Natural Hibiscus

Update on The Republic of Tea Company Teabag Herbal Tea ‘Natural Hibiscus’

Iced tea made in a large pitcher with 16 teabags, 8 cups hot water (filtered, boiling), and some ice.

A bit tart, so i added a splash of lemon juice and sugar free raspberry torani syrup

Delicious; sweet, hibiscus, tart, citrus, then raspberry sweet

Next time it could bear for some more water though, or less bags, and perhaps honey while it’s hot.

Had this as a HOT Sample at Wegmans tonight. I was surprised at the taste. It proved me wrong. It was sweet but pretty good. It wasn’t really tart which totally confused me…because of 99.9% of my other Hibiscus experiences. Wasn’t too bad, really…

At Cinderella Russian Bakery & Cafe. This was their house iced tea, at least for today. Didn’t see the bag, but all their other teas were Republic so I’m assuming this is it (also since it seems to be one of the more widely available hibiscus tisanes.) even my husband liked it since it wasnt sweetened. He suggested it might be good hot. Maybe I’ll try that with the sample I have at home.

This was free to me thanks to the catalog. :) It’s somewhat tart, somewhat sweet, crisp , fruity, ripe, actually quite delightful, and a lovely dark red shade when brewed. I did not expect to like this, I was pleasantly surprised.

Ok, I admit it, I signed up for the Republic of Tea catalog for the free samples. Guilty.

Anyway, it smelled really tart when I sniffed the bag while waiting for the water to heat up. It also, of course, smelled like dried hibiscus without the bitterness that fresh hibiscus flowers have. The second I poured the water into the mug, it turned magenta, then proceeded to get very dark.

Hmm, as far as the taste goes, it’s a little mediocre. I can detect what I think is lemongrass, plus maybe some kind of berry, but it’s very mild. It’s tangy, and something about it reminds of Tazo’s “Passion”. (But it’s not as good.) I wouldn’t pursue this tea again, but it’s not bad.

My wife and I really like this tea for its beautiful color, deep strong taste, its depth of flavor, and overall enjoyment…and it supposedly lowers one’s blood pressure. We liked it so much that we requested that our local natural food store carry it. It is currently a real favorite at my house.

What I love about this tea is the liquor – a gorgeous royal purple. I love watching the dark pink tendrils slink through the water as the tea bag steeps.

I have mixed feelings about the flavor. Hot, the tea is tart. I can’t stand drinking it hot. I prefer it iced – even though it is still very sweet – because it’s refreshing on hot summer days.

Mom got this sample with her Republic of Tea catalog (which, I assume, she now receives since she ordered tea for me), and passed it along to me. I was rather excited, since I’ve tried most of the flavored superfruit teas, but not the plain, original one.

This one is just as good as the others. Sweet, not too tart, with a hint of apple and lemon. Drinking it hot, but like the others, would be excellent cold. I’d definitely consider purchasing this.

This one has a couple extra ingredients thrown in – blackberry leaf and stevia leaf. Not sure what benefit or flavor the blackberry leaf offers, and I’m not really tasting any sweetness from the stevia. Of course, that means no weird aftertaste either. Maybe because it’s stevia leaf and not the processed powder. Hibiscus isn’t my favorite, but I wanted something without caffeine this afternoon and I hadn’t tried this one yet. It’s cooled off now, so I’m enjoying it.

I signed up for a free virtual assistant training (?) this afternoon. It’s just a little five-day video series, though I’m sure they’ll be asking me for money at the end. Maybe if I like it, I’ll sign up. We’ll see. I’m hoping to narrow down my focus with some of the provided worksheets as the week goes on. I’m working as an administrative assistant now in a semi-large department, but I’d love to break into the world of virtual assistant work. September is approaching quickly and with it our official return to work. Being an assistant was never the plan (I wanted to be an Anthropologist…), but it pays the bills and I’m good at it so here we are. Working from home these last 18 months has really put things into perspective for me though, especially thinking about all that time wasted on long commutes. That, plus some somewhat recent health issues, has me reconsidering if the corporate world is really worth it. Some people live to climb that corporate ladder, but I’ve never been one of them. It’s just so hard for me to step away from my comfort zone. I guess it’s probably like that for most people. Anyway, if you’ve read this far, thanks for letting me ramble on. It’s been heavy on my mind lately. How’s everyone else adjusting to this “new normal” we’re moving into? I’m still nervous about leaving my house, to be honest. I’ve been lucky to be able to stay home through all of this, that’s for sure. I wonder sometimes how this will affect all of us long-term. It’s been quite a year+ and it’s still not even over.

I have mixed feelings about this tea. While I enjoyed the bright, deep cranberry color and flavor of this tea, I didn’t like the stevia. I don’t care how ‘natural’ stevia leaf may be, I just don’t like that flavor—it’s artificial-tasting to me. Its taste represents artificial sweetener to me, and I can’t get past that. And I enjoy hibiscus-heavy teas. My favorite is Celestial Seasonings’ classic, original Red Zinger. That’s the tea that made me fall in love with hibiscus tea in the first place.
I ended up mixing a teabag of this into different combination teas I brewed. I can only recommend RoT Natural Hibiscus with reservations. If you would ordinarily add stevia or other artificial sweetener to your tea, then you’ll probably like this. If you like to add some extra color and flavor when you improvise a mixed tea blend, this works well. But it isn’t among my favorites.