The Republic of Tea

I enjoy rooibos tea blends that have a little something extra. I happened upon a single tea bag jammed in the back of the communal tea box in my office, being first attracted to the bright pink, silky packaging and cheery illustrations that ultimately made the tea feel that much more special. The tea itself is just as complex as the packaging. It was delicious to savor the layers of sweet vanilla and pomegranate over the earthy taste of rooibos in this tea while enjoying a peaceful afternoon.

Just a short note before dashing off to work they were serving tea at my meditation group last night and I got to try some of this, I was pleasantly surprised that one teabag in my cup seemed to provide enough flavor and the vanilla added a nice touch to the roobois. Did not hate it as much as I thought I might but will probably stick to the Celestial seasonings brand due to the price.

I would have to disagree with MacchaMan. I found this tea to be wonderful. Yes, it is very veggie tasting, but it also (if frothed right) has a nice creaminess. It’s the kind of tea you can feel dancing in your veins and to be honest I crave it often. The Earthy taste is wonderful. As for the wateriness, I will say that you do have to add more tea and less water to get the best experience. Overall, I found that this is a rather nice take on Matcha and am very satisfied with it :)

… Um. I really wanted to like this. I still hold out some hope that it will be better chilled, but I won’t try that until this summer. It’s the “lingering sweetness of Korean Hydrangea serrata leaf” that gets me. It tastes very artificial, although I know it’s “natural” (which I suppose a fair number of people feel is synonymous with “better”). It has a sweet bite, then the cloying, almost tangy aftertaste remains far too long.

It’s just… weird. If you get a chance to swap for a bag, it’s almost worth it for the novelty. Hey, I’ve got a whole tin over here waiting for your offers!!!

I got a cup of this at Panera this afternoon with lunch since I was cold and tired from birding in the morning. Today is a pretty nice day relatively, but I wish it was like tomorrow is going to be… a lot warmer! I’m going to a concert tonight too and I’m not really looking forward to standing in the cold.

This tea was pretty decent. Most of the time I was just reminded about how much I hate drinking tea in tea bags from paper cups… too much paper taste! This tasted like a light-bodied black tea with a bit of mango. The mango wasn’t very strong, but it tasted relatively juicy and not cloyingly candy-like. When I look for a fruity black I really want a nice, rich base behind it, and that just wasn’t there in this cup. Also in a mango tea I prefer something even more mangoey. I would drink this one again if it was a choice at a restaurant, but I’m not going to buy a tin.

I’m getting sick. Chest congestion and just a general malaise. So, I decided something full of stuff that’s supposed to be good for me is what I’m supposed to be doing.

Bluh. Now I remember why I have a vague distaste for rooibos. It’s the scent. Pretty awful. But, like may of the other rooibos teas I’ve recently had from The Republic of Tea, it grows on me as I finish the cup.

I got this as a free sample at the SF International Tea Festival. Republic of Tea was there, and they were very nice. This blend was created for their 20th anniversary.

Often times with RoT I find I really need two teabags instead of one to get my tea as strong as I would normally drink it. This definitely tastes like a rooibos and herb blend. It’s well balanced but nothing really stands out to me, aside from the minty aftertaste which I don’t really care for and the slightly medicinal flavor. Sorry to be a negative nelly, but I really did not care for this at all and did not finish the cup. I like the concept of the twenty herbs but I think there is too much going on here for me.

I worried about the chicory that’s listed as an ingredient because my grandfather hates it… I figure I must therefore have a genetic predisposition toward hating it too, right? That’s how my mind works, anyway. Back during World War II, the coffee rations given to the U.S. soldiers were extended by adding lots and lots of chicory. That’s one of the very few war remembrances he’s ever shared. My grandfather doesn’t complain about much, but the man has a chicory vendetta.

Familial prejudices aside, this was such a pleasant surprise. It makes a great coffee substitute for me since I won’t touch the stuff. The aroma is dark, smoky chocolate. It’s not much on the sip, but the aftertaste that remains in the mouth is so satisfying. I have mine with a generous splash of milk and two level teaspoons of sugar. I think I’m going to brew another cup right now…

This is my first Milk Oolong. When I opened the tin and inhaled, I could see why it was named a Milk Oolong. This creamy frangrance carried over into the taste of the tea, along with heavy floral overtones and a lingering sweetness. After the first infusion, I accentuated this with a scant teaspoon of sugar. I’m trying another Milk Oolong (a 2011 Jin Xuan from AliShan, Nantou, Taiwan that I’ve ordered from Teavivre) to compare with this one. I didn’t think I’d find an oolong that I’d liked better than the Wuyi Xi Xian but I think that these Milk Oolongs might be better.

Just like the Cherry Chocolate I recently tried, I wasn’t so sure about my first sip. Maybe it’s just that I didn’t know what to expect? Rooibos is described with derision by so many; maybe I expected a mouth full of dirt?

I can definitely pick out the rooibos tone, but it’s not off-putting. I like it, but I don’t feel strongly about it, which makes me think it’ll likely expire before I get around to drinking all of it.

Picked up a couple of free samples at the SF international tea festival. Sweet and floral. Light malty taste. I get a little tired of this one after a few of cups but it is a good change of pace. There is a great smell to both the raw leaves and steeped tea.

