilla Red is a tea from Celestial Seasonings. It is a 100% natural rooibos tea - and I have no idea what that means, but I have gathered that the rooibos is what defines this as a "red" tea and that its origins might well be from Africa - that is caffeine free. This is sold as a vanilla-flavored tea and it falls a bit short of that. Madagascar Vanilla Red comes in Celestial Seasoning'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 Madagascar Vanilla Red comes with ten pairs (20 individual) of tea bags.
Madagascar Vanilla Red is marketed as a vanilla-flavored tea and it falls a little shy of being the ideal for that. For sure, there is a subtle vanilla flavor buried in there, but it is not the dominant one and it is not one that is going to light the taste buds up with enthusiasm.
The box of twenty tea bags is bulked together with another five, connected by an outer cellophane wrapper. In other words, there is no saving the environment by purchasing the six pack in bulk in this way. This is a simple bundle pack, six boxes wrapped together! For those considering trying this, you might want to purchase the single box (reviewed at: http://www.epinions.com/content_448253365892 ) instead and give it a try that way.
Ease of Preparation
Madagascar Vanilla Red is a rooibos tea, which means that preparation is the standard for most teas; boiling a pot of water! Simply boil a pot of water, put your tea bags in an appropriate vessel and pour the boiling water over the tea bags and let them steep. A single tea bag will make the standard 8 oz. coffee mug worth of tea; reusing these tea bags yields a weaker version. Upon rebrewing with the same tea bags, my second pot came out at about 5/8 or 1/2 strength. I tend to make my tea using a 32 oz. steeping tea pot and that works well.
To prepare Madagascar Vanilla Red, simply boil some water, and pour it over the tea bags in a cup, mug or steeping pot. This tea is recommended to take four to six minutes to steep and after a few cups and pots, I've found that with boiling water, the tea is ready at the five minute mark and letting it steep longer does not truly change the results. Letting the tea steep more than six minutes does not net any additional flavor, nor does it denature the flavor of the tea.
For those purchasing in bulk because they are making this in quantity, I've found that two tea bags per 32 oz. of boiling water is the ideal combination for making it in bulk. Thus, with the one hundred twenty tea bags in this multipack one could either make one hundred twenty cups, sixty pots, or one giant 1920 oz. container of Madagascar Vanilla Red.
Taste
Madagascar Vanilla Red tastes faintly of vanilla. It tastes mostly like tea and nothing more. This is frustrating to read (believe me, it's more frustrating to taste and have to write!), but this has a taste that is rather bland, tea-like and indistinct. It is woody without any strong spice or flavor to it that might define it clearly. Strangely, as the tea cools it begins to actually smell a bit more like actual vanilla. But it is not rich in any flavor but tea, which is odd for a tea that is not made using black tea leaves.
Without sugar, there is a faint, dry aftertaste that is easily manageable and not terribly unpleasant.
With sugar, however, Madagascar Vanilla Red becomes slightly sweet, with an incredibly sour and dry aftertaste that leaves one looking for another drink to cleanse the palate. Indeed, it is pretty foul with even half a teaspoon of sugar. Adding sugar does not bring out any additional vanilla flavor, either.
Iced, Madagascar Vanilla Red is a terrible disappointment. Cold, it is all sour and tea flavored; not even the hint of vanilla that comes when it is hot. Even with sugar, there is such a strong, sour aftertaste that iced, Madagascar Vanilla Red is almost enough to turn one off to tea!
As for the second pot, the flavor is weaker, but it is not quite as sour with the reused tea bags.
Nutrition
It is not surprising that the rooibos tea flavor gives the vanilla flavor in Madagascar Vanilla Red a thrashing, given that the primary ingredients are: rooibos and then natural French vanilla flavor and vanilla bean. There is nothing unpronouncable or strange in this tea (though for all I know rooibos could be grown through the slaying of Transformers). Madagascar Vanilla Red tea is all natural, gluten free, and does not contain caffeine.
Were it not for the sugar I add whenever I make pots of Madagascar Vanilla Red, this tea would be devoid of any nutritional value. It contains no calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates or protein.
Storage/Clean-up
Madagascar Vanilla Red is a red tea and it lives up to its name in that regard. Colored a medium reddish brown, this will stain fabrics and probably other surfaces if left on them. While mugs and steeping pots easily rinse out, I would not recommend letting this tea linger on any light colored fabrics.
Madagascar Vanilla Red is 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. One of the nice things about this tea - like most - is that so long as it is kept cool and dry, it can last for a long time and it is easy to clean up.
Overall
Madagascar Vanilla Red is a fair tea that does not taste like what it claims to, so it becomes very easy to not recommend. This is a very average tea and the method of bulking it is remarkably disappointing for such an environmentally responsible company as Celestial Seasonings usually is.
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