The Republic of Tea

Be forewarned! I’m harsh in this review!

Ew… I don’t care for this one at all. I know I added too much milk (really full milk container threw me off) but honestly, this one tastes bad. I don’t like it. It doesn’t have any real flavour from what I’m gathering. Normally milk doesn’t kill all the flavour with my looseleaf, so it’s very disappointing to me that it did with this one. I don’t know why I keep trying these ‘bagged teas.’ They are always saddening for me. I don’t think I’ll be finishing this one.

I’m starting to realize I really am picky with my teas. I haven’t mastered the love of some of the simple straight teas fully yet, but the ones I have, it’s got to be looseleaf. Otherwise, like with this one, I just think puddle water.

Sorry tea, this one isn’t for me!

It has a nice Autumn scent, and flavour. Since I prefer more spice, I like to add a bag of chai/

I really love banana-flavored foods, so even though this is a rooibos based blend and I don’t necessarily crave rooibos teas, I thought it may be good as an evening cuppa. The teabag smells really strongly of rooibos with just a little hint of chocolate and no banana whatsoever, blah. The flavor is actually more of chocolate with just a little bit of rooibos noticeable, and a nice sweet banana finish that reminds me a little of banana popsicles! I like this tea because even though it is a rooibos tea there is none of the awkward rooibos aftertaste that I despise. Hooray, this tea surprised me in a good way!

-Round natural unbleached teabag.
-Teabag smells heavily of rooibos with a hint of chocolate. Tea liquor aroma is of ripe banana and rich chocolate.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy reddish brown color.
-Chocolate and slight rooibos flavor with a sweet banana popsicle finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Nice banana flavor with very little rooibos aftertaste.

MMMmmmm….Chocolaty! Loving this tea!

Very floral notes. More than we were expecting. Sort of overpowering.

it smells like heaven but has almost no taste.

What I love about this tea is the liquor – a gorgeous royal purple. I love watching the dark pink tendrils slink through the water as the tea bag steeps.

I have mixed feelings about the flavor. Hot, the tea is tart. I can’t stand drinking it hot. I prefer it iced – even though it is still very sweet – because it’s refreshing on hot summer days.

I’m a huge fan of Rooibos tea and was intrigued by this one when I saw it in the store. When I first opened the tin and took a sniff it burned my nose, it has a very strong scent. I had expected this scent to be weaker after it was steeped, but even the steeped tea burned my nose when I tried to smell it. It has a nice deep red color when steeped. It seems to be very dry in my mouth with only a hint of apricot and a slightly sweet ending. Overall, I’m not a fan of this tea at all. It isn’t very pleasant to drink and every time it gets near my nose it burns.

Powdered
Appearance: bright silky green powder
Aroma when Dry: buttery ginger notes
After water is first poured: warming ginger notes
At end of first steep: warming buttery ginger
Tea liquor: bright deep green
Staple? Yes, if I remain interested in flavored matcha
Preferred time of day: evening
At first ?: warm grassy, buttery ginger
As it cools?: notes get sweeter, smoother, buttery
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No, but want to try it mixed with chai masala
Lingers? yes, ginger, grass and butter

Powdered
Appearance: bright green silky matcha powder
Aroma when Dry: nutty, sweet rice notes
After water is first poured: sweet rice, light grass, lima bean notes
Tea liquor: deep bright green, light green froth
Staple? Possibly, if I remain interested in flavored matcha
Preferred time of day: evening
Taste:
At first ?: nutty, roasty, smooth, buttery
As it cools?: notes mellow slightly, tea gets grassier, slightly sharp close
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, nutty creamy thick notes

Having this one this morning with my banana coconut muffins. :) I actually have to raise my rating for this tea, pleasantly enough! I think the last time I drank it I wasn’t expecting the pecan flavor to be as prevalent as it is, and mistook the somewhat drying effect of that flavor for astringency. Drinking it again, I can tell now that the pecan flavoring, while ever so slightly artificial tasting, makes my mouth feel as though I’ve actually eaten pecans (without having to pick them out of my teeth, which is a bonus), which could be mistaken for the flavor of an overly astringent black tea. The maple is a nice background note, but being an inherently stronger flavor than pecan, it has no trouble making itself known. :) The black tea is… well, Republic of Tea. Their black tea base seems to be neither malty nor chocolatey nor robust. It just serves as a foundation for flavoring, which is why I won’t re-rate it TOO highly.

So, I’ve been somewhat underwhelmed by the maple-y flavor of this tea before, so I decided to up the ante today and do a double-strength steep. I used a rather larger than normal size mug, just to be on the safe side. My plan was to steep it for as short a time as possible, but I ended up steeping it a teensy bit longer than my gut told me to… and the result was VERY astringent, even with sugar. I attribute this to the fact that there’s basically tea dust in the bag, instead of distinguishable leaves… a quality issue that RoT teas frequently have. :/
Anyway, the tea was WORLDS better after I added about a tablespoon or two of milk to my cup. Mmm, maple-y goodness! I didn’t even really have to sweeten it all that much (been trying to do less of that anyway). The pecan flavor isn’t all THAT strong, but it’s there. So, the moral of the story is that milk makes this tea quite delicious, but without it, it’s almost not worth drinking.

