Republic of Tea haul

It's tea time again : )


We placed our very first order from The Republic of Tea in February! Here's what it looked like when it arrived:

While I was excited about all the tea, the boxes turned out to be the highlight of a certain someone's afternoon-

Believe it or not, but this actually is his I'm-having-fun face.

Warmer weather being around the corner already here, it's time to start thinking about iced teas... hence this beautiful trio below. The Strawberry Basil and Pineapple Orange Guava have already become fridge staples. We drink them without any added sweeteners since the combo of green tea + fruit is already flavorful enough.

Saving the Watermelon Mint for a hot summer day.

Meanwhile, matcha caught my eye after seeing this video:

Perhaps we went a little overboard when making it for the first time, though, since one cup sent D into a frenzy of hyperactivity for the next few hours. Does that mean we used too much powder?

Side note here: my brother gave us an ingenuiTEA for Christmas (sorry the picture is so blurry). BEST THING EVER for loose-leaf tea. It's similar to a teapot- put in the leaves, fill up with hot water- but the tea drains out a pressure sensitive valve on the bottom.

I find it way easier to clean than a teapot and as a result, we've gotten back into buying loose teas. There's definitely more beauty in such teas versus a utilitarian packet of tea.

Republic of Tea's Rose Petal tea- gorgeous!! Also, the very first photo in this post shows Celebration tea: black tea leaves + white grapes (um, raisins) + "essence of champagne". Celebration tea is one of my top black teas ever.

These three teas all sounded good on the website. In real life, two of them hit the mark (Jackfruit Honey black tea, Kiwi Pear green tea) but the Hibiscus Watermelon was a bit too artificial tasting. I'm going to try reinventing it as an iced tea.

Jackfruit Honey = the way to go if you want a black tea that tastes good without sugar.

We had never ordered from this tea company before because their prices are about 3x the prices of supermarket teas (Lipton, Twinnings, Celestial Seasonings, etc). Surprisingly, Republic of Tea turned out to not be as expensive as I originally thought. First, you're usually getting more tea: 36 bags, sometimes even 50 bags instead of the supermarket 15-20. Second, the quality is higher. I used to be hooked on the Lipton triangle teas (about $2.50 for 20) and will still gladly drink it, but these teas taste better and hold up better to rebrewing.

Expect to pay around $13 a pop for most of the tins above. The entire order came to $125, which is a ton of money to spend on tea, bordering on the undisputed tea fanatic range. But the company does offer DIY sampler boxes which is a great way to try a lot without committing to the full-size cost. You can choose twelve samples for $7 or twenty-four samples for $14.

The last tea in the box was a stackable trio of detox teas. I drank these teas religiously for a week last month. Felt great that week, but can't say if it was because of the tea or not. It's a 2-week supply so there's still a week left when it's time for another detox.

Have you tried anything from Republic of Tea? Do you have a favorite tea to recommend, whether it's one of theirs or from another brand?


More tea goodies:
Tea Tour
Stash Tea Haul
Republic of Tea website
Free Republic of Tea catalog (usually comes with a free sample!)