The Republic of Tea

This is the second time I’ve gotten this as a freebie in the Republic of Tea catalog. But last year I was making a pot of chai to share with someone and blended it in. So no review. My bad.

Ok, so the tea bag is very, very aromatic. I’m getting loud notes of butter-rum flavor, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and pumpkin. Good lord. They did not go lightly on the spice. (Yay!) Seriously, this smells like it would be a Yankee Candle. (I mean that in the nicest way possible!) Just handling the bag from the envelope to the cup leaves my hands smelling festive.

In addition to the usual stevia sweetener, I added a tiny splash of 1% milk. Ginger seems to be the strongest spice in the mix, followed by clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon. The pumpkin pie filling flavor is there, but the spices sort of shout over it. This could be my fault for steeping for so long.

This still might not be quite the pumpkin spice tea I’m looking for, but it sure comes close! Best yet, for sure.

Saw this in the store and it looked interesting. However, while it is not all bad it has it’s faults. It’s chocolate taste is stronger than it’s peppermint taste. It’s peppermint taste is barely there at all. It just doesn’t have strong enough taste of either one. I brewed it with three tea bags for I am guessing 5 minutes. I lost track of time and don’t really know how long I brewed it. It’s not really bad but there is just not enough peppermint to it.

Today August 26, 2016 was the 96th anniversary of the day American women got the vote. I chose to celebrate by making my first pot of this RoT Downton Abbey tea, which features a picture of Penelope Wilton as Isobel Crawley and Dame Maggie Smith as Lady Violet, the Dowager Countess. Their two characters were both such strong women that it seemed fitting to me to make this today’s pot of tea. None of my other teas even have that remote a connection, so why not? At least these two characters date from around the time of the suffragettes, and Mrs. Crawley was a big advocate of rights for others, decades before such things were popular.
The label says these two characters “…do not agree on much when they have their afternoon tea—but they would agree on this delightful caffeine-free blend. Fragrant garden herbs such as ginger, orange bergamot mint and lemon thyme add depth and sweetness to a pleasant conversation.” Oddly, although the strongest flavor of this blend is anise, due to two ingredients (anise hyssop and anise seeds)—neither of those are mentioned! This is a disservice, both to those who love anise and to those who feel the opposite.
Truly, anise is the predominating flavor in this tea, and one should know in advance whether to stock up on this tea, or avoid it. I fall into the latter camp, but even so can value the occasional anise tea for soothing a sore throat.
I will have to try this one again, as this pot is cold now, and am nowhere near the kitchen to try to describe it hot.
My other quibble is that three ingredients are not available for inclusion here at Steepster (orange bergamot mint, lemon thyme, and anise hyssop), nor was there a box to click for it being Certified Gluten-Free.

Backlog from this morning.

I do not watch Downton Abbey at all, but this tea was gifted to me by my grandfather, who very much enjoys gifting me tea. :)

This was one of those Mondays I woke up moody for no reason, so it was a good one to do this tea, which is actually pretty light-hearted and sweet. It reminds me a bit of some of Harney’s blends, like Paris? It’s very vanilla and fruity, but there’s also a cherry note to it that’s a little on the strong side… slightly like cherry cough syrup, but not nearly as obnoxious. I was drinking it on the way out the door this morning, so I didn’t get the most nuanced picture.

All in all, not bad! I have a feeling it’ll grow on me as I drink it some more. I think it would be a good work staple. Lord knows I need to bring some of my tea to work…

Been using this tea up gradually since it’s from last year. I pretty much hate peppermint tea, this is the only one I tolerate and enjoy. The Stevia adds some great sweetness, it’s not too heavy of a mint flavor, the smoothness and creaminess really balance it out well.

