Well, I ended up with two additional boxes of these tea bags and decided to give them a try a new way. Made with water like normal tea the base is simply too weak to me but the spices are all right. It is pretty good steeped in milk with sugar and then topped with whipped cream and sprinkles.
But I decided to take advantage of these spices and make a syrup. I used extra teabags and equal amounts of sugar and water. This made a concentrate that I chilled in the fridge. We added it to cold Perrier and VOILA! Pretty much tastes like root beer. We both really like it and it is perhaps ever so slightly healthier than actual store bought soda with its preservatives and HFCS.
The main problem is that I like it so much that I am tempted to drink more of it than I would if it were actual commercial soda, so I have to keep that reigned in because there is a lot of sugar here, though not more sugar than a commercial soda would have.
This is good enough as a soda that I would consider buying more just for that use.