The Republic of Tea

I got this in a swap from Ellen.

I love blackberries. This is the best time of year, because they tend to be “in season” in the grocery store.

The dry tea bags definitely smells like blackberries. More on the tart side. I don’t smell any sage.

The brewed tea smell reminds me of sweet tarts. Definitely get that not quite ripe blackberry taste.

The liquor has that kind of sweet tarts taste. There is sage in the background. There is a sweetness to the tea, but more of a tart sweetness than a sugar sweetness. Mostly, you can taste the black tea base. It is a bit artificial tasting.

This tea was on my shopping list for a long time, so I am happy I had the chance to get it in a swap. Thanks again Ellen.

I’ve been drinking this while trying to write a talk I don’t want to give on Thursday. It has been a bright spot in my work slog. That being said, I’m tired enough right now that the exact words to describe it are escaping me. It has a light, smooth, toasty orchid flavor that held up well to two steepings. Can’t say I am alert enough to tell a difference in the taste betweeen the first and second steep. Let’s just say I enjoyed both and I look forward to drinking this again!

This SMELLS like Hot Apple Cider – I will say that! The color of the water barely changes, tho. It really doesn’t taste like much. There is a bit of apple flavor and that’s really about it. Not overly impressive. If it only tasted like it smelled I would have no complaints. Oh well.

This is drinkable, but not my favorite. The flavor of the rooibos overpowers the strawberry flavor. Also, I can’t really appreciate the vanilla at all.

The dry tea leaves smell toasted and buttered with a hint of popcorn. Watching the tea leaves unfurl during the steep is peaceful. The tea is a clear light yellow – the color of white wine. It tastes smooth and toasty, with a bit of brown rice and green tea flavor. Not getting any fruit or orchid flavors, but my nose is partially blocked with a cold. A type of tea my palate is not used to, but I think I like it.

I was feeling overwhelmed by all the patient notes I have to write before I can get home, so I needed a distraction. I found a sample bag of this in the Republic of Tea sample box in my desk drawer so I decided to give it a try. I am pleasantly surprised by this little wonder. The rooibos blends nicely with the chocolate flavors. It’s not too “beety” either. Not sure I would buy a box of this as I am not a big “Red Velvet” person, but I’m glad to be enjoying it. If only it could write these notes for me….

This one doesn’t taste any different to me than generic black tea. Not a whole lot going on here of any interest. It’s what was available at work to help me with my Monday morning blehs

I love black tea. It’s what really propelled me into my love for tea. That being said, I’ve strayed from my roots a bit. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had some black tea, and it’s definitely been awhile since I’ve had some Earl Grey. But this is really delicious tea! I tend to stray away from tea sachets, but my roommate had offered me one, and I’m not going to turn down free tea. Good choice, really.

I would recommend this to a fan of Earl Grey. It’s good stuff.

I absolutely love coconut, and have a hard time resisting a tea with it, which explains why I purchased this particular one. It’s not loose leaf, so of course the quality won’t be as impressive, but the combination of rooibos, coconut, and almond sounded so tempting I couldn’t resist.

Smell wise, it’s very hard to pick up any traces of coconut. I can definitely tell this has a rooibos base, and there is a very slight aroma of almond. Not much, though.

I steeped this for about 6 minutes and at the first sip, all I can taste is rooibos, with the soft lingering notes of almond. No coconut to be detected, sadly. I added cream and sugar which significantly improved the quality to a mellow, buttery, toasty cup of tea. For being in a bag, AND caffeine-free, this isn’t a total loss. Worth trying once, but not any more.

What a shame… I really wanted to like this tea! It was very light with a flavour so subtle as to be almost non-existant. I brewed this the first time with 1 sachet to 13oz of water, the second time 2 sachets to 13oz and it was still too quiet for my tastes. Might be nice as a light flavoured water in summer.

2nd Rating: On second thought, don’t bother! I’ve tried this tea on several seperate occasions wondering if my poor rating could be due to changing moods. It’s not. If it’s even possible this tea seems to have less and less flavour with every cup. If scientists are looking for a way to study dissapearing mass, or even invisibility they should look no further… The R of T beat them to it. Fortunately this is a limited time blend, almost as limited as it’s flavour!

Backlog:

I tried this tea before I joined Steepster. I won’t be trying it again. I love ripe pu-erhs, though I’ve had some bad ones. However, it was the coconut that insulted me in this one. I just don’t get it though: I love coconut on my my cakes and pastries and in candy bars and chocolates, but liquid coconut flavor does not agree with me. I had another coconut tea that, while somewhat more tolerable than this one, was still not to my liking

The first sip of this tea tastes like pu-erh, The coconut is more of an aftertaste, so I thought I liked it at first. After 4 or 5 sips, however, I realized the nasty left over flavor and felt sick to my stomach. I drank a whole bunch of water and brewed a favorite blend right away to cure me.

Incidentally, my husband likes this tea. He doesn’t drink a lot of tea and he refuses to try plain Puerh because of the smell, but he liked this one.

