77

One of the reasons I started drinking tea a couple of months ago was because I thought I was drinking way more Diet Coke than any one person ought to, and I was looking for a tasty no-cal alternative. Never would I have guessed at the time that the worlds of fizzy, flavored water and tea would overlap.

It occurred to me to ask myself whether this is in fact a good thing. But on balance it seemed snobby to even ask that question, and so I answered that I am much too much of a tea neophyte to start displaying snobbery (at least openly) at this point and I should just shrug and say why the heck not.

Yeah, it is unmistakably root beer when you give this sample a sniff upon opening the packet. And since I now know what rooibos smells and tastes like by itself, I can smell that as well.

Brewed up, it does smell like hot root beer, minus the head, though I don’t get a creamy smell as I’d expect from the float part of the name. There is obviously no fizz, and drinking a hot/warm root beer flavored beverage is a little weird, but then I am a pro at drinking room temperature Diet Cokes so again, why not. The flavor is sweet like root beer, but not overly sugary, and the rooibos complements it nicely. As others have said, though, there’s no perceptible “float” aspect.

In all, I think this is well done. It’s something I might drink every once in a while. I don’t drink root beer that often, so I’d probably drink it about as much as I drink root beer, which is to say maybe once or twice a year at the most. It’s not that I don’t like root beer, it’s that I don’t think to seek it out to buy. It doesn’t have caffeine, which is something I normally want in a soda. And when I’m eating out it’s not typically on the menu, at least not in diet form.

It would be interesting to try this iced and taste next to an actual root beer.

Preparation
Boiling 6 min, 0 sec
SoccerMom

I’ve been dying to try this tea. YES please ice it and post notes!!!

__Morgana__

I will try — I only have this one little sample packet and I’m wondering if there’s enough to avoid overdilution with the icing…

SoccerMom

Oh don’t risk it then!

AmazonV

hot brew, put in fridge, no ice, DELICIOUS

LiberTEAS

I placed my order with Necessities about 10 days ago, but still haven’t yet received it. Other orders that I’ve placed since then have arrived (such as my order from Den’s). I hope it arrives soon… because I want to try this!

AmazonV

i suggest emailing and checking up on the order, she just recently had her latest child and may be a bit behind.

Doulton

She is behind! I placed an order almost three weeks ago; tea merchants are usually quite prompt.

AmazonV

before the baby i can say delivery was quite speedy

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Comments

SoccerMom

I’ve been dying to try this tea. YES please ice it and post notes!!!

__Morgana__

I will try — I only have this one little sample packet and I’m wondering if there’s enough to avoid overdilution with the icing…

SoccerMom

Oh don’t risk it then!

AmazonV

hot brew, put in fridge, no ice, DELICIOUS

LiberTEAS

I placed my order with Necessities about 10 days ago, but still haven’t yet received it. Other orders that I’ve placed since then have arrived (such as my order from Den’s). I hope it arrives soon… because I want to try this!

AmazonV

i suggest emailing and checking up on the order, she just recently had her latest child and may be a bit behind.

Doulton

She is behind! I placed an order almost three weeks ago; tea merchants are usually quite prompt.

AmazonV

before the baby i can say delivery was quite speedy

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer