Root Beer (Iced Tea Series)

I steeped this last night. Of the teas in this series that I’ve tried, I think this one is probably my least favorite. It’s still tasty – don’t get me wrong – I’m just not as excited about it as I was with the pina colada or watermelon.

It was still quite refreshing!

I received this one from aisling of tea I was excited to try another 52 offering. The dry leaf smells awesome almost like as Ashley said a wintergreen lifesaver. When I saw that it was made with the CTC Assam as the base I knew the tea was going to be hard to overpower flavor wise. I have the Man Tea’s RadioactiviTEA and it’s a strong, robust black tea. I dumped the whole package into my gallon container that I have for ice tea. Heated up water because I don’t normally cold brew ice tea. Poured in hot water let it steep for 4 minutes strained into another container and filled the rest with cold water. I liked it but I could definitely tell the root beer flavor wasn’t going overpower the Assam. I saved the leaves though and made another batch. The second batch was awesome! It seemed to be the right ratio. Like them both but second batch seemed a bit better because the flavor came out more. I’m thinking I might have to get vanilla ice cream and make a root beer ice tea float!

For some reason the dry leaves smell like Lifesaver’s Wintergreen Mints to me, (which I love,) yet root beer at the same time. Maybe those flavors both have similar chemical makeups or something. Or I’m just really strange. Has root beer always smelled/tasted like wintergreen? Hmmmm…
Instead of using the whole ice tea packages I use 1 tsp per 12 ounces of water. (Normally I use 1 to 1½ tsp of tea per 8 ounces of water but these are quite strong.) I steeped 2 teaspoons of tea in 24 ounces of water. I left half out and put half in the refrigerator to chill. I had a feeling I’d enjoy this hot because I’m weird like that. But who says root beer flavor can’t be enjoyed hot. I used to eat those A&W root beer barrel candies when I was little, and those weren’t cold.
Stirred in some brown sugar. This is actually pretty good. I bet it’d be nice with a splash of cream, but I’m all out. Why am I all out, you ask? Oh, just because my boyfriend accidentally threw the rest of the bottle of cream all over the kitchen, AND me. It looked like the set of a “Got Milk?” photo shoot.

Edit
This is great iced. Mmmm!

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 packet
Water: 3Qt
Tool: Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker
Served: Cold

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: root beer, perhaps a hint of sarsaparilla
Steeped Tea Smell: root beer, black tea
Flavor: black tea
Body: Full
Aftertaste: astringent
Liquor: dark brown

The flavor was more of a smell.

Post-Steep Additives:
agave nectar, bring out the root beer but it is still not a strong flavor

In the end a plain iced tea with a little root beer flavor.

Rating: 2/4 leaves

Blog: http://amazonv.teatra.de/2012/07/08/52teas-loose-leaf-black-tea-root-beer-flavored-black-tea/

Love this. I really like root beer but try to avoid soft drinks ( although not always successfully as I have a thing for diet pepsi).

This is a fab way todo root beer without the fizz. Nice and cool, refreshing, will happily sip down the gallon. I’d like a better base ( yes, I’m a tea snob), but other than that, tis is a winner!

So I decided to try this tea this weekend even though it was rainy and cloudy here in the NW. I wanted to make it easy by using my MR. Iced tea maker and of course I sat and tried and tried to figure out what size my pitcher is but I couldn’t. This package makes up a gallon of tea…. which I figured is more than what pitcher is oh well!

When I opened the package it smelled just like root beer… yummy I love a good root beer. I put a filter in my strainer for the Mr. ice tea pot and then dumped the whole package in because I figured I would rather have it strong than not. I patiently waited for it be done brewing.. so not patient!

After it had cooled I took a sip and yup that is strong!!!! It smelled like tea with hints of root beer. The taste at first it hits me root beer but has strong tea notes at the end. It is kind of strange because it is like drinking flat root beer at first… not to sure if I would repurchase this but it is a fun experience! I still will drink the entire pitcher.. but it is not my favorite.

I made a gallon of this and I’m sad to report I really don’t like it. It’s weak and the rootbeer taste is overshadowed by the black tea and what I can taste of the root beer just falls flat, in my opinion. I’m chugging it today both because I need to stay hydrated and it’s the only iced tea I have on hand. I’ll be glad to be rid of it, though.

Ok this stuff is simply amazing! I made about 1/2 or 3/4 ish gallons with a package and it was very tasty. Then I decided to spruce it up into an adult version by adding Jeremiah Weed & some Rootbeer Liquor. To die for. I fretted big time when I realized it was sold out but Frank came to my rescue and I should have more soon. I cannot believe how good this stuff is! Well actually I can because 52 teas has never let me down with taste but this is hands down my fav!