The Republic of Tea

The tea bags smell fairly caramel-y with some cocoa notes and a bit of coconut. Brewed, I can smell the barley plus some sweetness and perhaps coconut. The taste is seriously surprising. The barely and caramel combine in a way that makes me think of some sort of baked and glazed dessert. The coconut and cocoa are more accent notes to the sweet, roasted barley, adding to the almost-savory-yet-still-dessert-like feeling. The last sip is the only cocoa-y sip; it looks like there is some cocoa sludge that settled at the bottom.

It’s not at all what I expected – I thought it’d be more sweet and desserty but it’s darker and more grain sweet – but I’m really grooving on it. So much so that I finished my cup and then I finished the husband’s when he turned his nose up at it. Tasty.
3 bags/18oz

Got a sample of this from Jillian and decided I needed to try it this morning.

Unsweetened – this is very toasty-coconut, not so much cocoa.

Sweetened – the creamy, almost oily flavor came out much more, and a little more cocoa flavor.

Overall, this is a nice tisane, but not one I’d actively seek out. I’d want either more cocoa or another flavor (spices or something similar) in order for this to be a drink I’d want again. I do apprecaite the opportunity to try it however. (Thanks Jillian)

This one gets better each time I have it! I like to use two bags per cup better tho! :P

I’m digging this one way more than I did before. I received a large tin of this today! It’s smells very chocolaty and when I steeped it it lost a little bit of that chocolate smell but the taste is VERY smooth and vanilla-YUM and the rooibos is a delight. It more red in color than I expected but I will chalk that up to the beet root! I’m liking this one a little bit more iced than hot but they are both good.

I want to thank Kristen for this one! This isn’t too bad…It smells like Rooibos and chocolate. It’s very sweet but I am thinking more sweet from the rooibos than the chocolate. I can’t pick out the other flavors but it’s alright overall! I would have it again but I don’t think I would buy a HUGE tin of it tho!

Thanks again Kristen!!!!!

I didn’t care for this tea. The taste was a general “fruitiness”, not cherry specifically. Also, it was quite sweet and I occasionally got a bitter taste (maybe overheated the water?). All in all, I wouldn’t re-order.

I only got this as part of the Fair Trade sampler, and I was quite surprised by how much I enjoy it! The dominant flavor is cranberry, but hints of orange that sweeten and balance the slight tartness of the cranberry. Quite tasty, and I’m sure I’ll order it in the future

I received a sample, this isn’t the type of tea I’d normally try so take the review with a grain of salt. I thought it tasted more like strawberry flavoring than real strawberry and was unpleasant.

I kind of detest ginger teas, so I went into this halfway expecting something entirely unpalatable, halfway not knowing what to expect. I’m a big black tea fan, love it dark and rich. I love/adore everything pumpkin, so there was a shot I’d like it.

This reminds me of pumpkin pie, in all the right ways. I wouldn’t say this tastes like a proper black tea per se, but great for a dessert tea. (Testament to the not-such-a-great-black-teaness, my boyfriend cares for this tea a great deal and seems to otherwise detest tea.) The only downside for me is – when it gets cooler the clove is more apparent. Otherwise, rock! I can totally enjoy pumpkin pie without fussing over baking.

Weak, even after a long steep — stingy amount of leaves in the bag. Mildly diuertic, and the rooibos will help one re-balance, but hardly a serious detox. I’d suggest brewing up your favourite loose rooibos instead and knocking back a good potful.

Based on other people’s reviews, which claimed this tea was quite weak I let mine steep until it was cool enough to drink, and I quite enjoyed it! The licorice is definitely there, with all the other flavours and to me it tasted a lot like minced meat pie which is certainly something that comes to mind when I think about Christmas!

It has such a strong taste, I thought, that it didn’t need milk or sugar, and I was quite happy with it. Perhaps they’ve changed the tea between last years release and this years? I don’t know! I thought it was tasty!

Great for those days when you are feeling like you overdid it in terms of eating

I ordered this tea because I’d read some of the reviews on Steepster and I was so impressed that I had to give it a try!

the results??

