The Republic of Tea

I received another sample of this in the mail. Steep is a dark red-brown. It is sweet-smelling. It tastes light and fruity. Not so tart, which is nice.

Tasty! I got this as a free sample. I can taste the rooibos and vanilla with a hint of fruity pomegranate. It was very mild but there was a nice tart aftertaste to it. It tastes and smells very good!

So I’m not the biggest fan of RoT, but when I am at Panera or somewhere that serves it and I have a tea craving, I usually go for the Mango Ceylon. The other one I really like is the green tea with ginger and peach. Like I said, I don’t drink these every day, but they get the job done in a pinch.

After my matcha disaster, I needed something simple. Just dropped this in 6oz of water heated for 2 min. Pretty good for a bagged Chinese green. Very sweet, slightly grassy. Just what I need.

This has a nice cherry after taste. Not a strong flavored tea but I don’t think you want your green tea to be too strong in flavor (my personal opinion).

Meh.

I am just not finding this tea impressive. I’ve had bad luck with cherry flavored teas – can’t find one I like. I’m finding this one hard to brew without bitterness, and there’s very little that stands out as yummy. No happy flavor of tea leaf, no creamy from the vanilla, and no juicy cherry flavor.

I’m just not impressed.

A light green tea, probably the best I’ve tried yet. It’s my first from ROT and they’ve won me over. :-)

Hubby and I finished up the last two bags of the tin of this tonight :( Another trip to Whole foods/World Market needs to happen soon. I don’t know if I can go long without this tea.

I was happy that he liked this without any sweetner, as he usually has to put 3-4 packets of splenda in his tea to enjoy it. Finally found something he will drink without additives :)

This tea is delightful, refreshing and oh so pineapple-y hot. I think this may be the first cup I’ve had hot. I’m glad I enjoy it this way as well, since it is getting cooler out.

3 bags, 8oz hot 12oz icewater.

I’m down to my last serving of this tea :’( I think this calls for a short road trip this week up to World Market or Whole Foods. Does anyone have any recommendations for teas that can be found at either of those two stores? I want to find a good hot green tea (any type of flavor loose or bagged) and another herbal/fruit tea.

Another hot day here in Chicagoland. Brewing up a large iced mug of this to take with me to work this afternoon. Love the energy I get from the bright citrus flavors and sweet lychee fruit. This tea needs to be available loose leaf, that way I could make pitchers of it at a time…not easy to do without using up all my bags :(

I haven’t found a hibiscus tea I like more than this one. It is so naturally sweet, so wonderfully pineapple-y and just all around great. I’m hoarding this until I can get more. Not enough funds for a whole order online (nor room in the cupboard). Wish this was available loose so I could make up a pitcher of it (although I like it so much I would drink a pitcher a day, so probably better to savor it).

Made a cup of iced sangria style tea today (no alcohol). I brewed it up like I would iced tea, but added 3 slices lime, 3 slices orange and 3 slices lemon squeezed slightly and muddled into the hot tea. Love the citrus flavor this brought out. This tea is wonderful by itself, but with the fruit it was very refreshing.

In hibiscus heaven. Had a tall glass of this iced with one packet of splenda and I gulped this down. I should have taken the time to enjoy it, but no, it was gulped. It is just that good! I think I’ll try and get a second steep out of the bags because this tea is going to go fast this spring! Hopefully this will be available loose down the road if the line kicks off well. Looking forward to the other flavors!

Brewed iced tea using 2 bags of this tea, 6oz hot water which I steeped for 7 minutes and then poured over 6oz of ice water. Check out the deep red liquor on this tea: http://www.flickr.com/photos/meghannm/

I tried this iced first rather than hot because it is an amazingly beautiful day outside. This makes a great bright flavored iced tea. The Pineapple really stands out as a fresh juicy pineapple. I can taste the lychee in the aftertaste. I was surprised to find the hibiscus is not too tart, and it wasn’t the prominent flavor, more the pineapple, then the hibiscus, then the lychee. This is so good!

Exam in a few hours and need to use my break to study… I grabbed this at my campus cafe thinking it would be a good black tea but I’m not too impressed…
It’s drinkable and not horrible, but the taste isn’t anything special and the smell is sort of like that of spoiled berries.
My next trip to the counter I’m grabbing a different tea.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 teabag 1.8g
Additives: none
Water: hot spigot water, 1/2 mug (6 oz?)
Steep Time: a little over 1 minute
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: Mango, fruity and floral, honey
Steeped Tea Smell: Floral, something else…
Flavor: Light, weak, watery
Body: Light
Aftertaste: none
Liquor: Translucent yellow green

Free sample included in the mail order catalog they send out.

Post-Steep Additives: none

gave another 1 minute (2 total) and it got very bitter

it was not grassy though

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/republic-of-tea-teabag-green-tea-honey.html

I actually would like to try a strong brew of this with steamed soy milk (nice nutty taste) for a tea latte- it’d pair well with milk in general. But for the meantime it’s just me and my water. I tend to find RoT a bit pricey for the quality, but their teas are tasty and this is no exception. I don’t find it overly sweet, but the vanilla and almond are definitely there. It’s a sort of nutty tea with a hint of vanilla, nothing cloying or overpowering at all. Tastes very natural. I’d love to try this as a rooibos too.

Love the aroma just as much as the taste. I also love the idea of the double antioxidant properties involved with the green tea AND the blueberries.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. My life has been absolutely crazy since the 1st of this month. I interviewed for a position within my company that would involve relocating to Florida. I still haven’t heard too much, other than that I have made it to the “narrowed down” list. (Whatever that means.) My patience is truly being tested. I’m trying to remain positive…but not to the point of devastation if I don’t get it.

Anyway, on to the tea. Unfortunately, it sucks. There ya go…great review, huh? For starters, the tea leaves are very broken…not coffee grounds, but quite broken. The smell of the dry leaves was not very impressive either. It wasn’t quite cherry or vanilla, but something sour smelling. Meh. After steeping, only the faintest wisp of cherry/vanilla was present in the smell and taste…and that only happened after the cup cooled to lukewarm. Bland, bland, bland…and super astringent. I feel like this marks the last of my flavored tea purchases. (Other than chocolate…Numi’s Chocolate Pu-erh comes to mind.) I picked this up at Whole Foods on a whim. I’m much more into blends at the moment and picking out the notes of unflavored teas. Another phase of my tea drinking, I suppose.

Well, back to waiting and positive thinking.

I had this hot on campus today.
It was pretty good… but for some reason I thought the mango was a little too strong…

Man. I am at the dregs of my tea drawer and cannot wait for my tea order to arrive tomorrow. In the meantime, I drank this Hot Apple Cider tea that was in the drawer. I’d throw it out but my husband likes it. One teabag steeped for 7 minutes. It tastes like water mixed with a 1/4 apple juice and a little cinnamon. I used to like this and would brew it up and put it in a thermos for ski patrol. I’m guessing that any tea might have tasted good on a really cold day on the mountain. It never tastes as good at home.

This is excellent hot or iced:-)
I’m currently drinking it iced.