The Republic of Tea

I’m a fan of The Republic of Tea. I know they don’t get much love around here. I love their little niche of collectible tins and flavor blends.

Mrs. Patmore’s Pudding Tea tastes similar to their Caramel Vanilla Cuppa Cake Tea. Maybe I need to sip them side by side to be able to do true comparison. It’s a good tea. They both are.

I have been drinking this tea periodically for years. I’m not the hugest fan of black teas, but the aroma of this tea is inviting. I love blackberry, and the tartness of the blackberry and the grassiness of the sage bring out the tannins in the tea without it becoming too bitter (unless you oversteep, of course). This is one of the few teas that I just do not enjoy iced. I always drink it hot. It becomes a bit more bitter when iced.

Fairly sweet but not overly so, a very subtle ginger taste

Very strong peach aroma, no real ginger taste or spice. An ok tea but too sugary sweet for my tastes

I admit it. I am a brazen, unappoligetic rooibos fiend! Rooibos, I think, is especially good in the fall. Impatient for autumn, my favorite season to begin, I purchased this autumnal tea. The State Fair of Virginia happens in late September where luscious apples from the Shennadoah Valley can be had covered with rich, gooey caramel. Oh what a treat on a crisp fall night on the midway! Ahhh, autumn dreaming.

I happened upon this tea today at a local natural foods market and thought I’d give it a go in an attempt to feed my fall fantasy and my rooibos cravings. And you know what? This rooibos actually tastes of sweet juicy apples with a pretty decent note of caramel across the palate on the end. It’s like a caramelly candy apple in a cup. The rich rooibos supports the apple and caramel flavors quite nicely. I think the secret to getting the most flavor out of this tea is limiting the water to six ounces and going a bit over the seven minute steeping time. Eight minutes worked great. For a twelve ounce mug I believe I’d use two bags – There’s a generous 36 sachets to a tin.

I can’t wait to drink this on a brisk autumn evening. Come on September!

So I have been very busy and I have had a lot going on! I am sorry I haven’t been logging my tea! But I have, to be sure, been drinking it!

I babysat for my cousin and she gave me some tea along with my pay, because she’s awesome. (And because four days with two excitable boys is a little crazy.)

She gave me two—this stuff, and Stash Peppermint tea. I’ll get to that later.

This stuff though—I was SO EXCITED for. I LOVE berries, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE sage. I’ve had a really good High Mountain Atlas Sage at a little place in Charlottesville, and the Sage was SO LOVELY.

I thought this tea would be so great!

And, well, it was but… hmm.. I guess I feel like I was lacking on the flavours.

There is a light, smooth berry flavour, which I like a lot. It doesn’t need a lot of sugar, and I like that. But it wasn’t an immediate taste, either, and one thing that really (I mean really) disappointed me was that I could hardly taste any sage at all. Some sips it seemed like there was no sage. None. And to me, that’s false advertising, to label a tea as one flavour or combination, and then not deliver.

However, I do like this tea. It’s not bad, it’s smooth and has enough taste to be good, and it gives a nice boost in energy without giving the jitters.

And I love Republic of Teas round teabags!

Question though: what’s a really good sage tea, with a pretty obvious sage flavour? I need some!!

Drank some of this at work and smiled as it reminded me of Butiki’s organic Spring Twist.

Sweet, yet with the vegetable taste… such a wonderful cup for what $6/ounce… it’s a pretty good deal for the quality … which I did not expect from Republic of Tea (aka, one reason it’s in a baggie where I store my highlighters :p )

p.s. this is the loose leaf version I had/have

I noticed a slight artificial note before adding my sweetener this time around. After adding cream and honey, it’s a wonderfully delicious cup.

Definite chocolate flavor today.

I opened the tin this morning and was immediately transported in my mind to a tropical coast. I often associate coconut with beach vacations, usually because of the coconut fragrance coming from most sunscreen lotions, but here it’s not fake or artificial. It’s just tropical, like sunshine and a cool breeze with soft sand underneath my feet. After steeping, I’m noticing more of the chocolate in both the aroma and the flavor which is really nice.

