The Republic of Tea

This has been my go to rose tea for years. I remember when it was called queen of hearts and you could only get it seasonally through republic of tea. It is wonderfully floral but not too much. I find the rose very calming and soothing.

Simple fruity tea. I really enjoy this tea iced.

This is my staple tea I seem to return to over and over. nice hint of honey.

I believe it was CupOfTree who sent this to me! Thanks so much!

I have found with Republic of Tea’s flavored bags – especially rooibos flavored – double bagging it seems to do the trick. So that’s just what I did here…

It smells extremely chocolaty that is for sure! The taste is more peppermint than chocolate but I can still taste that nice sweet chocolate in addition to the peppermint but it’s secondary. I’m totally ok with that as I am a mint freak! Chocolate Mint? Even better!

This is yummy…fresh and refreshing! Sweet chocolaty and minty! A treat, indeed!

When I first saw the name of this tea that TeaEqualsBliss gave me I must admit that I was a little scared.
Carrots? In Tea?
But, when I smelled the tea I was surprised, pleasantly surprised that is.
Then when I tasted it, I was happy to find a bright sweet tea that did not taste like a salad at all.
I love drinking this tea after supper and am very sad that it is now gone.
I think I will be adding this to my shopping list.
Thank You, TeaEqualsBliss!

My most preferred rooibos tea, so far. Strong without bitterness and slightly sweet.

Not a bad tea. Do love a black tea for breakfast. Found I really like this, has a slightly smoky flavor with hits of malt.

I’ll admit right away that I’m not well-versed enough in oolong teas to compare this to other milk oolongs. I’m a devotee of strong black tea, for the most part. But this – this is actually one of my very favorites. The leaves are deliciously fragrant when dry, with a scent that’s somehow both bright and milky-sweet, and they unfurl dramatically when steeped. I always take my tea a little sweetened, and a splash of milk isn’t out of place with this tea. It’s mellow and refreshing, perfect for summer days when you still want a hot cup of tea.

This was my first experience into the world of Genmai cha tea. I was introduced to it several years ago by a good friend who drank it all the time while we were at work at Barnes & Noble. It was hard to find, but when I finally did buy a tin for myself, I loved it! I really like earthy tastes, and this tasted like grass and rice, which I loved.

Many people say this Republic of Tea version is not the best example of genmaicha, and now that I have tasted others, I know that this one is different. I think it is easier to drink than “better” genmaichas, and I am glad this was my introduction.

If you have tried other genmaichas and found them hard to like, try this one – it is milder flavored, even if it is not “proper”.

This brewed tea smells wonderful! I love honey in my tea so was very excited to try it. The smell of honey really comes thru. Unfortunately even with a touch of sugar it was severly bitter. I brewed at the recommended 3 minutes so will try steeping shorter next time and see if it helps..then try cold brewing as iced tea. I didn’t taste any honey only bitterness when drinking this tea.

This is a WONDERFUL tea! It does not need any sweetner and the blend of hibiscus and pineapple are perfect – tart and sweet at the same time. I put the tea bags in a pot and just drink until finished before removing the bags.

I really like Republics Hibiscus Pineapple blend as there is a good blend of ingredients. Unfortunately this one does not make the cut. All I get from this tea is the hibiscus – tart and overpowering.

So they actually had tea at the day long meditation retreat, I got to choose between this and a few herbals as well as sneaking off to the coffee shop down the street to have an almond cookie tea. :)

This stuff is okay, but nothing to really write home about. It’s kind of mild and vegetal on its’ own I also had it mixed with some mint tea and the combination of the two was really good.

My teachers were great today and I really learned a lot from this daylong. It feels so good to be getting back to my Buddhism stuff since the person who just exited my life was not very supportive of me/it and thought it was stupid. Whatever, I feel happy and JOYFUL and doing great on my own!!!!

Nice concept for a bagged green tea. When you open the jar you will find matcha powder dusted over all the tea bags, which is a pleasant experience and smells great. The matcha tastes great too.
However the leaves are cut and thus the strength is rather weak. This is a bit of disappointment and makes the taste experience underwhelming. I find myself wanting a stronger green.
Steep it for at least three minutes for a stronger flavor.

Hello Steepsterites! I know, I (and my massively long tasting notes) have been MIA lately. Shame on me! My absence has been due to a sad lack of new teas. As some of you might recall, a couple of years ago the husband and I paid off our house. Awesome, right? There’s only one downside. See, turns out we don’t like our neighborhood. And honestly, I’d really like a dining room and a bit more of a back yard. Which means we’ve been contemplating buying a new, slightly larger house. But with no current mortgage, you can bet we don’t want to buy a house in a way that saddles us with a new mortgage, right? Which means we’ll have to save up a fairly substantial amount of money. Which means the budgetary belt has been tightened. A lot. Which has really impeded my tea purchasing (especially since it has to fight my knitting obsession for my monthly discretionary spending). But my tea pantry has withered to a measly 68 teas and that’s just not on, so this month tea has defeated knitting in the battle for my money.

