Red Rose

I woke up this morning in a panic: today is our holiday party at work, and I’d forgotten to make the peanut butter fudge last night. So guess what I did this morning…

Fudge is now cooling (and it turned out ugly, but rather tasty, and once it’s cut into little squares nobody’s looking at it anyway, right?)), and I’m working on the pot that I set up in Chloe last night whilst today’s 52teas sampler is brewing (it’s a new one for me!!).

I think that frenchvanilla sent me these bags (thank you bushels!)…I’ve been hearing all sorts of things about this brand, and how popular it is. My response was basically “really? I’ve never heard of them before”. But I am from the Land of Lipton Iced Tea, so that shouldn’t be surprising.

I find this to be a very solid black tea. It’s not astringent at all, and I’m detecting some notes of vanilla and nuts. Very smooth and lovely!

Intensely mediocre, with little flavor. The girlfriend complained that it didn’t just taste bland, but it was actively bad. I finished my cup, she didn’t finish hers. I didn’t think it was quite so awful with milk, but it had little flavor in any case. Not recommended.

I like that this is an all-purpose tea, but it’s in the British tradition: that means it’s intended to be drunk with milk and sugar, and THAT means that if you aren’t a milk-and-sugar-er, it’s probably going to be too strong and too bitter very quickly. Here’s a solve: brew it over and over again for only a minute or so to drink it straight, and take out the tea bag between brewings. Otherwise, it really is good British-style, and develop a taste for the ol’ milk and sugar. It’s also good as a London Fog— brew it directly into a cup of really hot or even coffee-shop-steamed milk, with some sugar or vanilla syrup to sweeten it just a little.

After an absolutely lovely brisk October Sunday of brunch with friends, a living room blanket fort with my daughter, dinner of burgers (and dessert of pie!) with some family, a rousing tutorial round of Settlers of Catan and my babiest girl drifting off to the Land of Nod in the easiest and most cuddly fashion, I could think of no better ending than staying up until 2:00 A.M., working from home as I do.
Oh, sure, there are oodles of fancier picks in the pantry, but good old Red Rose, with its aroma as familiar as leather or wood smoke, seemed to fit the bill. Steeped with water that was however hot the kettle made it and for some indeterminate amount of time, it always manages to taste the same.
And with one sip, I’m being propelled through the sunshine and over the Great Plains with 32 metric tonnes of titanium, electricty and the miracle of flight. Between 2001 and 2006, my husband and I did a whooole lot of flying back and forth between Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver and Whitehorse, and Red Rose tea is the tea served on Air Canada flights. I’d been a coffee girl since that fateful grade 8 skiing trip that introduced me to the wonders of that black gold, but for some reason I always went for tea on interprovincial flights. It’s a very strong sense memory.
What does it smell like?
Red Rose tea.
What does it taste like?
Red Rose tea.
Is it delicious?
It makes me feel like I’m flying. That’s delicious enough.

I’m staying with family while house hunting, and this is my brother-in-law-to-be’s favorite tea. It’s got a nice, delicate flavor that works well when brewed my usual way—very strong, with sugar and milk added. This is a good standby tea, though I don’t think I’ll buy it for myself. I prefer my morning tea to be a bit more robust.

Probably my most drank tea. I have this at least three times a week when things begin cooling off here in Canada and Red Rose’s Orange Pekoe Tea has never bored me, I can always head to Red Rose when I have no clue what tea I’m to have. Beside the fact that it’s extremely good, it’s extremely customizable. I’m sure many avid tea drinkers have noticed honey doesn’t taste good in all tea, and neither does milk and all sorts of other things just won’t work in certain teas. Red Rose can take it all, Red Rose’s Orange Pekoe is basically a clean slate in which you add whatever tickles your fancy until you’ve made it your own personal tea. Great on mornings, great during the winter, great for anyone.

This was one of the first black teas I ever had, so the taste seems to be hardwired into my tastebuds to be comforting, even if it’s not the best black tea ever. I like to use it for iced tea, because usually I’m just so happy to be drinking something cool I don’t care what type of tea I use.

While this is not the most exciting, refined, or even particularly high quality cup, this is my comfort tea. It was the brand my mother always bought when I was a child (and still does), and was the tea that was served when I had a cold, when we’d make sun tea in the summer, and at my first tea parties.

Okay, so the flavor isn’t spectacular. The leaves are chopped into the smallest pieces imaginable. But it’s a happy tea for me, and lends well to have things added to it, something you wouldn’t want to do with your best sencha. With a teaspoon of rose syrup, even this tea tastes elegant and smooth.

So this morning, I woke up 3 times, first at 5am and then at 6:30 and finally at 7:40 when I realized that I was going to be really late for my lab today unless I took the bus that came in like 15 minutes. So I just dressed in whatever was in sight and picked up my bag and headed out the door in less than 10 minutes from waking up. It was an awful way to wake up. When I got to school, I was desperate for something to drink so I picked this up at the cafe. It was brisk, light, and slightly lemony. It isn’t something I would enjoy in a daily basis though, but hey it had me awake by the time I reached my lab, so it did its job.

This tea is getting me through a cold commute and the unpleasant process of defrosting my car.

This is great on mornings like today when I have no idea what tea sounds interesting, but I really need tea. If this tea is still on clearance, I may have to pick up a few more boxes just to keep around.

Starting my day with this one because I couldn’t decide which of my flavored teas to have. My indecisiveness made for a very satisfying cup of strong black tea with milk and honey, I’ll have to be indecisive more often.

This is actually my first cup of tea today even though it is 6pm. This tea is simple which is what I need right now.

I couldn’t resist picking this up at the store: 20 bags for $1.37 on clearance! This is a nice little black tea that really perks up with milk and honey. This is a nice change of pace from the flavored teas I’ve been having lately.

Good tea. Just be sure not to let it mash too long lest it become bitter.

Works in a pinch, the only stuff in the office today. Drinking it without sugar or milk/cream means I steeped it for only about 1 minute. Too long it will get bitter.

Cheap and better than Lipton’s. My morning source of caffeine. Like it best with milk and honey or sugar.

(Review for decaf) Not spectacular, but excellent for the price, and much more flavorful than Lipton. As such, I find it perfect for making large batches of iced tea, and at the price I don’t have to feel guilty about using ten to fifteen tea bags at a time. Very nice with fresh mint.

While this is not the 100% most fantastic black tea in the world, it carries a lot of memories with it, and that bumps its ranking significantly. This was the tea my husband drank when I first met him and this was the tea that I always remember seeing in his flat when I would visit to keep him company during a health crisis. He would pour boiling water to half-fill a cup and then the rest would be grape juice. This would then have a teabag tucked in it to brew and it was a fabulous drink for both winter and summer. I liked it chilled or kept hot. It became a travelling tea and we would pour it into a jar and take it with us on trips. It appeared at our reception tea. Though I often make the mistake of brewing it too dark, the memories and comforts that this tea brings far make up for any deficiencies it may have in quality or taste. It is a solid tea, good for mornings and for taking on the go, and it is very convenient to find on a store shelf.

Oh, and the figurines are just fabulous. I have so many little pairs of dogs that I’m not sure what to do with them.

like most others, this was the tea that I grew up with. My mother usually purchased it to make sun tea during the summer. As a college student I keep the tea around the house because it is cheap and ‘somewhat’ tasty. I will usually drink any plain tea such as this, probably from the several years spent tagging along to random coney islands at bizarre hours of the night with my ‘hip’ coffee drinking friends.
-i also totally collect the figurines that come in the boxes :)

Gets me going in the morning. I can’t seem to give it up for something better.