The Republic of Tea

Totally generic tea. Quite bland, no distinct flavors, nothing particularly good or bad about it. I guess there’s a touch of sweet that could be the mango, but otherwise, just very average and nondescript. Might be good iced, or with food but not something to drink for its own merits.

After a lot of trial and error, I have concluded that I’ll never find a decaf tea that I love. However, this one is pretty nice. There is a very strong almond flavor and a less strong but present vanilla. The tea just kind of holds it all together and doesn’t have much taste of its own. The aftertaste is really lovely, just clean and like an almond cookie. I do have to steep this longer than it recommends, and if you have more than 8 oz, you probably want to use a second tea bag.

This was given to me as a gift, and I’m always dubious of the quality of things in mass produced gift baskets. However, this was a nice surprise. Definitely a blueberry flavor over a smooth black tea. It’s a bit bland somehow, but in a nice way. It’s a tea that I could drink several cups of without really noticing one way or the other what I was drinking. Basically, a nice, inoffensive fruit flavored black tea.

Sipdown! So sad that it’s been over three weeks since writing anything here. Between work being insane, getting sick, and having other responsibilities outside of work, I have barely had any time for myself, even to drink tea at home! I polished this off at work at least. Snuck a couple bags into my water bottle so that I could enjoy lemon chiffon cake-flavoured water in between the craziness. I wouldn’t buy this again but it made making tea in a rush before heading out to work easier, and bonus points for getting it on clearance.

I luckily found a tin on clearance at Indigo the other week and snatched it up. Already ripped through nearly a third of the tin. Has a nice, creamy lemon note accompanying an ultra light green rooibos base. I would have liked a little more flavour but it’s great to drink when you’re sick and need something caffeine-free. I’m currently battling a cold, but because I have been ultra dehydrated due to work, that further triggered a bacterial infection that’s a little TMI, so I’m missing a couple days of work. Hope my manager won’t be pissed at me, ugh.

I know I’m not supposed to drink this cold but I did it anyway. I drank it with Stevia because it really tastes bad. It should be good but maybe there’s something wrong with my palate. Anyway, if you want to lose weight and want the consequences of disgust, you can have this tea.

This is one of my all-time favorite teas! It pairs perfectly with cold weather, a good book, and homemade scones. Its bold flavor and high caffeine content will wake you up without the accompanying jitters some endure after drinking a big cup of coffee. With its wonderful blend of assam and ceylon tea leaves, it’s like bacon for tea drinkers: You smell it, and you’re up!

Because this is a black tea, I brew it at boiling point (~200 F) and steep for 5 minutes. I caution against oversteeping since this tends to bolster a bitter aftertaste.

Hot, this is a decidedly average tea. Smells like blackberry, tastes like generic black tea. However, I made some iced and it is great! Some of the best iced tea I’ve had. Somehow that preparation brings out the flavors much better and it’s a very refreshing drink. I thought I wanted to just get rid of this tea, but now I may have to buy it again!

pleasant and flavorful

Very sharp citrus-type aroma and taste. Not good. I threw it out, I just couldn’t drink it.

Horrible. Has a nasty metallic taste, does not taste like real caramel. Threw it out.

Cold Brew!

I’ve been really into this “POG” flavour combination as of late; it’s something that I’m seeing trending and really growing in popularity recently outside of its more traditional smoothie category – seltzers, pastries, sodas, etc.

I had also totally forgotten that I have a few of these iced tea pitcher sized sachets left, so it was a pleasant rediscovery this weekend when I came across the tin while doing some cupboard reorganization. This cold brew was delicious, too! Not too sweet or tart/tangy, but pleasantly refreshing with a more medium bodied fresh tropical profile. It’s pretty well balanced overall between the three flavours though the guava is definitely the lightest. I’m quite fond of pineapple teas so of course that’s the note that always jumps out to me first, but it’s swiftly followed by a really authentic ripe orange note.

Very summery, and just great for the long weekend!

Cold Brew…

I actually really loved this cold brew – the trio of flavours in the name were all present in the flavour, with emphasis on the orange and guava, and there was this sweet element that reminded me a little bit of bubble gum too so it was like drinking a deliciously refreshing tropical bubble gum type of profile.

Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.

There’s something a little bit off about the green tea in this cold brew, and the tropical fruit notes are doing that thing that artificial tropical fruit does where it kind of has a body odor undertone, but the orange note is really nice and the overall profile is drinkable and refreshing.

Cold Brew!

Ah, crap – apparently this one wasn’t in my cupboard, so now my cupboard number is actually higher than I thought it was…

This was ok; it had a very, very thick liquor though. In fact, it was almost syrupy, just without any of the sweetness/sugar that would accompany a typical syrup. Lots of pineapple notes, and a bit of a pithy orange peel sort of taste but not a ton of guava. Also, lots of grassy green tea. Overall biggest complaint is just general lack of sweetness, but otherwise would have made a nice summery cold brew.

Cold Brew.

Let this cold brew go for too long, and it got REALLY potent. Unfortunately it wasn’t the fruity aspects that got potent but the green tea base which is just… bleh. So, basically I had a very, very strong and kind of cheap tasting green tea with tropical overtones. Not enough tropical to mask the green tea, though. I tried fixing it by adding some coconut agave but it just made it worse. I mean, good coconut notes but the agave brought out the green tea even more.

Blllaaaahhhhh

My mom liked it though, so I just gave it all to her and then at least it wasn’t a total waste.

Nabbed this one last time I was at Chapters, without realizing it was a green tea base and not herbal. That’s what I get for letting super cute packaging draw me in. Honestly, I probably would not have bought it if I’d realized it was a green tea…

I’m diving in anyway though; made this one up as a cold brew! Normally I let my cold brews go a solid 8-12 hours before straining them, but the teabags this tea comes premeasured in are fairly big and I was using my smaller mason jar (the 16 oz one and not the 25 oz) so I was worried it would get way too strong so I strained this at the four to five hour mark instead. Better to be cautious, for the first time anyway.

- Very tropical
- A little strong/abrupt at first but once you settle into it’s it’s quite good
- All three titular fruit flavours are well defined/present
- I appreciate that it’s not overly sweet either
- I felt like I also tasted mango as well
- The green tea base was actually present, somewhat grassy with floral tones
- Light to medium bodied in presence overall, and complimentary to the fruit

I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed this one, honestly! It’s a shame summer’s almost over; this actually would have been really nice to have around in June/July. I mean, I’ll still drink it but I think it’ll probably feel a little weird now that we’re definitely transitioning into the fall.

Got some of this from the Here’s Hoping TTB.

Tossed a bag into a small mug with 90C water yesterday, I believe. It had a bit of an aroma, but for the most part…just tasted like water until I got to the bottom of the mug where the bag was, which just ended up being a mouthful of oversteeped green tea.

Not sure how old these bags were, so I couldn’t really say if I would or would not recommend this when fresh, but I certainly didn’t like the flavor of the tea itself.