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Happy to have a cup of this again. This brand is what Celestial Seasonings wishes it was (and tries to make up for it with flashy packaging).

Slightly tangy, delicious blueberry flavor. Smooth in every way without that odd herbal tea aftertaste. Think the taste of blueberry yogurt without as much creaminess. It brews up a neat shade of dark pink as well, I assume from the dried blueberry content. Yum! Too bad they don’t have this flavor on black tea…

Of the three Republic Of Tea flavors I’ve tried in the past few days, this has been the best. The peach taste is not overwhelming, and it balances well with the black tea. The ginger is a little more subtle than I was hoping for, but it’s there, and it’s nice. It gives the tea a more satisfying finish and makes my mouth tingle a little.

Ginger is something sort of new to me in teas, so I’m still getting used to it, but in this case I like it. It reminds me of ginger ale. Like maybe some delicious ginger ale/tea/peach cocktail. I’d love to try this iced.

Alright, I seriously need to stop picking random teas I find in my grandparents’ cabinet. I have no idea how old this is, but judging by the smell, it’s not at its freshest. Also, I could find nothing about this tea or the manufacturer online, which is another bad sign. The image you see was taken on my digital camera for proof that it exists.

Surprisingly, I like it for what it is (cheap off-brand bagged tea). It reminds me a bit of Tazo’s “Awake”. It’s malty and smooth, not too astringent. There is a bit of a honey-like aftertaste that I really like. I added sugar, but I could imagine this would be good straight too. I’ll probably never see another bag of it, though, as I assume it came from a hotel breakfast or something similar…

I took it as a bad sign when I opened the little paper package and sniffed. There was no scent at all coming from this tea. As it brewed, dark and cloudy, there came a hint of aroma finally. It reminded me of the big tea brewer I used in my waitress days at a country club. I tried to keep my expectations positive, as I love Ceylon.

I added 2 teaspoons of sugar and tasted it. I mostly tasted sugar, with a bit of a Ceylon aftertaste at the end. It tastes cheap and mass-produced with lots of filler. Leaves a sour taste in my mouth and is pretty astringent. I do not recommend this unless it’s a last resort.

First of all, there is nothing “delicate” about the peach flavor in this tea. It’s peachy like a smack to the face. And by that, I mean peach candy, not the fruit. It reminds me of those orange gummy rings you find in gas stations. (Or Peach Nehi, which is pretty scarce these days.) Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, since I like those things every once in a blue moon.

Anyway, it’s a black tea, so after a cup I’m caffeine buzzing. (I think my addiction to tea has a lot to do with the fact that I’m caffeine-sensitive and even one tall cup of Starbucks coffee sends me into jitter-fits where I can’t shut up.) See, I’m doing it now. But like I was saying, it’s a plain black tea, nothing spectacular. But it gets the job done.

This time I was wanting peach iced tea, so I brewed 8 bags of this and 3 or 4 teaspoons of Adagio’s English Breakfast to make sure it would be strong enough to make a gallon. That worked perfectly, and even came out pretty strong in the end. I eyeballed the sugar again and look forward to a big glass when it’s cold.

This is actually pretty good for a bagged tea. Much stronger than I expected. Next time I’ll definitely steep for less time, though. Maybe four minutes is all that’s needed. This is the usual hot tea we serve where I work.

Anyway, it’s your standard black tea, ordinary, and surprisingly high in caffeine. If I was looking for a wake-up rush and was out of coffee, two bags of this would do the trick. Also, I think a lemon slice and some honey would make this glorious. I’d be happy to try the loose leaf version if the opportunity arises.

Saw this at work today and I was curious. I usually don’t like rooibos, but I make an effort to try them from time to time.

Anyway, all I had was honey to sweeten it, so I tried it plain first. It’s a little on the sour side, which was unexpected, and the vanilla taste is very strong. It lingers in the mouth in a pleasant way. And while the taste reminds me of an air freshener my grandmother used to have, it’s not bad. I definitely can taste the pomegranate (and not that weird artificial pomegranate taste some teas have). I added a dollop of honey after that and the flavor was improved, but it probably would have been better with sugar. The taste of the actual rooibos is practically non-existent.

My verdict is that this is drinkable, but not something I would pick up at the store myself. I can see others liking it a lot.

Blended with Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger (2 bags) again. This time I extended the brewing time by just a little, and used 11 teaspoons instead of 9. I had hoped to give the tea a stronger flavor, and it worked. I added sugar and cold water, eyeballing the amounts, and now it’s cooling in my fridge. My ingenuiTea is half-full of leaves when I’m done.

The actual raspberry flavor of this isn’t bad when you single it out. It’s not too artificial. But the rest of the elements of the tea are very weak. I can vaguely taste the hibiscus, but it’s mostly overwhelmed by that generic bland herbal taste most of Celestial Seasonings’ feature. I wouldn’t buy it again. Next time I’ll be looking for a real black tea instead of this sawdust.

Oh nice, someone made a page for this stuff. I had a box of this last summer and used it all as sweet tea. It was actually pretty good, especially for the price. I mean, it’s not something I would sit and savor… it’s more like fodder for when I want to have something on hand in the fridge. It’s better than the everyday supermarket’s private brand, at least.