I’m not fond of the scent of this tea in the can, which I took as a bad omen. Sort of a strident, sickly-sweet cherry… and it takes a lot for me to describe something as “sickly-sweet”. It doesn’t smell much better when brewed either, and I only used one bag. A heaping teaspoon of sugar and a generous splash of milk later, I took a sip and immediately questioned that gratuitous use of sweetener; “If it smells sweet already, dummy!” My first impression was that a sugared cherry-bomb had gone off in my mouth.

Subsequent sips had me reevaluating though – once the initial shock had worn off, I found it to be very pleasant. As others have noted, it does taste a lot like a cherry cordial candy. I’m very glad this has a base of black tea and not rooibos (as many other Republic of Tea chocolate blends do), so that makes it stand out in my cupboard. Too bad the scent is so off-putting to me, otherwise I might’ve rated it higher.

THANK YOU Joe Cook!!
This is my all time FAVORITE RoT team, and my very first loose leaf from the company! This one was an amazing choice, right up my alley, and I am loving it.

The ginger is much spicier in the loose leaf and the peach is lip smacking good. I only have enough for one more cup, and I’ll be saving it for a very special occasion. ee! Thanks!

I especially like it with a splash or two of vanilla

this tea was fairly good at getting me relaxed. the taste is much more mild and has less of the medicinal taste than that of sleepytime extra. the blend actually works well with each other. as usual with valerian, i don’t think it’ll knock me out, but thus far, def. my preferred blend for “sleeping”.

if you’re looking for other teas with sedating effects, consider tulsi or kava. i’ve had much higher success with those than valerian.

Delicious. I find that the steepings of this tea are limited. 3-4 steepings tops.

I knew I should have walked away from this sample…really…noone I’ve tried has done this right as yet. This is no exception. Where is the tea? All you taste is a watery orange and an aftertaste of ….pith. HELP! Pooie…

Back to my travel adventures… So, finally got on the plane to get from Quito to Miami. I felt safe finally in my assigned seat, but… American Airlines had more surprises in store for me! Two young girls kindly asked me to get up because I was sitting in their seats. Hmmm…. But my ticket said it was my seat… Wow… We had been double booked!!! Thankfully there were enough empty seats that we were able to figure things out. But, double booking on an international airline flight??? Really?!? We start taking off, and had to stop due to technical difficulties. Finally we take off at 8:30pm (we were supposed to take off at 11:00am!!!!

When I finally got to Miami I had a stomach ache and was incredibly frustrated. Time to get some tea… Thankfully the first overpriced coffee shop I found in the airport had this tea. I didn’t get to sniff the bag before it got dunked in the water, but the ingredients made me think it would be tasty and my tummy agreed.

The smell of the super burning hot (how do you get water to even be that hot!?) was pleasantly cinnamony relaxing. I felt as a texture more than tasted rooibos and thankfully the anise note was barely there. Minty aftertaste completed what I believe is the best tummy tissane I have had so far. The honey I added made it sweet and satisfying. Believe it or not, it really did help ease my stomach ache! 

I finished my cup and finally was in the USA! Sadly only for a couple of days! Today I am on my way back to Ecuador, hopefully American Airlines treats me better on the way home!!! 

this tea turns a beautiful ruby red almost instantly!

i like this tea, it’s very enjoyable, but that’s about it. while i’ll probably continue to carry some blend of hibiscus in my home, it won’t necessarily be from republic of tea. it’s very tasty, but nothing extraordinary to keep me loyal and coming back for more.

overall, a very good, very forgettable herbal. it is yummy with lots of sugar :D

this tea was womp-womp :(

i’d been eyeing the ginger peach for some time. i’m a big fan of peach tea and really like the taste of ginger. i prefer a spicier tea, so i thought this’d be a good match. to be honest, it was actually kind of nasty. i probably steeped it a little too long, but i’m not sure it would have been much better with less time. the ginger was too strong and the peach almost nonexistent. it was almost undrinkable. it became tolerable after i added a ridiculous amount of sugar.

overall, i was really disappointed with this tea. i plan on giving it another try with less steep time. i’m thinking the white version might be a better blend than the black.

This is one of my go-to teas when I’m in a hurry in the morning. I have no idea at what temperature I’m actually heating the water, but it’s the “green” setting on my electric kettle. I steeped two bags in my travel mug and added restraint… I mean I added only two level teaspoons of Trader Joe’s Organic Wild Collected Raw Honey (say that five times fast). I think I prefer it with agave, but this was fine. In fact, this is one of those rare teas that I’ll actually drink unsweetened from time to time. I also have it in regular, and I plan on doing a side-by-side tasting at some point.

The aroma is just like a vanilla almond cookie, and I’m a sucker for great aroma. The taste, however, was far weaker than I expected. Perhaps because it’s decaf? I was surprised that the tin recommended only 2-4 minutes to steep. I think I’ll go longer next time, or maybe use more than 1 bag in my cup. The flavor intensified a bit as it cooled, though (the lady at Sparrow Hawk did mention that it was great iced!). Milk and sugar, as usual.