Jaime

Mom got this sample with her Republic of Tea catalog (which, I assume, she now receives since she ordered tea for me), and passed it along to me. I was rather excited, since I’ve tried most of the flavored superfruit teas, but not the plain, original one.

This one is just as good as the others. Sweet, not too tart, with a hint of apple and lemon. Drinking it hot, but like the others, would be excellent cold. I’d definitely consider purchasing this.

3 minutes this time. Still tastes burnt.

Added milk and sugar (which I hate to do). Marginal improvement. Marginal.

So horribly sad now.

Alas, this is one of the last bags I have. I really enjoy this tea. It’s got a great, real strawberry taste, with just a hint of pomegranate. It shines against the rooibos background. And it’s nice that the base is rooibos rather than hibiscus, as a lot of strawberry teas are. It’s sweet and smooth, with no tartness. It’s just plain yummy.

No notes yet.

I’m not sure I’d call this “supreme”. Perhaps if I wasn’t drinking the bagged version, it would be different. This is another bag that my coworkers hoarded for me at our conference this summer…which also begs the question, how old is this bag anyway?

It’s a little heavy on the Bergamot for my tastes, but other than that it’s a pretty good cup.

Attempted a mug of this last night, but abandoned it. At my best friend’s (where I am), there hasn’t been much rain, so the water tastes kind of strange. Thinking that the water ruined the tea, I waited until today to brew another cup (with bottled water this time), to really get a true taste of it.

Yeah, it wasn’t the funky-tasting water.

It doesn’t really taste like caramel. It doesn’t really taste like anything except “burnt” and “kinda gross”.

I’ll try it at 3 minutes next time. Maybe that’ll help?

No notes yet.

Enjoying this on Day #1 of a four-day weekend. Yes, I’m still in my pjs and will be for a while yet.

Chocolate teas, in my opinion, tend to be hit or miss. This one is not only a hit, but a win! It tastes like you’ve brewed a cup of black tea and dropped an Andes chocolate mint into it. It’s also one of the few black teas I’ve drank that doesn’t suffer from being over-steeped, or from being brewed with not-boiling water (which makes it an ideal, just-woke-up-and-have-no-mental-capacity tea). This is a tea that I would happily purchase again, and will most likely do so next time I’m at Jungle Jim’s.

No notes yet.

Am I the only one who, whilst on vacation, goes to the local grocery store to see what brands of tea they have? I found this one in South Carolina, and it came home with me in a rather large bag of new teas…

This one has a great flavor. The green tea is more prominent than the strawberry, but it’s flowery and has a slight buttery taste. Strawberry is the last flavor to appear. Not too strong, but not too weak either.

One of my guilty pleasures is dark chocolate covered goji berries. So when I saw this tea, I jumped at the chance to get it.

I can smell the goji in the bag…I’m not sure where it goes after it’s brewed. The bag smells like sweet chocolate…not sure what happens to it after it’s brewed. This tea is rather bitter. You’d get similar results if you made a cup of generic green tea and threw in some unsweetened cocoa. It’s very disappointing.

This was an impulse buy at Jungle Jim’s. If you’ve not been there, and live anywhere close to it, it’s well worth the drive. Yes, I sometimes drive nearly 2 hours to go to a grocery store. If you saw their selection (and not just of tea), you would, too.

This is a strong, black tea with a subtle lichee taste. The taste is more like that of canned lichees rather than fresh: a bit syrupy, as though they were plucked off the Chinese buffet and dropped into the tea. I suppose that’s why this tea reminds me of Chinese restaurants. It’s also a very good accompaniment to cold, leftover egg rolls.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

I finally got to go back to my regular haunt, Cuppa, today. It’s an amazing tea place here in town owned by an amazing lady and her family. I’ve missed them so much, and I got to stay and chat with them while they were doing their end-of-day routine.

Bought three teas there, and got a cup of this to go. It’s one of my favorite Art of Tea blends. It really, truly tastes like a pear that you’ve sliced and dipped into caramel fruit dip. The rooibos is not strong at all; the pear is definitely the star of this show. Makes a perfect dessert tea, or a before-bed treat.

Brewed for 10 minutes…love having a place where I’m such a “regular” that they remember how long I like my teas steeped!

What?! It’s 1 pm and Jaime’s drinking caffeine!! It had to be done. 1:30 meeting, 2:30 meeting, 3:30 meeting…all of which last 2 hours each. Not sure how it will be done, but it must be done with caffeine.

So I pulled this bag out of my tea chest at work. It’s not my favorite, not gonna lie. There’s this strong, slightly burnt taste that throws me off. And while I think it would probably go away with milk and sugar, a raid of the fridge only revealed Chocolate Raspberry creamer. And while I might put that into some hot chocolate, it ain’t about to go in my tea.

No notes yet.

This is my absolute favorite breakfast blend. The taste is reminiscent of a cinnamon apple dumpling. The black tea base stands up well against the flavorings, and isn’t covered up at all. This is one of the teas that I’ll always have on hand.

Third steep: 7 minutes with boiling water. Tea is a little weak, but doesn’t taste too bad. The cashew is much more pronounced this time around, and there’s a bit of vanilla rather than white chocolate. Not sure if a fourth steep would be possible; I’ve got to figure out exactly how this re-steeping thing works. Any advice?

Accidentally brewed for oh, 11 minutes instead of the 5 I usually brew this for. Over-steeping doesn’t bother this infusion at all (apart from it getting cold). This is an amazing blend: fruity, full-bodied, with just the perfect hint of vanilla. It reminds me of a tea that I had at the tea room at Down House in Kent. I wish I knew what that exact tea was now; until I figure it out, this is a really good substitute. This is my second box; I’ll always have some of this on hand.

These hibiscus teas are just plain good. This one is very sweet, but is more apple-y than Asian pear. It’s probably the sweetest out of all the hibiscus teas I’ve had.

Put a tea with pineapple in front of me, and I’m a happy camper. This one is no exception to that rule. The pineapple is crisp, and the guava flavor gives it a nice tang. The fruit doesn’t overpower the taste of the white tea, either. A very good tea for summer; it’s also good iced.

Today’s one of those days at work. You know, the kind where you can get nothing you want to get done accomplished because the phone is constantly ringing? Yup, it’s that kind of morning. So I needed a happy, yummy tea to both calm me down and give me a bit of energy. Green tea it is!

I can taste more of the goji berries in this tea than the raspberry, and both more than the green tea (which seems to be common for Republic of Tea greens, or is that just me?). This is sweet and just the perfect shade of tart.

Think it’ll sweeten my disposition whilst answering the phones? Yeah, I don’t think so, either.

2 minute steep this time. Still not getting the raspberry, but at least the Bergamot doesn’t smack you in the face quite as hard. Lowering my rating; there’s much better Earl Grey blends out there.