The Republic of Tea

It smells nice! Unfortunately, it didn’t taste like much. I guess I should have steeped longer than the 5-7 minutes. Not a fan!

This is my very first Pu-erh tea and I absolutely love it! The coconut is strong and bold, but there’s also a rich, warm flavor here that’s hard to describe: it’s almost like a combination of chocolate and woodsmoke (which sounds disgusting, but actually tastes delicious!) This is one of the most flavorful teas I’ve ever had; it’s a whole-mouth flavor that lingers after you’ve finished your cup. I foresee this becoming a staple in my tea cupboard!

While brewing, this tea smells just like a ripe, juicy peach…and the flavor does not disappoint! It has a delicious smooth, fruity peach flavor that beautifully compliments the black tea base. You don’t notice the ginger at first, but there’s a nice spicy aftertaste that lingers long after the last sip. This is one I hate to run out of!

I find myself reaching for this tea often. It’s one of the most warm, flavorful, comforting teas I’ve tried so far. It tastes like chocolate-covered toasted almonds with just a hint of vanilla. It makes an AMAZING tea latte, but is also delicious with just a splash of milk or even plain. I don’t find a need to sweeten it at all; it is delicious all on its own! I highly recommend buying the loose-leaf version rather than the tea bags; I’ve tried both and the loose-leaf has much more flavor. I always have this one on hand.

I received a single bag of this tea with my last Republic of Tea order and really enjoyed the sample! It was surprisingly smooth and mellow, not tart like I was expecting. It steeped up very flavorful. I could definitely taste both the citrus and the cranberry, but the black tea base came through as well. Overall, it was very tasty, and I would definitely consider purchasing this at some point in the future.

I received a sample of this with my last Republic of Tea order. It was a nice, basic fall tea. Cinnamon is the strongest flavor, but you can also taste the apple and the orange peel as well. It has a very warm, comforting flavor and aroma and a nice hint of sweetness. However, it really wasn’t anything special and I find it a bit pricey. Probably won’t be purchasing this in the future.

At this time of year I’m swept up in pumpkin fever just as much as anyone else, so I’m really glad this was my Republic of Tea sample this month. This is actually one of the better offerings I’ve tried from this brand, and I wouldn’t mind buying it if it wasn’t so similar to things I have already. The spices blend perfectly, and while it doesn’t quite manage “pumpkin pie” flavor (I really would love to taste more true pumpkin teas), the effect is perfect for fall.

The dry leaf aroma is heavenly pumpkin spice. Mmm! I hope it tastes as great as it smells! Well, I lucked out. The flavor is a great representation of the aroma. The spice here is really nice and mellow. It’s not super peppery or gingery. The pumpkin adds a creaminess that balances everything out. Smooth. That’s the word I was searching for. This is a smooth tea. There’s no bitterness or astringency. I’m drinking this straight, but I think it would pair well with milk and sweetener. Mmm, now this is one I really enjoy!

This is okay. The aroma is very nice but the flavor leaves something to be desired. It’s not bad by any means. It’s just not inspiring. The plum flavorings adds a tartness that pinches the back of my mouth. The cinnamon is very calm and easily overlooked. The base isn’t fresh so it’s neither grassy nor vegetal. It’s that sort of generic, green, bagged tea base that doesn’t contribute a lot of flavor one way or another.

I guess I’m not mad that my husband has already drank more than half of the tin. I asked him what he thought of it and his opinion was aligned with mine. It’s nothing special but it’s drinkable. I think he just likes the ease of dropping a teabag into a cup of microwaved hot water. He’s not one for boiling water on the stove and the somewhat long but relaxing routine of brewing tea. He’s more for instant gratification. I think I may leave the rest of this one to him.

I got to sample this at Cost Plus World Market today and, since I had a gift card, I purchased a tin of this and a couple of decorative storage tins for some other teas that have been making my kitchen smell like berries and cream recently :) I got these two:
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/woodland+bird+tea+tin.do?&refType=&from=Search
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/coral+treetop+tea+tin.do?&refType=&from=Search

And I can already tell I will soon be grabbing these two:
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/kyoto+garden+tea+tin.do?&refType=&from=Search
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/sahara+bloom+tea+tin.do?&refType=&from=Search

They’ve got great seals, too. Love them so much!

