Red Rose

So, I opened this and started drinking this a total of four days ago? Well, I think it got me back into tea drinking because I have a little more than 1/4 of the box left. It is really delicious. I have settled on two teaspoons of sugar and a splash of milk for all cups. 3 minutes for a regular mug, 4 for a medium mug, and 5 for my big huge Tardis mug and travel mug.

I have been having a rough time with my schedule, so I picked up a box of tea to try to enjoy. I have been tipping over to the dark side and indulging in coffee after coffee after coffee.

I first brewed this tea last night. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, so I actually followed the directions on the box and brewed for three minutes instead of my usual four to five. It didn’t smell like much until I stirred it and then there was this light caramel scent. It was like somebody took regular Red Rose tea and just dropped a hard caramel candy in it then let it dissolve. There was a light caramel taste, but not that much.

Then came the milk and that almost covered up the caramel but brought out a much more creamy flavor. Then came the sugar and there was bliss! With the milk and sugar it was downright melted caramel cream all the way through.

After the success of last night, I’m having it again this morning. This time I added sugar before just to see how it tasted. Without the milk it is more of liquid hard caramel candies melted slowly into the hot water then had tea added to it. Still tasty, but milk landed in my cup anyway for more bliss.

I want to try the other dessert teas they have out now. This might help me get weaned off of a ton of caffeine that is stuck in coffee and soda.

Continuing with my simplicity kick…

I think people like this tea for the memories it brings back, more than for its taste. It’s really just a very simple orange pekoe ceylon tea, no surprises. But it carries with it a certain personal history… My grandmother used to drink it. My best friend and my boyfriend each have a big collection of the little figurines, so I know someone in their lives drank it too.

The company wants to have that kind of legacy, I believe. The box invites me to “share my favorite Red Rose memory” on their website.

Funny how a low price (cheaper even than Lipton in some places) and a little clay figure have the power to touch so many lives.

I thoroughly enjoyed two cups of this tea today, not for the taste, but for the places they brought me mentally and emotionally.

This is very nice black tea. It’s more cost-effective than Lipton even, and I think the quality is higher. It’s a very smooth blend, easy to make, easy to drink. Plus, it comes with an adorable little porcelain figurine! Win-win situation, right?

Pretty standard black tea. It has no flavor when it is drank hot but it makes a lovely iced tea.

Picked up from Edmonton. Meh flavor, but it is tea.

The August Tealog Catchup ! [23 tealogs remaining]

This tea was noticeable worse than Liptons to me. I don’t know why my Dad got this instead of his usual Liptons that is all he always drinks. Maybe they were out. I finished my cup but I decided not to drink it again anymore.

as far as American teas go, I find Red Rose to be one of my favorites. I find it to be much better if attention is spent to warm the pot or cup before steeping with freshly boiled water. In other words, bring the pot to the kettle. I let the tea steep for about five minutes.

The Canadian version is better as it is stronger and has more body, but the American version is quite satisfying!

To be honest I am not sure if I am putting this review under the correct maker but it sounds close enough. Whenever I go to Calgary, Canada they have Red Rose tea in the room. It’s quite a lovely black tea but I’ve realized that it is one of the quickest steeping black teas I’ve drank yet. I usually steep mine between 30 seconds and 1 minute. Too long and it’s too bitter. I do occasionally steep it a bit longer if I am going to make an iced tea out of it. It has a light floral flavor and I prefer to drink it when it has cooled slightly.

This is a bit of a backlog from this morning.

Ok, so I got storm stayed without the tea. I know. Super horrible. I did have an emergency stash of tea at work, but I ended up staying with a co-worker who did not have any tea. I almost did not make it, I needed tea so bad.

So after having the shakes all night (ha ha), I went for breakfast at a restaurant as it was still storming and the roads were still closed. I got bacon, eggs, and potatoes – the best comfort food I could think of, and I ordered tea. I did not have high hopes of what I was going to get for tea, it ended up being the usual Canadian standard, Red Rose.

I had been tea-less for so long, that I gulped down the first cup. I just needed to get it in my system. I savoured my second cup over my bacon and eggs.

I would have wished for any other kind of tea, but I am glad I was able to at least get a cup of something. Looking back it was quite over steeped as the waitress put the tea bag in the pot before she brought it to the table. So it was pretty strong and thick, but still palatable. But at the time, I thought it could have been the best cup of tea I had ever had.

I am back home now, enjoying my endless cupboard of teas.

I find this is a good tea to have around the cupboard for those just in case moments. This is not particularly, my favorite tea but I find it goes well with a heavy breakfast, such as bacon and eggs. I find it gets bitter if it is steeped for too long. But it can be resteeped several times and still get good flavour. I find it to be a dark and heavy tea. I love the limited edition packaging it sometimes comes in.

Note to self: Honey makes this one drinkable. Still bland, but at least I will be able to finish the box.

Very,very bland. I didn’t add sugar, because I am trying to cut back on that, but it needed it. I did add milk, just to make it drinkable. Really not a fan of this one.

I have now had WAY too much of this tea over the last month(?). Milk and sugar is my favorite way to drink this, followed by just milk. Tried it with just honey today, and while I didn’t hate it, I think I’d prefer it without. This is has quickly become one of my favorite “everyday” teas.

When I was little, a family friend used to bring me the little figurines from his boxes of Red Rose tea.

I’ve been going through some rough times, and haven’t been feeling the best. My more expensive teas have just been set aside for now, I don’t want to waste them. I came across one of my little figurines in a recent move, and so I picked up a box of this for nostalgia’s sake.

So now I am sitting here, with a little sandcastle in my hand, sipping this tea. It’s your basic store-variety black tea, nothing astounding…but it’s familiar. My husband was thrilled when I opened the box. He caught a whiff, and it was familiar to him, too. I guess everyone knows someone who has had this tea in their cabinet.

I added a bit of 1% milk and a packet of sugar to this. Settled on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, and two purring kitties beside me. Maybe this can heal my heart.

Served it with sugar and coffee creaner(it worked in a pinch). The tea was pretty good.

I put five of these teabags in a giant mason jar filled with pure water, and steep it in direct sunlight in the garden for an afternoon to make iced tea—just as my mother did, and my grandmother before her. It’s such a tradition with us that most other iced teas taste odd to me, too fruity or too herby or otherwise just not…quite…right. This isn’t the most amazing tea in the world, but it appears to be THE iced tea for me. My kids play with the little animal figurines just as I did, thirty years ago.

Just a general black tea, pretty much. Better than Lipton, but not by a whole lot.