Root Beer Black Tea

Starting the day off with a sip down. As potent the scent of the root beer flavouring is, I wish it came through more in the actual flavour, or that they used a different base. This one kind of gets a little dry-tasting, especially when you cold brew it.

But I’m so glad I ordered this one.

Wow… i have to say this is a totally interesting tea! I’m not sure it’s something that I would drink often, but man i could go for this occasionally. Not only does it smell intensely like root beery but the taste is pretty damn close as well! I had some of this hot and then it accidently was left to cool right off while i was on a call. I can say, cold, this is VERY much like root beer. Hot, it’s still much like root beer but a little less so. Either way, if you’re looking for a root beer tea, this is it! :)

I’ve finally determined without a doubt- I like this one much better at 2 minutes. Anything more and it gets heavy, losing the delicate root beer flavour which seems to get lost under whatever base is used. Makes for a lighter cup but I kinda like it that way :)
Great with or without a pinch of sugar!

This smells so strongly like root beer, it’s crazy! And the flavour is the most authentic root beer flavour I’ve tried in a tea yet. I’m drinking this cold because I left it for quite a while, and I think it’s great this way, but I should try it hot as well.

The only downside to this tea is that although I like root beer, I don’t think this is a tea I’d want to drink too often.

Received this in a swap from Courtney. Thanks so much. This was one of the first teas I ever put on my steepster wishlist.

The dry tea smells super delicious. Sweet and creamy, thick, foamy rootbeer. Unfortunately, the brewed tea does not live up to the deliciousness of the smell. I love root beer, I will lean towards more of an A and W rootbeer or a sasparilla vs. a Barqs, but its all good. I have also tried many a rootbeer tea.

This one is ok. It is quite flat in taste. There is none of that spark that rootbeer usually has. It seems to have some root, but not so much beer. I did add a few lumps of rock sugar, but it seemed to sweeten the tea only minimally. Maybe it needed much more. There is some thickness to the tea. It is not terribly creamy but there is a distinct vanilla taste. It is much more rootbeer-like after it cools. I do have a cup cold brewing as I type, for later today.

I have tried other S & V teas before, and the black tea base just doesn’t seem to work for me.

Thanks so much Courtney for letting me try this tea.

This was my first tasting note in the new format, and I don’t like it. Call me a grumpy, old fashioned steepsterite, but it just seemed quite complicated to write what should bave been a quick note. I also don’t like how complicated it is to try to review your note immediately after saving it. Just show it to me all at one time.

Jeez…I apparently have not had enough tea today :)

Edit: I made this as a cold brew. It brewed for about 6 hours. 1.5 tsp in 10 oz of water. I added about 1 tsp of white sugar. I also made this as a tea soda by adding about 1/2 cup of Perrier. It is ok. Better cold than hot. There is strong vanilla and a very bite-y rootbeer taste. It is quite watered down but I anticipated that due to the steeping parameters I used and adding the Perrier.

Iced. With sweetened condensed milk.

Do it. Actually, try it with any black tea you can brew very strong. I love this in the summer, even though it isn’t the most healthy. :)

It is making me crave a root beer float, though. Ohh, that would be so good with fancy root beer and coconut “frozen dessert”.

(Steeped in 8 oz, added 2 tsp sweetened condensed milk, poured over enough ice to chill it thoroughly. I use mugs for this as I’ve had too many glass things break.)

Edit: Thank you, Fjellrev!!

Had to try this after the root beer debate from Butiki’s lovely honeybush blend, just to see how it measures up.

First off, this is a super fragrant tea. It smells strongly of root beer, and it needs to be quarantined from the rest of the teas. Steeped, it smells less of root beer, however still pleasantly so.

Steeped, I find it less amazing than Butiki’s offering. Butiki’s is creamier, which is a flavor/feel that I absolutely adore, especially with a root beer -flavored tea. I must admit though, this gets creamier and even better tasting as it cools; hot, it’s just okay.

Having this lovely tea as a bit of a pick-me-up. I took a break to throw ingredients in the crockpot for chicken tortilla soup, but I’m back to work here now. I feel like I managed to get a substantial amount done today. I still have a good hour to get some more done too, before I start falling asleep at my computer.

I keep this tea in a plastic bag, inside a tin to keep the scent from leeching out. The scent is wonderful, and so very root beer-esque, but not all my teas need to smell like that! I think S&V teas lose their potency a little quicker than other teas, but they all start out incredibly potent smelling, so I don’t really mind.

To say this smells exactly like root beer is an understatement. I could smell this tea before I even opened the box it was shipped in. It is currently making my office smell like root beer. It took me a while to convince myself that it wouldn’t be weird to drink this hot, because hot root beer is kind of a strange thought. But I finally brewed it and it’s good. The smell of this tea is stronger than the taste which is a little bit disappointing. But it IS delicious. I can’t wait to make this iced.

Trick or Treat! I had a sample of this from the Here’s Hoping Teabox, so thank you to tea-sipper for organizing and all teabox participants! I’ve been excited to try this one since I quite like rootbeer blends. I steeped the 3g in 400ml boiling water, steeped for four minutes, and then set that in a mason jar to chill, since I felt a rootbeer tea would be nice as an iced brew. But since I didn’t want to wait to try it (patience, who has that?) I reused the leaves as a second steep, making a 350ml cup steeped for five minutes, hoping there would be enough flavor left to enjoy a cup while my iced tea was getting icy.

The hot tea was still quite nice, even for a second steep (and yes, confession, I rarely do second steeps when I western brew because I usually find they just don’t have the “oomph” I’m looking for). It had a nice root beer flavor, tasting mainly of sarsparilla and sweet vanilla. It was quite naturally sweet, and I didn’t notice any bitterness or astringency from the black tea blend.

The iced tea was equally nice as far as rootbeer flavor, but did seem to have a little more black tea briskness and a slight astringent quality left on my tongue and the roof of my mouth, and I’m not sure why the difference, other than the fact the leaf was more “used” on the hot cup and thus a bit more mellowed out. It wasn’t too abrasive in my iced tea, but it detracted just enough from that syrupy-sweet feel of rootbeer for me that I did something I don’t do by principal with my teas, and added just a teaspoon of liquid sugar, which took that problem right away and really made it hard for me to think I was drinking tea rather than rootbeer that had lost its carbonation. If I had the chance to make this again, knowing what I know now about adding that touch of sweetness to curb the astrigency of the black tea base a bit, I would’ve added a teaspoon of honey while it was still warm before icing it instead, which I think would’ve been even better.