On to the tea! This was a very enjoyable black tea. I can’t say I tasted much maple, but I could taste the nutty pecan and was quite happy with that. This will be a lovely cold-morning tea, I think :)

Don’t remember where I got this, but it was time to try it. This really does smell like cake. The flavour is more caramel, and maybe pecan. I know this is a cake tea, but it is really sweet. Overall, I’m glad I picked up the single serve bag, but don’t need a canister.

I bought this during one of World Markets tea sales. I’m not a huge fan of carob and last time I had it, it tasted like chocolate which I do not like. Yes, I am a woman. Yes, I do not like chocolate especially in tea form. Thankfully this is very cinnamony and very orangey. I think the carob (along with the gymnema) are to sweeten it more than to flavor it. This is another one I recommend you only drink hot. I have made 2 quarts of it cold before and isn’t quite the same. It loses a lot of it’s sweetness and orange taste and is more of just a cinnamon red tea. I don’t know if it has helped me to lose the pounds which I have lost, but it definitely helps to curb cravings especially late night ones (caffiene-free!).

This is a weird con, but you have to steep it for at least 5 minutes…
(recommended steep is 5-7 minutes… usually teas are 1-4 minutes)
So that craving as got to be a little patient…

The other con is that it is recommended that you drink it 3 times a day.
If I did that each tin would only last 12 days.
Thankfully The Republic of Tea has a 250 count refill bag, but still…

This may be my shortest tea review ever.

I last reviewed this tea maybe 8 months ago. I enjoyed it then, I enjoy it now. I’ll skip the flowery language this time. It’s sweet, earthy, and rich with just a hint of coconut floral. I don’t want to rate this tea, as it’s my only puer ever and I’m sure better puer exists, but from the standpoint of someone who is used to grocery store black tea, I’m loving this.

Let me start by saying this is my first pu’er tea so keep that in mind. This smells like earth and chocolate and salt. I’m envisioning rainforest soil, cocao beans and coconuts, on an island with a salty ocean breeze element. Not entirely sure that situation is possible, but that’s what I’m thinking of, as I definitely need some sort of escape from my studies. It’s tasty. Earthy. It really reminds me of dirt, loamy, rich dirt. Though, I guess rainforest dirt is neither rich nor loamy, but I digress. Okay, so dirt. Sweet dirt. Maybe it doesn’t sound appetizing, but it is.

Such a lovely blend of mild flavors. I can drink it at any time of day and it doesn’t need any sugar to be palatable. When I drank 4 cups of this a day I did notice that the amount of tiny bombs on my skin decreased, but I love too many other teas to only drink this one all the time.

Shout out to Megan for coming out to my place for a swap! There is quite a bit of tea in that package! The boyfriend is drinking Moroccan Mint. I don’t find this particularly tasty. I’m going to let it steep longer next time.

Yahoo! This is some good houjicha!

Sweet and mild on the palate, it has a really nice creaminess to it and the roasted flavor is warming, calming, delicious! There’s a bit of a dry finish, but other than that I have no complaints. The leaves after one infusion smell like blackberries among the roasted aromas. There’s a nice sweetness in this tea. I may have trouble describing the notes, as houjichas do not tend to be really complex in my experience, but it has the expected flavors of toast, malt, hay, a bit of sweetness. In this case there’s a kind of cream taste accompanying it, and if you extrapolate that flavor, I feel like it could be almost a butterscotch note. Though if you contemplate this tea a little differently you could almost get hints of dill pickle brine. It’s all subjective. The mouthfeel itself isn’t so creamy, but the flavor is. Anyway, I really like it.

I will keep this short. I bought some of this from a bulk bin at a store nearby as a cheap way to help me learn how to brew Genmaicha.