The first time I had this (about a year ago), I hadn’t particularly liked it, but I think that was because I sweetened it then, and found it a little bit too much like drinking a pastry. I found I enjoyed this this time, when unsweetened (though I suspect the opposite may hold true for a number of tea drinkers).
Got 2 bags of this, so brewed them together. For those who may not know, when Brits use the word “pudding” it can also be used to mean “dessert”, not just the soft, custard-like stuff served in bowls. I believe that’s how the word is meant here: as a “dessert” tea.
It certainly has a near-sweetness to it, even without sugar or other sweeteners. I felt like I was tasting pastry, even with none present. It seems to have a nuttiness, as well. I liked it—maybe as a fall tea, to enjoy watching the pretty leaves outside the window, or at campside.

No matter how much time I steep it for, it always comes out bitter tasting. The only way to make it taste okay is to add 2 packets of sugar and a sprinkle of salt. It isnt that badiced, but still could be a lot better.

Firstly, I must mention that I have the loose leaf version of this tea, not the bag.

The smell of the dry leaf and liquid smells extremely strongly of blackberry. There’s something sort of dry-smelling at the end of the scent that suggests artificiality. I couldn’t detect any sage in the scent.

Starting with the base, there’s some astringency and bitterness, but they take a back seat to the flavoring. As with the scent, I can detect no sage in the flavor. The blackberry flavor is strong. It’s a tiny bit artificial, but it’s still a nice flavor.

Since Stephen likes this tea, we’ll be keeping it around.

I’m a huge fan of the DA show so it was bound to happen that I pick up at least one of their marketed teas. A lot of rose in the ingredients, but I mostly pick up a raspberry flavor. Tastes very sweet to me unless you steep it too long and then you get more of the tart flavors, which is way too much for me. This is definitely a stand-alone dessert kind of tea perfect for after dinner.

This is my favorite tea ever. It has a very warm/soothing flavor, without being too strong or bitter like many other turmeric ginger teas (even more surprising since it also has green tea in it). Great ingredients and unbleached tea bags as well.

There aren’t a lot of caffeine free teas I can turn to before bed. This is one of them. Unfortunately, it smells a lot better than it tastes.

I was able to get the color of the water to change at least…5 minutes after boiling water. The smell of the tea is a pleasant hot apple cider smell, sugary sweet and tangy with a touch of cinnamon and clove. It’s like hot apple pie.

But then when I take a sip, I get an immediate hit of apple and cinnamon, then a fading to something a little on the sour and unpleasant side. It’s lacking depth, or body, or something. I know! Tea! It’s lacking tea!

But in all seriousness, it would be rated much higher if that sour note could be eliminated. I don’t think the artificial flavoring would lend well to something like honey, either. Maybe I’ll try sugar next time.

Pleasant enough but a bit one dimensional. It has a light sweet floral flavor backed by a touch of roast. It is only good for about 2 or 3 infusions, but probably would go further with a different leaf to water ratio.

Decent tea. Not a big fan of teas that already include sweetener, because I prefer my teas (especially herbal) unsweetened. It makes a fine iced tea though.

I usually don’t like rooibos, but I find blends that include some sort of mint to make it more palatable in my opinion. But I’ve never found a mint tea I didn’t like!

What a waste of money. Not that it wasn’t tasty, but really, eleven dollars for 2.12 ounces (60 grams) of herbal tea? We are not talking exceptional Chinese Pu-ehr or something, but used grape skins with herbs and a little dried fruit. I drank it hot, not iced, because it seemed to me like it would have been even weaker had I added the recommended 2 cups of ice. It has a somewhat watery taste to it, even with just a pint of water steeping the bag.
The flavor is good, sweet ( I had added a spoonful of honey to the pint of tea), with a nice melony quality to it (melons taste of water). The whole cachet of “Chardonnay fine wine grape skins” (as stated on the label) reeks of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” to me. Just because Republic of Tea bought the fancy grape skins and figured out a way to market them to us dehydrated—they’re still weak, and cost way too much for the small amount of tea provided in only six bags. There’s approximately 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon’s worth of leaves per each large teabag (which they called a pouch). Do yourself a favor and buy some good quality organic fruit juice instead. You’ll get your money’s worth as well as nutritive value.

