The Republic of Tea

Black tea and rose petals create a refined and undeniably floral-scented tea. Be careful not to over-steep it — the rose petals don’t take well to extended immersion in water, and the tea can start to smell like a corked wine if the leaves are left in an infuser for too long. Seasonal, and therefore not always available through the RoT catalogue, but worth trying when it’s in stock.

Nice blueberry aroma, and the taste is like a mild blueberry tea. I would consider leaving the tea bag in longer next time (I steeped 5 min.) or maybe even 2 bags (although I like to stretch the supply due to shipping costs). Considering the fact that these are wellness teas, they are pretty darn tasty. I will trust that this “get heart” tea is doing some good for my cardiovascular system (prevention!) since I don’t have any cardiovascular conditions to judge improvement.

We have a little British Tea Shop here in the quiet corner in CT. They serve all kinds of tea from the leaf to the bag. This I tried once and was hooked. I put just the tiniest bit of honey on with it and its the perfect flavor to me. Believe it or not the added honey doesn’t make it un bearably sweet :)

Using the last of this tea to ultimately see if I can rate this tea. Made a pot and sharing it with hubby so he can assist…

I love my kitties. A lot. And knowing that kitties aren’t made to digest grains, we get a food that is grain-free. It’s expensive and smells to high heaven but the kitties have been healthier and their fur softer so it’s worth it. Still smells though – like the fish and duck that are the main ingredients. Last night when DH was scooping out the fresh kibble, I had a realization. This tea smells like our kitties’ kibble. Which could explain why the cats seem so interested in it when I brew it.

Anyway, not going to hold that against it. Fishy initial taste/smell followed by a sweet hay taste. Oops, DH is apparently not a fan – 2 sips and I get to finish the rest of his cup. Oh well. More tea to judge with. Oddly enough, DH’s cup has a slight bitter shock right before I finish my swallow. I have no clue how that happened. Any ideas??

Will continue to update this as I go through more brews. So far, I’m liking this a lot more than the first time. I think this ultimately is an acquired taste that I could learn to get behind. (Though part of me keeps saying “You don’t have to learn to like GOOD things – no one needs to learn to like ice cream, right???”)

ETA: 2nd steep @ 3mins. I want to like this tea due to the beautiful color if for not other reason. I love the dark, dusky red it pours out as. Did a good rise/wipe out of DH’s cup and he’s not getting any more bitterness (thanks for the suggestion Angrboda!). Now sweet hay is the dominate taste… Can’t taste any fish but this brew seems even sweeter. I think I’m really starting to get behind this because it’s this is good. (DH’s comments – less fishy, smooth, fuller taste (compared to steep 1), a little earthy… Acceptable, not bad but he’s ultimately indifferent to it).

ETA2: Steep 3 @ 5mins. I think I’m ready to rate this tea now that I’ve gotten used to the flavor shift I had to get used to. It’s good – smooth, mild, has an interesting flavor and while not super-complex isn’t a one note wonder. I enjoy the sweetness of it. DH finds it a little bland (but then I brewed to my taste, not his so that’s not overly surprising) but does like the lack of ‘in your face-ness’. I would drink this again and will probably try other loose pu-ehrs for the times I’m in the mood for something more… savory. But ultimately I don’t think I’m going to start stockpiling pu-ehr cakes in my closet or anything. I’d have this more frequently than any herbal I’ve met so far but wouldn’t be sad if I never had it again. Probably.

I was feeling brave so I picked up a little bit of this last night at the grocery store. I’m a bit nervous to drink it just because of the stories I’ve heard about nasty things turning up in a pu-ehr cake. But this is loose, so I should be good and need to just get over that. No fingernails or cigarette butts to be seen.

The dry leaves smell smoky. Okay, gonna brew it anyway and just not think about what I’m drinking. While brewing, I take a sniff. Mmm, fish. Wondering if my cats might like this. While it’s pouring out, it looks red. A very deep red, but totally red. Really gorgeous. Collected in the cup, however, it is just a very dark brown. Wish I had put this in my glass cup to see if the red shows when light goes through it. Still smells a little fishy and has really attracted the attention of one of my cats. Ah, he was just distracted by the napkin I had my raisin bread on, the tea is no longer interesting…

Okay, this tastes… odd. Very smooth – beautifully so. But a smooth fish taste. Not like a pier but more like a fresh fish with a sweet glaze cooked on a grill with mesquite chips in it. This is so weird. It’s smooth and sweet and I’m really loving the sip and then I get the tail fishy/woody taste. And that just seems very non tea like so it confuses me.

I can’t decide if this is fantastic or unpleasant. Seriously, can’t even begin to rate this yet.

ETA:
2nd steep has a very sweet, dry grass/straw tastes – no more fishy.
3rd steep still has a sweet grass taste with a little earthy taste but it doesn’t have the dryness from the previous steep. So far this steep is my favorite though I still don’t know if I like this tea. While the flavor profile is changing, the overall flavor strength hasn’t decreased. This could easily be a first steep.

Very enjoyable-I’m definately a full leaf girl now. Lots of flavor in this tea-it is comforting- Spice is the flavor that stands out. Very smooth, hard to overbrew.

Enh, it’s okay. I don’t really taste any almond, and I’ve had better vanilla tea than this. It does improve with a splash of milk. I probably won’t buy another tin when this one runs out.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS TEA! I believe the target market is for little ones, but I drink this at work and because of the aroma, co-workers are always asking me what it is. Some will get this for Christmas this year. I absolutely love it.

This is a nice tea – rooibos with fruit flavour seem to be the main notes. I don’t notice much of the flower notes. I like it.

Nice, light taste. I leave the tea bag in for 20 mins or so and still find the flavour light. I was hoping it would be more sweet and apple tasting but it’s more cinnamon tasting with just a slight hint of apple. But this is a good alternative to my stronger flavoured teas, so it’s been nice to have.

It has a pleasant, and “pretty” taste to it. It could be a great tea to end the day with.

I got the last tin!!! I’ve only had it once so far and this is—gasp—my first loose leaf tea. Yeah, I know. I’m a n00b. Whatever. I steeped it too long, I think. It isn’t bad, but to me it tastes and smells more like imitation rose than what roses actually smell like. I think I detected a hint of a lemony after taste, too. Definitely not bad. It may not be an everyday tea, but it definitely has its place.

I enjoyed the experience this tea provided. Was not significantly better than celestial seasonings True Blueberry tea though.

The minimum recommended steep time for this is 5 minutes. I have been steeping it for 7, but today I tried 10, and it made a world of difference. It was so much more rich this time around, I had to bump up the rating. If you’re on the fence about trying it, or have it at home but aren’t loving it, try a longer steep time.

This tea did taste pretty weak to me, even after five minutes in the tea pot.

Slightly spicy orange and clove decent.

The first time I had this, I let it steep WAAAAAAAAAAAAY to long and it was like sucking on a car air freshener. The second time, I only steeped it about a minute, but the cherry flavor was still a little too much for me.

This was good today but I for some reason tasted the ginger more. And I wanted the peach to be really what I tasted the most. And I taste the black tea to. But, I really love a strong peach taste in teas.

This is a nice black tea with a medium peach taste and a hint of ginger.

Backlogging I got this teabag to try from JoeCool Nicole thank you very much. This I agree is a light black tea with abit of apple and clove think is very good but the apple needs to be stronger.