The plus side is I think I’ve brewed it properly. The downside is I am not too into this tea. The most distinct notes are of toasted seaweed and sesame, along with the obvious toasted rice flavor. A second infusion yielded a slightly more green taste, but drying. I am rating this tea rather low numerically simply because there are such such better genmaichas out there. This one is not indicative of good genmaicha, so if this is your first experience with it, don’t let it fool you.

I leave you with this bit of Keanu Reeves level mind-blowing wisdom from Republic of Tea.

“We’ve named ours “Tea of Inquiry” perhaps because the humble origins of Genmaicha remind us that it is from a position of humility and awareness of our universal desire for more knowledge, that our inquiries may have the greatest chance of success.”

Another tea that I was absentmindedly drinking while playing Diablo. This sample came from NayLynn. I haven’t had a lot of experience with Republic of Tea, but I do enjoy the blueberry black teabags I have from them. These bags smell sweet and vanilla-y with a lot of almond extract aroma. I used two bags for 12 ounces of water and steeped for 4 minutes at 200 degrees.

Meh, this one is just okay. It came out slightly astringent, which is always a frustration for me with some flavored teas. The tea itself is medium-bodied and doesn’t taste like much. The flavoring is somewhat light, I taste the vanilla (which is a custard-type vanilla) near the beginning of the sip and then the almond extract at the end. Just meh.

There’a a major flaw with the marketing of this tea. It is called “Wuyi Oolong” but the ingredients say it is “Pure Silver- Tip Formosan Oolong leaves made from the WuYi tea varietal.” First, there is the issue that there is not just one varietal used for Wuyi oolongs, so I’m not sure what “the WuYi tea varietal” refers too. It must be a transplanted tea from China’s Wuyi region to Taiwan where it is grown and made into a Formosa style oolong. Okay, fair enough, but that is either some deceptive or uninformed marketing to call this tea “Wuyi Oolong”, as it is not what most tea drinkers know as a Wuyi Oolong, a class of oolong teas produced near Wuyi Rock in Fujian province China. As Wuyi oolongs can fetch a pretty penny, it would seem this tea from Republic of Tea is attempting to imitate that to exploit the wallets of less-informed tea drinkers who have heard the hype about Wuyi but have no idea how to tell a real Wuyi oolong from a Would-Be Wuyi. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not usually one to jump to accusations toward tea companies when the information seems inaccurate or misleading, but when it comes down to these mass-production type companies that sell their wares at overpriced places like Whole Foods, where the target demographic is often less informed than they are affluent and trend-chasing… I’m a bit more skeptical. Oye…. kind of rubs my fur the wrong way, but let’s get to the tea itself.

I had a bit of a dilemma figuring out the way to brew this, as Wuyi oolongs are usually brewed with very short infusions in the Gongfu style, and a lot of leaf, while the Formosa style oolong uses relatively less leaf and longer infusions, from most brewing recommendations I’ve seen. I tried it both ways and it definitely lends itself to the longer infusions, not short ones, so I brewed at 45 seconds, adding 15 each time. The leaves of this tea smell strongly of figs and berries. The scent is deep, dark, and fruity, very pleasant. The first infusion has a honeyed sweetness and the taste of dried fruit, hints of fig and golden raisins. The color is a gorgeous golden yellow and the mouthfeel is syrupy and thick. There is just a light flavor of peach, not nearly a “pure peach” flavor like Republic of Tea describes, but it is certainly fruity and sweet. There’s a hint of astringency, but it fades after a few infusions, and by the 4th or 5th it becomes even more mellow, sweet and fruity.

All things considered, I am surprised how much I enjoy this Would-Be Wuyi. For all the deceptive or inaccurate marketing and the steep price tag (compared to the rest of Republic of Tea’s line, this was the highest priced tea in the bulk bins at the store) it is still a pretty good tasting tea when all is said and done. The price is comparable to some authentic Wuyi oolongs though, so … I’ll let you be the judge on whether or not that’s worth it. At the time I’m writing this, they are charging $20 for 50g (1.75 oz). Sheesh.