The Republic of Tea

I am really using allll my will power to not order the Queen Charlotte set….I loved the show. Just wish I could get the tins but filled with loose leaf tea instead. Anyway, this will probably be my last Republic of Tea review for awhile unless I get that set. I wasn’t a fan of this. Idk why…it just didn’t taste like I imagined it. Also I just drank the last of it and no particular flavor stands out enough for me to add to this review :/

I ordered one of those “make it your own” samplers from RofT. I don’t know what it is really called, but you can mix and match 24 tea bags in a plain brown box. I thought it would be a great way to try several teas without having to buy a bunch.

This is one I wanted to try. I like a nice dessert-y tea in the evening, so last night I tried this one. It was good. Not knock-my-socks-off good, but enjoyable. I didn’t really get the coconut or the chocolate, but with my non-existent sense of smell that is not surprising. I have a cold right now (gosh darn it! I am really done being sick!) so warm tea felt good on my throat. Looking forward to going through these teas to find new favorites.

Since the temps are rising and I must stop drinking so much soda, I decided to start drinking up my tea in glorious iced format, so I bought a new iced tea pitcher. I like the pitcher a lot since it has both a plastic insert for infusing water with fruit and herbs and also a nice tea strainer. It arrived yesterday so I washed it and perused my tea drawer to see what I should make first. Decided on this one

I wanted to use up all that I had left of this tea, so I poured all of it in the strainer and let it sit overnight in the fridge. Wow, weird bitter aftertaste. I’ve had this for YEARS, so maybe the age made it hard to drink. I generally do not sweeten tea, but I added a teaspoon of honey to my glass. That did the trick. I’ve had two glasses so far. It is pretty refreshing. I don’t plan to buy more, but this was a good way to finish off the tin.

I came across this tea while shopping at World Market. The stunning deep blue color and the intoxicating blueberry aroma that wafted out immediately grabbed me. Since I was fasting that day, I wasn’t able to taste it but it was enough to convince me to come back later and buy a tin.

Although advertised as a beauty tea, the blend itself is pretty interesting in its own right. There are over a dozen ingredients including green rooibos, butterfly pea flower (for color), rosehip, blackberry leaves, schizandra berry, lemon balm, hibiscus, etc. It’s as if they tried to cram every herb under the sun into this tisane.

The tea brews up a pale violet with a jammy blueberry flavor that’s up front and center. This is accented nicely with a touch of lavender and a slight tartness from the undercurrent of hibiscus. The instructions call for 1 teabag in 6oz of boiling water for 5-7 minutes but I found that it amped up the woodsiness of the green rooibos. For me, 10oz and 3 minutes produced the most balanced cup.

Love sipping on this in the evening. I find it more relaxing than chamomile and the purple color is a treat for the eyes.

Bought the loose leaf version. Its a nice pleasant earl grey. Broken larger tea leaves which I always think tastes better than the smaller pieces. Its a little
Pricier though, especially with shipping so might not get it again.

I’m spoiled by the awesome 52teas fruity green tea blends. This one from the TTB is just pretty meh in comparison. I taste fruitiness and low quality plantlike green tea. It’s fine cold, but boring. It was also really cloudy for some reason?

Eh. Not much tea flavor. And the ginger was overpowering. Not the chai for
Me

I bought this for my jasmine-loving mother, decided to try it first to advise on brewing parameters and ended up drinking through the entire tin. Bought another and it’s going the same way. Oops.

It’s not my favorite jasmine pearl but it’s a nice one when I feel like jasmine but don’t want to put as much thought or effort into the preparation as a higher quality tea deserves. It’s better than the average grocery store jasmine tea, always in stock at my local natural/organic foods store, and cheaper than the jasmine pearl my local tea shop carries (the tea shop’s is tastier so the higher price is probably somewhat justified). The jasmine flavor and aroma is nice and strong. It’s not as smooth as the pearls from my local shop or Yunnan Sourcing but it’s perfectly drinkable brewed any style. Lately I’ve been doing grandpa style in a Fellow Carter travel mug. The splash guard thingie (that absolutely looks like a kitchen sink drain plug) that comes with the mug works really well for keeping any floaty leaves out of the way for grandpa style brewing. It keeps my tea hot for ages so it’s been my go-to vessel while sewing and embroidering.

Love this tea. Juicy peach, subtle ginger. Would be excellent iced but really good hot.

First matcha wasn’t enough, I dipped in again on this one.

Went strong this time to get a feeling for the body of this matcha.

Dry, there is some light sweetness and mild scent.
The nose once wet is mostly fresh grass with a little undertone of sweet peas.

I mixed with an electric hand wisk for lack of better choices at my office. This yielded a pretty decent mixture with only smaller clumps since I did not sift before pouring.