Delicious!

I can taste the plantain the most, and that combined with the coconut smell is lovely. I’d love to have this iced with rum in the summer, I think it would make an excellent cocktail.

Finished up the last of the bags Jaime sent me to try. I hope they still have this at World Market, as I know it isn’t available anywhere else, and I want more. This is a favorite evening cup. I think I may like it better than the Pineapple Lychee…but that could just be because I decupboarded the Pineapple Lychee over a month ago and haven’t replaced it. This is so naturally sweet and fruity that it is amazing hot, and just as amazing iced. Can’t wait to get more!

Trying this hot with no additives for the first official logging. I can tell there is more to this tea than just hibiscus as it is sweeter than the natural hibiscus tea I sampled. It has a light vanilla-pear taste that doesn’t show itself until the end of the sip. This is a nice relaxing evening cup, but I think I enjoy my tangerine hibiscus and pineapple lychee many times more than this. Although this could become a staple as a hot night time tea. Hmmm…

Thank you Jaime for letting me try this tea!

I was really nervous about ordering this tea; one of my all time favorite flavored teas was black currant, but I’ve had a lot of bad experiences with cardamom – namely it has overpowered and ruined a lot of baked goods and coffees.

I was really pleasantly surprised by this tea. The cardamom is light enough to be sweet and a little spicy without being overbearing (phew!). Although the currant flavor is subtle, I think it’s the sweetness behind the cardamom. I do wish that there was a stronger currant taste, but its still good. I enjoyed it hot, but I bet it would be an excellent iced tea in the summer or fall – maybe with a splash of currant-flavored vodka or schnapps??

Overall : an interesting, slightly sweet blend and will definitely buy more in the future.

I absolutely loved this tea! I don’t normally care for cinammon tea, but the cinnamon is light enough to be sweet without being spicy and there’s a lingering hint of citrus in the aftertaste. With a small squeeze of honey (something I normally eschew in tea), and this was a perfect tea to wind down the night. I’ll definitely be ordering a full sized tin!

As mentioned by others, coconut is the dominate flavor in this tea. I hardly taste any cocoa, but that’s fine with me. The aroma is amazing, its like smelling a freshly opened bag of coconut milk. I wish the flavor were a bit stronger, but with a bit of milk and sugar its quite a delicious dessert.

Very banana. I think I can see some coconut. Maybe. But I don’t think I like banana in my tea. Or banana flavoring in general. But I do like bananas. I think banana flavoring doesn’t actually taste like banana, but this flavor is closer than most. But not a fan, though for what it is (banana tea), it is relatively good.

This not-tea has gotten such good reviews here, when I saw it at the grocery store today I had to pick it up. After all, I’m always looking for herbal teas for evenings and I do enjoy coconut. I don’t always have much luck with rooibos, but fingers crossed!

It smells… interesting. Every so often I get a banana Runts smell from it, but when I stick my nose in the cup and sniff, I get creamy, milky, starchy green-ness. The green rooibos smell is obvious (it smells like chamomile to me) but with extra sweetness and fruit.

The taste is actually pretty good. I get a hint of Runts bananas (the only Runts I detest) but it’s balanced by a more natural tasting sweetness from the green rooibos and the coconut creamy sweetness. The Runts-ness goes away as it cools a little, leaving a banana + chamomile flavor that seems very plantain-y to me, plus a smoothness that implies coconut cream. The end result is something light, sweet, and tropical, almost piña colada-y. I could easily see this flavor profile served cold in slushie form and with a little paper umbrella in it.
3 bags/18oz

For the record, this really wasn’t anything at all like the mint tea I actually had in Morocco – that is very very minty and very very very sweet (like “the sugar won’t totally dissolve in your hot cup of tea” sort of sweet).

The gunpowder green tea is an interesting twist on “Moroccan” mint tea, and while I was initially taken aback by the difference, I really like it – its not all about sugar and mint, its about the green tea too. I’ve started loving this on cool fall mornings, but its also amazing as an ice tea when sweetened (moderately). I don’t know if “Moroccan” is the right word, but “good” definitely is.