I have one sample of this and for some reason it looked good, so I decided to go for it. Not really pumpkin season any more, but oh well. The teabag has a strong pumpkin and ginger smell, with a little hint of spices. The tea has a rich, heavy pumpkin aroma. The flavor is pumpkin with a strong ginger finish. There is a light warming, spicy aftertaste that I imagine would be nice in the winter. For me, this tea is just a little too gingery. I can taste that flavor more than the pumpkin or any of the other spices. It’s not a bad tea, just nothing like pumpkin pie in my opinion.

-Round natural unbleached teabag.
-Teabag smells strongly of pumpkin and ginger. Tea liquor aroma is of rich and sweet pumpkin.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy medium golden brown color.
-Pumpkin flavor with a ginger finish. Light warming and spicy aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Fair tea. More ginger flavor than pumpkin.

My first taste of this tea was horribly underwhelming. However, as I’ve continued to drink this, mostly to get rid of it so that i can use the container. It’s grown on me a tiny bit. I’m now able to pick out certain flavors from it. It’s not the greatest tea I’ve ever had, but, it’s still far from the worst and I have to give in and admit it does taste pretty similar to a chocolate covered strawberry.

The tea smells very chocolatey, no real hint of strawberries in the scent to me. It brews to a dark orange with perhaps a slight red tint.

This is kind of like the ear-worm of teas. I don’t really like it, but, I keep exposing myself to it without complaining too much.

I am new to traditional Matcha preparation and taste. I would say that this tea is good for Matcha beginners that are new to the Matcha scene. This brand is on the expensive side for its quality though, it isn’t quite as rich and bold as I’d hoped that it would be.

It has a weak boldness that hits you in the back of your throat followed by a short-lived sweetness. It does have a weak grassy aftertaste that only lasts for a few minutes. Overall, I do enjoy this tea when I drink it, despite the weaker taste.

Last Words: Good for beginners looking to experiment, but rather weak and thin.

The honey flavor of this tea doesn’t seem as strong today. It’s still there, but now accompanied by a very mild floral and a sort of malty flavor. I used more leaves than before, but the steep time was less.

The last time I had it (no logged) it seemed weaker than usual so I deliberately increased the leaf this time.

I’m not quite sure why this tea is being so finicky all of a sudden. The only explanation is that my original batch was in a small sample tin. I liked every cup that I had from that tin. This one is from the larger tin that I ordered when I ran out of the other.

I am going to have to lower my rating on this one just a bit. I still like to drink it, but I don’t know if I’ll order again.

Still really like this tea. Tried a second steeping this time (1st for 2min, second for 3min). The second cup isn’t as sweet, but the sweetness is still there. I like that it is muted the second time. Although I really like the sweet honey-like flavor, it could be too much of a good thing to have two strong cups of it in a row. I am particular about excess in scent and flavors. I need to try a gong-fu type session next time if I have the time to spend with it.

I don’t like a lot of oolongs, but this is one of the exceptions. It’s very sweet, like honey, and not too floral for me. I can’t stand strong florals at all. I don’t know what different flavors subsequent steepings might yield, however. I’ve just done boiling (195deg where I live) for 4 minutes. The previous time I had this tea, I did a 5 minute steeping and it was about the same.

ETA: I’ve completely lost my taste for this oolong (the last tasting note indicated my declining preference). The honey notes that I thought I loved are making me queasy, and not just in this tea. I have a similar reaction to strong honey notes in many other teas too. so strange to suddenly develop this response. oh well. My mother absolutely loves this tea, so I gave the rest of mine to her.

Scooped a sample of this out of the bulk bin at Whole Foods, which in retrospect, seems a bad idea for this sort of loose tea -where there are various components of differing sizes, so some things float to the top and some to the bottom.

I think that might have colored my opinion of this tea, just a little. But I did do my best to get a balanced blend. In any case, this tastes like a version of Good Earth’s Sweet and Spicy. Heavier on the cinnamon than Good Earth, so it’s also sweeter.

Ultimately, I think the cinnamon is way overdone and that this tea is too expensive to buy, considering that when I’m in the mood for this sort of drink, Good Earth Sweet and Spicy suits me just fine…

a good tea if you have a cold or a need to satistfy a sweet tooth

oh yummy, savory, vegetal green, I would be lost without you <3

And what this? Do I finally detect some of that woody and earthy flavor that others have described. Why yes, I think so. How many more secrets do you hold mysterious green tea?

I think that you have been so aptly named.

I made my first poorly brewed cup of this. The water was probably a bit too hot and I steeped it a bit longer because I forgot how long I usually steep this one for. It’s not bad by any means, but it lost a lot of the rich flavor that I love so much. That’s what I get for being hasty and inattentive (^.^)

Had this tea earlier today. It’s really pleasant green tea. Reminds me a bit more of gyokuro than sencha (as I said in the last note). Nice mouth feel, grassy and slightly nutty too. I havent tried multiple infusions yet.

Drinking this tea now, doing some homework. I read through the previous reviews for this tea and, wow, what a lot of discrepancy. Some say it’s woody, earthy, not woody, more like a green, more like a white, etc. Well, here’s my own take on it: It’s very grassy and vegetal to me. Much like a Japanese Sencha, but not as finicky about brew time and temperature. I feel that it has a bit of the Japanese-defined unami flavor. But now I have to wonder if all the batches are consistent, given the variation in reviews. As it is for my batch, I really like it.