Whiteantlers was dear enough to lend me some. The first steep is the best, though this is not the greatest flavored milk oolong. It is a touch less veggy than a Quangzhou, but still super veggy. The later cups were not as good, but I surprisingly appreciated it even against a great white tea cake. Otherwise, it is pretty typical for a flavored milk oolong, just a tad bit weak and too vegetal for my tastes, but fruity and creamy enough to please me.

Loose leaf version and a gift.

Not bad. Not bad at all. Creamy texture, spinach vegetal quality, and honeydew after taste. The honeydew after taste is awesome. Glad to sample. I wonder if this is flavored or unflavored.

Either way, pretty nice-but I’ve had better. If I weren’t obsessing over high mountain oolongs right now, I think that I’d enjoy this tea more. There’s on Shan Lin Xi that I really want, but I have. So. Much. Darn. TEA! I’m so doing a sale soon.

Picked this one up on vacation, since there are NO Harry and Davids around where I live (boooooo). It has a wonderful cherry aroma when steeped, like good cherry cobbler. I sweetened it, because it seemed like the right thing to do. It turns out, it definitely was the right thing to do. The black tea lends just enough flavor so as to be identifiable, but otherwise it stays out of the way and lets the cherry shine. This tea is almost juicy. I will enjoy this canister to the last bag!

This is OK. The black tea is a touch bitter. The spices are mild and there is no noticeable pumpkin flavor.

I thought I’d reviewed this tea ages ago. Ah well better late than never.

When I make iced tea I tend to do it as a hot brew and then add a bunch of ice and a bit of agave nectar. This method seems to really bring out the basil flavour. It’s more of a tulsi basil than a sweet basil (the kind you use to make pesto) flavour but it definitely dominates each mouthful. Following on the heels of the basil is a mildly sweet strawberry flavour and the grassy green tea base finishes it off. It’s not a bad tea but I wished the strawberry flavour was a bit stronger (Roswell had the opposite problem when it was cold brewed).

Unfortunately the boyfriend turns his nose up at most green teas this tea being no exception – so this isn’t really very good for filling the communal iced tea jug that I have going in the fridge all summer long.

GCTTB V1

Once again, thanks Jillian for including this one! It sounds really incredible apart from the fact it has a green base…

Obviously I’ve cold brewed this: it’s pretty tasty but also a little underwhelming. I really get a clear taste of the strawberry and it’s sweet and juicy but has a bit of a “frozen” strawberry flavour in so far as it’s not the most ‘fresh’ tasting strawberry despite tasting pretty natural. As far as the basil and green tea go, I can’t say I really taste much of either? Probably more basil than green tea – but even still it’s just like a sort of mild, herbaceous undertone/aftertaste and it actually feels a little bit like adding it to the tea was an afterthought.

I’ll enjoy finishing off the pitcher because of the nice strawberry flavour, but this is another tea from RoT’s collection that I’m perfectly content with not buying or drinking again.

Love to stick this in my water bottle and let it steep slowly through out the day. I prefer it room temperature. It is the only tea I really enjoy without sweetener. It has a bright coppery aftertaste that I think is very refreshing.

When my best friend was in the hospital a while ago, she couldn’t drink caffeine, so I picked this up for her. I gave her half and kept the other half. She was very excited about it.
Our verdict?
This is a perfect late-evening decaf tea.
It’s really sweet, but in a deep and earthy way. I’d consider it an alto singer as opposed to a soprano. A gutsy, deep-throated jazz singer — but not the kind that smokes.
The perfect thing to recover to.
PS – my best friend is fine now.

This is pretty good. Light and pleasantly sweet/tart. The black tea is well balanced with the fruity flavors. This tastes like it would be good iced. It has a bit of bitterness, and the fruit flavor isn’t especially clearly defined, but it’s quite pleasant. One of the better teas I’ve had by Republic of Tea.