The Republic of Tea

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.

I’ve been excited for this one for a couple of days and decided to break it out this morning while going through a mountain of papers. The tea started as a light mint with a strong, sweet background note – something a little off-putting, but not undrinkable. When I let it get cold, however, it turned into cold artificial white chocolate with no mint to be found. No thanks.

sipsby bagged advent, Day 4

Advent Tea!
This is amaretto to start, red rooibos in the middle with a sweet coconut cookie finish. I only brewed with 6 oz of water and it came out pretty nice. The rooibos gave it a bit of a woody taste but I’d drink this one again. Thanks Lexie!

I drank this so fast.

Just got home after supper out. Yes, I went out for supper on Christmas Eve. My sister, her daughter, and our brother were coming to my place for Christmas, but due to the nasty weather, no one is coming. This made me a bit sad, although having my semi-clean apartment to myself will be kind of nice. Anyway, I rarely eat red meat (it’s hard to digest when a portion of your intestines have been removed) but had a steak tonight, along with green beans and garlicky mashed potatoes. I feel stuffed. Uncomfortably stuffed, so I decided to have a cup of this tea.

Ugh. Mistake. Not because it doesn’t taste good but because a plain peppermint tea would have been a better choice for my unhappy tummy. Sheesh.

Note to self: lay off the red meat!

I got 12 bags of this as part of a Holiday Combo. It is VERY dessert-y. When it was hot it had a cooling, creamy chocolate mint flavor and I really enjoyed it. As it cooled, though, it became cloyingly sweet. Some teas are enjoyable hot or cold, This isn’t one. But when it was hot it was very tasty. I won’t have any trouble drinking 12 cups of it. I just need to be sure to drink it right away instead of letting it linger.

I ordered this tea from the Republic of Tea. Peppermint tea is one of my faves for quiet evenings before bed. Between the cancer progressing to Stage 4, and my baby brother dying of a heart attack at age 53, and that rotten day job, I have been under a LOT of stress these last few weeks. So I liked the sound of this one.

But I didn’t love it. I could barely make out the mint flavor and there was something odd in the sip. Maybe the KSM-66 Ashwagandha Root Extract? I am giving it a rating of 70 for now. When I had it last night my nose was completely clogged. Even without a sense of smell, I can usually detect the cooling sensation of mint. So I will try it again in a few days and see if my opinion changes. I hope it does. Otherwise I have 35 more tea bags of this!

I ordered a set of Christmas teas from the Republic of Tea, and they sent a sample of this. Since I enjoy peppermint tea in the evenings I decided to brew it last night. It was a nice cup. Mild, with just a hint of astringency at the end of the sip. It doesn’t stand out from other peppermint teas I’ve enjoyed. I won’t add this to a future order, but I would gladly drink it again. So I am giving it a decent rating of 73.

I was looking for a turmeric tea and I forgot I had this one. I really like this tea but it tastes even better as a latte with coconut milk and raw honey. I can taste a faint pumpkin flavor, cinnamon and turmeric. Glad that the turmeric is not too strong. I have a lot of pumpkin teas I need to sip down this fall.

I have received a tea bag of this as thank you for forwarding some postcards to Russia. It has got very nice outer wrapping. Weird is that I haven’t found any box on their website showing tea bags… and probably my first round tea bag with outer wrapping. Which is… about 2-3 times bigger than bag itself.

As I have smelled it when dry, I have noticed fiery ginger with fruit loops aroma of peach. It was nice aroma and I have hoped for a nice tea.

It was good one, however… ginger has disappeared. There is nothing from it. Base was very basic, somehow tannic. Peach was genuine though and quite on the sweet side of spectrum.

Plus points: nice outer wrapper, nice peach flavour
Minus points: boring base tea, no ginger, using of round tea bag in such big wrapper.

This, for me, is a summertime tea. It’s excellent chilled, whether sweetened or not. I can’t really taste the sage. I always let RoT steep for a longer time than recommended, as I personally feel their teabags could use a bit more tea than they actually put in. It’s late August now, and I’ll be finishing my tin soon, as I’m not too keen on this one during the cold months.

Sipdown! (105 | 202)

This is a pleasant enough tea, but it mostly just tastes like Chinese sencha with a bit of hibiscus to me. I don’t really taste pomegranate specifically. The green base has a mellow, dry grassy flavor that I find a bit comforting, and the hibiscus is present but not overwhelming, just adding a generic fruity tartness.

Fine, but generic in both the base and the flavor.