I’ve placed a couple of orders (with Le Palais des Thés and American Tea Room) but they haven’t come in yet, so I spend some time today meandering around my grocery store’s tea section and managed to I come across this little tea. I can’t say no to a good Keemun so I didn’t even try to fight it when it jumped into my buggy. (Seriously, it just jumped in there! No help from me at all!)

I really wasn’t expecting all that much from this (after all, I love CTG’s Keemun almost as much as I love my cats and this tea is being sold in a grocery store) but I am pleasantly surprised by it. It has an amazingly sweet and fruity smell to it. There’s a bit of that typical acrid/acidic-ish smoke edge that is common to Keemuns but the majority of the smell is a full slightly-earthy-but-mostly-floral/fruity scent. I want to say it is somewhat fig-like. (That could just be because I was contemplating the figs at the grocery store today but it also could be because it is actually figgy. I might have to get out some of my dad’s fig preserves for a more accurate comparison.)

The smell isn’t the only fruity/figgy/floral thing about this tea – the taste is, too. It’s very smooth (I got almost no smoke/acridity sharpness) and it’s quite soft and pretty. But as nifty as that is, it’s also a little disappointing. I mean, yeah, it’s neat to get that fruity/figgy/floral taste in a tea that, when done poorly, can be scratchy, acrid and rough, but that sweet, soft floral, etc is pretty much the entire taste. I find myself missing the earthier notes of leather and mustiness a bit.

Don’t get me wrong – I like this tea just how it is. The smoothness is quite nice but I would totally trade a bit of it for a tad more depth. Brewing for a bit longer might take care of that, but even if it doesn’t I won’t be too sad because this is very pretty. I mean, it’s not lovely enough to replace my CTG Keemun love. It’s also behind Adagio’s Anhui Keemu in all but price and I’m sure TeaSpring has at least one Keemun that could make this one cry for its mommy, but I believe this could claim a spot in my Top 5 Keemuns.

The second steep helps cement this opinion. The taste has a dash more depth – it’s still sweet and fruity/figgy/floral but has just a touch of texture to deepen the taste and give it a hint of almost bake-iness. The finish is still high, sweet and makes me think of the color of pink that is on inside of a fig (maybe that’s why I think it tastes figgy) but now with an added note of toasted sugar.

So yeah, totally impressive for a grocery store tea. Really good for a tea full stop, actually. Still not my favorite Keemun but definitely not one to be dismissed. I think I’ll enjoy drinking this one while I window shop (since that’s the only type of shopping I’ll be doing for the rest of this month).

Just bought this tea today. Actually was looking for ROT’s Pink Lady, but did not see it at the 1 local store I know that carries this brand.

Pros: Light. Unassuming. Not heavily Lemony.
Cons: Too light. needed to much sugar to sweeten it.

Given the price, I plan on trying this flavor with different steep times to see if that changes my assessment of it. If I don’t discover a better steep time, then the rest I will use for making iced tea, and won’t buy it again.

Pretay tasty, especially with a bit of sugar and milk.
not too spicy, though, as I’m use to for a chai.

Kinda fruity.
I usually drink it iced.

Heaven. Sipping this makes me feel as though a blanket is being wrapped around me and everything is going to be okay.
I splash milk into it, and when I’m feeling frisky, I add a bit of sugar.
The almond is certainly prevalent, yet none of the flavors are too heavy.

Thanks for this one, Pureleaf!
I was unable to find this one on their site but here are my thoughts…

It has a slightly bitter and grassy green tea base with blueberries in it.

As it cools for a few moments at room temp – it seems to be less grassy.

I prefer this one cool/iced. It’s ok. Not bad!

I picked up the bagged version of this at the same sale where I purchased the British Breakfast Decaf. This isn’t as creamy/buttery as I like my milk oolongs, but it a nice way to start my morning and does fill in in a pinch when one doesn’t have a proper method to brew tea correctly at work!

I’ve been curious about this tea for a while and I got to try it yesterday at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. I’m glad I didn’t bother to buy any myself. Unfortunately, it just reminded me of cough syrup and I didn’t even finish the cup I was drinking. Sorry to neg you, Republic of Tea but this was barfy.

Mmmm…the first word that comes to mind when I sip this tea is “mellow”. It’s smooth, almost milky, on the tongue and some floral and pineapple notes are detectable. This tea is very light & delicate yet has a complex and comforting combination of flavors, which I like. This is one of the first oolongs that I have tried but I like it :-). It was cheaper alternative to some of the more expensive milk ooolongs that I was intrigued by although it isn’t organic :( . A solid tea nonetheless!

I was hopeful but a bit skeptical when I bought this. I’ve enjoyed RoT teas before. But the design of the tin didn’t exactly say “English Breakfast” to me. And when I opened the tin, I noticed the tiny unbleached circular bags. That was my first impression: tiny! And so I wasn’t especially surprised that this brewed a pretty weak cup. They barely put any tea in the bags to begin with. Wasn’t especially impressed with the flavor either — I’d prefer a Twinings or PG Tips or TyPhoo or Tetley to this one every time. It wasn’t awful… I just felt like I would need 2-3 bags to make a decent cup, and even then it would never be an outstanding tea for me. (But don’t get me wrong, I’ll still probably use up my tin. It just will never be my favorite English Breakfast tea.)