Blackberry Sage

We used this in a blend along with Hibiscus and black tea then cooled and added honey and orange juice. We called it Hibiscus Fruit Cooler! It was really good!

This is the tea that got me hooked on loose-leaf teas- a nice blackberry black tea that’s not too sweet or fake-tasting.

I love the smell of this tea. It smells so good.

However after brewing it it was so bitter…I think it’s a common issue with the Republic teas with me. Their black teas can easily get borderline bitter if your not careful. So I did another steep for less time…took the edge off the bitter, but the fruit just doesn’t come through with this one for me. It smells so much better than it sips sad to say.

Tried it on ice. Better but I think this really requires some sweetener if your going to get past the black and sage to get the fruit to stand out more. Otherwise it’s a little overpowered. Would have been lovely if the Blackberry was just a little more pronounced.

Figured out how to make iced tea (it requires more planning than I expected), and ever since, I’ve been enjoying this one. It’s not as naturally sweet as when it’s cold-brewed, but once I add sugar or honey, it tastes a lot like the way the coffee shop makes it. My bank account is grateful I’ve discovered a cheaper alternative.

I really do like this company’s teas because their “pod” bags are so much better than the bags on strings, imho.

Found a tiny baggy of this in the back of my drawer which is probably several years old. Somehow, it still tastes strongly of blackberry. I probably should have guessed that I’d find blackberry tea to be a bit unpleasant warm – I’m pretty particular about fruit flavored warm teas. This would probably be good cold during the summer.

This is probably one of my favorite fruit teas. The blackberry is a strong flavor, but doesn’t overpower the flavor of the tea itself. The sage is a subtle background flavor, but is definitely detectable.

This was one of a few tea’s I bought in the sample travelers tin when I first discovered The Republic of Tea. It made me fall in love with them and their tea at first sip! Even my mother, self proclaimed as “not a tea person” tasted this and was wowed! The blackberry adds just the right hint without being too strong, and the sage adds a nice earthy flavor to balance the fruit. I have not tried this iced, only hot. I steep 5 minutes (to make decaf I steep in a tiny bit of hot water for 60 seconds, dump, then steep a full cup for the 5 minutes). This is using the full leaf, another thing I have come to love. I typically like my hot tea on the sweet side going with 3 grams of sugar (i.e. 3 sugar packets) to my tea cup of about 14 or 15 oz. For me this is the money zone!

Nice! And the jelly that Republic of Tea made with it is excellent.

Down to my second-to-last bag of this! I’m going to have to restock. My tea cabinet can’t be without this staple.