Balanced, I can clearly smell and taste the tea base pretty well here, unlike many earl greys. The bergamot isn’t overpowering like it can be in some teas. I made it kind of weak the first time, used more leaf and steeped it longer this time, and it was way better. It didn’t seem to get as bitter as other earl greys can on a longer steep. With sugar and milk it makes one of the better home made lattes I have attempted.

And here I find yet another rooibos blend that I don’t hate! I actually like this one pretty well. Added milk and sugar to enhance the ‘dessert’ feel of this tea and it tastes actually really good. I’m not sure I’d say ‘red velvet cake’ if someone asked me the flavour in a blind taste test, but it is still quite pleasing. Chocolate and vanilla and creaminess is what I taste.

Nice tea – but the coconut flavor is difficult to taste. I prefer to drink this one sweetened.

Does not re-steep well.

This is one of those teas that I purchased with such high hopes. I prefer black tea over green tea, but my fiancee likes green tea, so I thought this would be a good one to keep in our cupboard. Even he ignores it when making tea, so I’m rating and passing it along. The teabags smell like tart hibiscus and berries. The tea liquor itself actually reminds me of the warm berry filling in a pie or cobbler. Unfortunately the flavor is rather lacking. It starts off with a burst of tartness, but then this icky, musty taste with an artificiallness to it finishes. Sweetener brings out a little more berry flavor, but doesn’t disguise the yucky finish. Just blah. I even checked the bottom of the tin to make sure that it hasn’t expired, and it’s good until this upcoming June. It may be good as an iced tea, but I just don’t even like it enough to try it out.

-Round natural unbleached teabag.
-Teabag smells like tart hibiscus and berries. Tea liquor aroma is of warm berries.
-Tea liquor is a deep purple color.
-Tart flavor with a musty artificial finish.
-Best with sweetener.
-Poor tea. Nasty artificial-tasting finish.

I’m kind of disappointed with this. I was hoping that it would be better than the bagged version, but I think the pieces are two whole to steep right. The flavor is not right.

Does anyone actually still watch SNL?? At my parents house, absolutely nothing on TV, playing with the on demand, now watching SNL. Who are these people?

Anywho, tried this tea today at a coffee house in my hometown. Despite the fact that the water was way too hot (so hot it took 30 minutes to cool enough to drink – wish I was kidding) this tea was delicious. No bitterness and wonderful peach flavor. I think it would be great cold. I may have to get some to make iced tea. It would be awesome.

Was gonna choose my Yogi Immune Support with echinacea tea this morning, but my fingers grabbed this one instead. I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed it, despite having not been fond of the strawberry flavoring in the past. I agree with some other posters, the amount of tea in the bag leaves a little to be desired. I almost steeped mine with two bags instead of one, but decided against it at the last second.
Anyway, perhaps the fake-tasting strawberry doesn’t bother me so much when I’m sick. The chocolate flavor came through okay, and the rooibos hid in the background most of the time. Enjoyable enough. :)
Side note: I’m surrounded on both sides by snoring cats. XD

Oh Double dark chocolate mate tea – I love you. You taste like rich chocolate (after you’re brewed for a while – takes a bit for the full richness to appear) and with a touch of milk and honey you satisfy my sweet tooth. You also do well in perking me up in the morning.

Sadly – I discovered today why I had to give you up. Seems I’m allergic to you. This is unfair in so many ways. Teas that I hate don’t make me itch so why do you?

Signed – a sad mate fan.

I love this version of Dragon Well! It’s buttery and delicious, and for some reason has a hint of pistachio nut in the flavor. Tastes more like a snack than a tea. Highly recommend!

Delicious! I really haven’t found a Morocco mint blend that I like quite as much as this one. Cool and refreshing without feeling like you’ve been chewing gum when it’s done.

Thanks to tunes&tea for this generous sample!

I’ve been sick for the last 3 weeks, so all I’ve been drinking is Twinings Lemon & Ginger tea. I’m sick of it. So I dug through the awesome box that tunes&tea sent to me for something new. I figured this would be good, considering the ginger will help my cough.

I like this. I think I would like it more steeped in milk, chai style, but brewed straight up with some milk and sugar is really nice. Maybe my illness is stopping from catching the strength of the spices like other reviewers have noted, so I’ll have to try it when I’m feeling better. Luckily, I got lots of it so I’ll be able to enjoy this tea for a while.

Today is the day – Anna Karenina book and tea club discussion day! I’ve been eagerly awaiting this day since I finished the book about a week ago. This tea is so perfectly paired to the book, and the scene from the movie on the tea tin is just so pretty. I was a bit hesitant about this tea since I’m not a big fan of smokey Lapsang Souchong teas, but I LOVE rose teas so I hoped these contrasting flavors would balance out. The teabag smells only a little smokey, not overwhelmingly so, and there is a nice, strong, floral rose scent also. The tea aroma is completely of woodsmoke. I was a little sad to see that this tea takes on more of the smokey flavor than the rose flavor. The rose seems to be more noticeable in the aroma rather than in the taste, as there’s only the smallest hint of a rose flavor. All in all not a bad tea, just a very heavily smokey flavor, which is exactly as the tea is described. I hope my fellow book/tea club members found this tea to their liking!

-Round natural unbleached teabag.
-Teabag smells smokey with a rose essence. Tea liquor aroma is of woodsmoke.
-Tea liquor is a dark brown color.
-Malty woodsy flavor with a lingering smokey finish. Smallest hint of rose noticeable in the flavor.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Very little rose flavor.