Possibly more complex than the Kintra I started this matcha kick with, the grass and vegetal notes carry over into the body once mixed. The finish is bitter and coats the tongue, so not a huge umami or true sweetness on the latter portion of each sip.
This led to a long astringency coating the tongue which actually left me wanting to drink more, there’s an olfactory sensation with a taste akin to nibbling on a peach pit, so slight sweet fruitiness. Hard to describe.
It may turn a few off of this blend but the notes of bitterness are definitely there.

I made more of an usucha and it carried the same notes, just less concentrated. This would probably serve well as a latte matcha or culinary but is technically smooth enough to enjoy in a tea ceremony, or whatever unholy definition you have for blasting matcha with an electric whisk.

I’m pretty sure I got this at work a while back. Since I don’t see it listed on the Republic of Tea website, who knows how old it is. I’m working on motivating myself to head out of a local trail hike this morning, so it seemed like an appropriate tea to have before I leave.

Steeped for about 6 minutes in boiled water. I’m reminded of the TM Throat Coat tea that I like. There’s a bit of spice to it. I also get some basil too. Packet describes it as having a citrus flavor but I don’t get that at all. It has an aroma that reminds me of soy sauce or tamari.

Will this energize me through the hike today? We’ll see. But I’d do this again if it was still available. A quick glance at Republic’s Be Well listings didn’t show a rebrand. So I’m guessing it’s been discontinued.

The pineapple here is so authentic! It tastes just like canned pineapple. I don’t really notice any hibiscus, which I’m fine with. I get maybe a hint of lychee if I’m paying attention. This is quite unique and fun as a cold cup of tea. There’s nothing artificial or distracting (apparently it has stevia, which might bother some). I’m so glad getanzt sent three teabags so I could enjoy this multiple times. The resteep is decent too. I would totally order more of this one!

You really want this tea to taste like its description…but it doesn’t. Very light, very “thin” flavor that just isn’t that great. Not buying Republic of Tea any more; they used to be decent for the price but there are so many other GREAT teas out there. This one will be hitting the garbage like many others.

This was last night’s tea. It is part of the holiday combo I bought. I really like the rooibos cinnamon tea from Good Earth called Sweet N Spicy, and wondered if this might be as good. It wasn’t. It wasn’t a bad tea, just much milder than the Good Earth, and the cinnamon gave my mouth that drying sensation that I dislike. The flavor, as I said, was milder, but a little sweet, which I like. I have another 11 tea bags of this, and I don’t think I’ll have any trouble sipping those down . So, this is getting a recommendation from me

I just finished my tin of this tea that I bought a long time ago. It had a nice pineapple flavor, although I really didn’t taste the ginger. If you “upped” the flavor by adding a second sachet, it would get a little bitter (maybe that’s the age speaking). Anyway, I’m moving on from Republic of Tea.

I spent most of the weekend at the in-laws, so I didn’t have access to the kettle and all the tools to steep loose-leaf. I figured it was a good excuse to work on this sipsby advent I stalled out on – and the stall was very much because I wasn’t excited to see this tea. Now I’ve got to go back into my phone for the notes!

There is only so much chocolate can do to counter coconut, and this wasn’t quite enough for me, but I’ll admit it got pretty close. This felt almost like a liquid version of a Samoa/Caramel Delight Girl Scout Cookie, though a touch heavier on the coconut. I tolerated it about as long as I do the cookie before giving it over to my partner, who enjoyed the rest of the cup. It’s quite smooth and would make a fantastic dessert for someone with even a little less disdain for coconut than myself.

sipsby bagged advent, day 5

I had this one tonight. It’s chilly here in Fargo (naturally) and to me, cold winter nights just beg for a spicy herbal tea to sip while knitting. I had lost this in my office for several and just found it today while cleaning. Oops. I guess that just goes to show what you can find when you actually clean!

Anyway. I brewed it up expecting to really love it. I do enjoy cardamon in chai and spicy tea. But this was not my cup of tea. Since there is such a small amount of tea in the bag I used a little tea cup with about 6 ounces of boiling water. I let it brew for 5 minutes. The color was pretty dark. The flavor was pretty pale. That is, I got a mild spicy flavor. It was underwhelming. And I was disappointed because I expected to love this one.

I’m glad the Republic of tea sent this one as a sample with my last order because I might have bought a whole tin of this based on the description. So I am really glad I got to try it. And it was not horrible. Maybe I should have let it steep longer. If a friend served this I could certainly drink it. But I won’t order this one.

In the evening, I try to avoid caffeine, but since rooibus is not tea (grumble) I drink decaf real tea. My spouse got this one for when we have Japanese food for dinner, and indeed, it is a thoroughly acceptable green tea.

There’s nothing special about it – it’s what you’d get in the teapot of any generic “Asian” restaurant. But it’s decaf, and it works very well for the purpose of, “I would like green tea to go with my sushi and I would like not to be awake all night.”

We will continue to keep this in the cupboard. It’s not shiny or special, but it works just fine.