This smells exactly like a Mounds bar! The chocolate, the coconut, the sweetness – everything! I’m pretty excited to try this one. The dry blend appears to be just coconut flakes and tea. The liquid brews up dark and is just the slightest bit bitter. I’m not tasting as much coconut as I would like, but it’s a good cup. It’s moderately strong and definitely caffeinated.

This doesn’t smell like much coming out of the container, maybe just a little tart, but once the water hits the leaves it has a wonderful autumnal apple cider fragrance. The color is a deep berry red, which I expected from the hibiscus. It does taste very tart and a little artificial. I’m sure that’s coming from the stevia. I added a little honey and this tea really comes alive. The apple flavor really comes through and I can definitely taste something like cider.

I can smell and taste the pineapple but I’m not sure I’ve ever had lychee so I can’t say whether or not I’m tasting it. This is also a bit astringent. I like the flavor but not as much as their Coconut Hibiscus tea.

COLD BREW
1TBSP + 1TSP of Tea, 32oz Water
Such an array of complex and musty flavors. I wasn’t sure if I liked this, but the more I drank it the more I enjoyed it. I did not wash the leaves first, just steeped them right away, which I think added to such complex flavor. I don’t know if I would say that there is a meatiness to this, but a definite robustness that tastes woodsy.

I binged watched the entire 5 seasons of Downton Abbey in less than a month’s time.

I am not proud of that.

Anyways, now that I got that out of the way … this tea.

Ginger is not my favorite flavor, but I have grown towards the taste of it since I started drinking tea. I am finding it more tolerable. This tea has got the biggest bite of it, so if that’s your thing you will love this tea. THE GINGER JUST LINGERS.

I don’t find it smooth, but I do enjoy it now and again. It’s not one I reach for every day, but rather something I’ll have when I need a bite.

My favorite tea of all time (thus far). I make it in an Eeyore mug of unidentified size with a bit of honey (unmeasured) and a splash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk (also unmeasured).

I made a jug of this tea iced.

Blech. I found it rather bitter. I know I’;ve had this tea before, and although I didn’t adore it, I didn’t hate it. But this batch? Nuh-uh. I was able to save it somewhat with a splash of the watermelon flavored syrup from Simplee Simple from Etsy. But I did not enjoy this one.

The syrups from that etsy shop are really quite nice. I use them in my sparkling water, in some teas, and to make flavored ice cubes. So far the raspberry is my favorite, but I still have the blackberry and peach to try. Not affiliated in any way with the shop. I just like them.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SimpleeSimple2?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=636734444

Warm weather is upon us! Time for more iced tea drinking. I had only one bag of this tea left, so last night I set this to brew in the fridge. Those pre-measured bags of tea are so convenient. I’ve had this tea for two years. I don’t know how much the flavor has been compromised by time, but it tastes ok. Definitely a watermelon bubblegum flavor. But I like it. I think I should have let it brew a little longer since it is fairly pale in color and the flavor is a bit weak, with a slightly bitter edge to the sip. But it’s cold and refreshing, so that will do.

It’s getting a bit warmer now, so I cold brewed a big pitcher of this. I think I’ll nudge my previous rating of 70 to 75. It is refreshing. Since I can’t smell and have no idea what it tastes like, all can say is I find it refreshing, with no aftertaste or bitterness. I recently got a soda stream soda maker and added some sparkling water to it. Very nice. I don’t think I’ll run out and buy more of this, but the pre-measured pouches the tea comes in are sure handy. I’ll enjoy a few more quarts of this until it’s gone.

With the temps expected to be a record high I tossed this in the fridge last night so I’d have cold refreshing tea to sip today. It seems weaker than the last jug I made. I’m not sure why, because I used the same amount of water, steeped it overnight like before, and the bags are all pre-measured. Anyway, not bad, but a little stronger would be better.

Made a jug of this to battle the nasty hot weather we’ve been having. Don’t shoot me, anyone ,but I’m looking forward to fall so I can enjoy my hot teas again!