Comfort and Joy

A free sample! Oooh, but its been a while since I had one of those. Its exciting, in a way.
Or, it would be, if I wasn’t so disappointed.
I don’t see anything theoretically wrong with this tea or its flavors, but its just so weak in my cup. It reminds me very strongly of their apple cider tea, which is also weak sauce.
Ah well, at least it was just a sample. Sipdown!

Yay, the seasonal Republic of Tea freebie! And this is a controversial one here on Steepster, I see.

Dry, this tea is very aromatic. The cinnamon and clove are very powerful. While these translate well into the steeped tea, they sort of blend with the apple flavor. The licorice isn’t so much in the taste as it’s there leaving that tingling feeling. The black tea base isn’t very distinct. I guess it’s a little bitter.

I don’t get why some people dislike this so much. Sure, I could do without the licorice, but otherwise this is just like Constant Comment, but with apple instead of orange.

Tried this for the first time this morning. Again, no sweetener needed. I laid in bed and sipped on it while waking up before work. I really, really enjoyed it and look forward to drinking it again. 4 out of 5 star rating.

Very comforting warm spice blend, not overpowering, great for a sick day or to beat the afternoon blahs. Love it in fall on cold Fall evenings outside on the patio.

This came out of the Great Canadian Traveling Teabox, it’s in bagged form so it was nice and convenient for a morning like this when I didn’t feel like doing anything complicated. It has a pleasant spiced-orange flavour and yes, there’s licorice present but honestly I didn’t find it to be very strong – unlike in some teas where it overwhelms everything else, this was content to remain a faintly sweet background note.

Reading the reviews of this tea is amusing because people seem to either love it or absolutely loath it. I…sit somewhere in the middle, it’s not bad at all for bagged tea but it’s nothing fantastic.

Admittedly not the most refined tea, and the flavors involved are overwhelming, but that’s why I like it. The aroma from the cup is fragrant and puts you in a holiday mood. Taste is very strongly of black licorice.

This isn’t a bad tea, but I can’t say that it’s great either. It’s a tea that doesn’t live up to it’s scent. The smell of it is warm and comforting and really entrancing, but the taste ends up a little bit musty on the tongue. By the end of the tin I’m just wanting to simmer it on the stove and use it for pot-pourri.

Weird. I remember this tea being better in the past; must be the rosy glasses of nostalgia, or else I just wasn’t spoiled enough by a huge tea selection back then. My days of drinking mostly Republic of Tea blends are long over. Comfort and Joy used to be one of my favorites, but now it tastes so… lifeless, perhaps. This can’t be the same company that produced the Tea of Good Tidings.

So today I enjoyed my last taste of this flavor until the holiday season comes around again later this year. I admit, I like to steep my tea for a looong time to get the strongest flavor, so I get a lot out of a single tea bag. Add some sugar, a little milk and it’s just a treat, one of my absolute favorite flavors. If RoT ever stops making this, I may go into mourning. (it wouldn’t be the first time)

Probably like you, I got this as a free sample with my catalog. Among the ingredients are licorice root, which I happen to hate, but I gave it a try…even after the super strong cinnamon slapped my nostrils from one side of my face to the other. Bracing myself for what I thought was going to be a super strong brew, I was surprised how mellow this tea is. I could taste cinnamon and it had a little bite, but that’s about it. The overwhelming flavor, despite the lustrous reddish brown color, was hot boiled water.