Republic of Tea

I know a lot of tea-drinkers have a love / hate relationship with caffeine but for those of us who kind of love it (for good or bad, haha), Republic of Tea’s hi-caf brand is pretty damn awesome.

Of all the ones I’ve tried so far, Pom-Berry is my favorite. The fruit flavors do a good job of offsetting the boldness of the heaviness of the caffeine which is more prominent in the others I’ve tried (Breakfast Black and Toasted Coconut).

As far as the buzz – it’s real. Their so cold “tea mind” is a cute attempt to quell worries about having tea that’s got 30% more caffeine than a cup of coffee. My officemates and I all feel pretty energized if not a little hyper after having a cup and kind of avoid having any after lunch.

So if you’re sensitive to lots of caffeine, or preggors, or a child, it’s probably not a bad idea to avoid. But if you’re ok with it, and like an alternative to the morning cup of coffee that’ll still energize you for the day, highly recommended.

Very yummy, does its job well.

Well, this tea works as advertised! I’ve been up working today since 5am (it’s now 3:30pm) and I am bouncing off the walls after drinking this tea- in a good way! This is going to be my new work tea. It’s great for that afternoon slump! It tastes like a generic caramel black tea…still good, but nothing special in the taste department.

I received this in a mailer from ROT, and I steeped it for about 10 minutes, which equalled utter deliciousness. I had it hot w/ Truvia, and LOVED it. I bet it would be amazing cold. It was both sweet and tart, and tasted like actual watermelon. I liked that this little bag was so potent, that it was still flavorful even in 12 oz. of water, which is unlike other ROT packets. I usual use 2 packets at a time for this brand, which gets expensive. I will def buy a can of this great tea.

Backlog from yesterday morning. I didn’t expect this to come in yesterday or I wouldn’t have had two cups of earl grey first. Of course, I probably shouldn’t have had a cup of this after that… It was only at about two in the afternoon (three or four hours afterward) that I got really, really jittery.

This was okay. I like the coconut better, but I’ll have to try this with milk and/or sugar added. It was definitely caramel flavor, but there wasn’t enough of it for me. It was watery and mostly just tasted like generic English Breakfast-esque tea. If I wanted that I would have gotten the English Breakfast flavor one!

Well, I’m on new medication that makes me very, very sleepy. I got this hoping to counteract that. The taste really isn’t bad. It’s as if someone took bitter black tea and put fresh coconut milk in it until it was just barely bitter. Pretty drinkable. A little watery, but that may be user error.

It’s yet to be seen whether I feel the caffeine buzz, but I drank a different hi-caf yesterday (backlog later) after two cups of regular caf and regretted it. It has quite a kick.

Backlog:

An interesting concept. I don’t know if I’ve tried another tea that offers “extra caffeine” like this. I mean, I know that different teas have different caffeine levels, but I don’t know that I’ve encountered a tea that boasts extra caffeine like this.

This is really tasty. I love the toasted coconut flavor. It is sweet, toasty, creamy and nutty. The flavor of the tea is strong … and the “extra caffeine” seems to bring it to a nearly bitter point – almost, but not quite. I can taste “hints” that this could be bitter … so it’s one you want to keep careful watch over when you’re steeping it.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/02/08/toasted-coconut-black-hicaf-tea-republic-tea/

A refreshing tea (although not as wonderful as the raspberry-rose-hibiscus tea from the same company). Flowery.

This is really weird. I went to my local supermarket yesterday which has an awesome bulk section and found this tea, but I can’t find any mention of it online or on the company’s website. The store has a large selection of Republic of Tea sold as loose leaf in bulk, which is an awesome way to explore new teas one cup at a time. It was the look of this tea that I found intriguing. The leaves are rolled up into little pellets with smooth surfaces. I have seen this style one other time at a tea shop in San Francisco’s China Town and that tea was quite good. I have no idea what the recommended brewing method is, so I’m totally winging it here.

Ever been to a petting zoo? You know the little pellets that they give you to feed the goats? You hold a palm full of them out to a goat or some other animal and they eagerly scoop it up into their mouths with their muscular lips leaving you with a palm covered in goat saliva. Well this tea smells just like those pellets. And this is what the king drinks?!

The first few sips taste like those pellets, heavy on the dry hay, but it is also buttery too. Somewhere mid sip the butter takes over before letting the pellet taste come back in. At the very end of the cup the pellet taste fades and I get a feeling on the back of my tongue almost like I had eaten licorice.

While waiting for the water to heat for my second steep, I notice that the surface is starting to crack on the tea pellets and the ends of tea leaves are starting to poke out. As the pellets steep, they begin to grow slightly as the tea leaves attempt to unfurl from their cocoons. I can’t tell if the smell of the petting zoo is getting weaker or if I’m just getting used to it. The tea tastes the same with the licorice feeling happening earlier in the cup. By the end of this cup it still hasn’t changed much.

Third cup: pretty much the same. At $149/lb bulk I expected this tea to have some sort of amazing hidden away, but so far I’m getting none of that.

Fourth steep: Same. I GIVE UP!!! Never buying again.

Backlog:

I bought this during the summer. I am not always a big fan of Republic of Tea’s tea bags because they tend to go a little too light handed on the tea in their smaller tea bags (I usually need 2 teabags for a decent tasting cup of tea), but, I had some success with the watermelon mint flavored iced tea sachets from Republic of Tea so I figured these would work out well too. I like them because two of them makes a great cold-brewed 1/2 gallon of tea.

The resteep of the bags (hot brewed) isn’t nearly as flavorful as the first cold-brewed infusion. But it still tastes good.

It’s a very citrus-y black tea … I think I’d like it better if the citrus was not quite as abundant and there was more black tea flavor. It’s alright, tasty … but I probably won’t buy this particular flavor again.