Rare Tea Republic

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Recent Tasting Notes

100

Since this tea is a Sikkim and not a Darjeeling I updated the listing – I hope nobody minds!

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100

Wow, I knew I was in for a treat when I smelled the dry leaf in the bag and it is already smelling kind of pineapple-ish. I steeped this at 3.5 minutes at around 195 F. I wish I knew where my thermometer was. My water was not quite boiling so I assume it was around 195.

I wonder, is this technically a darjeeling if it’s from Sikkim? The second flush Sikkim from Rare Tea Republic was beyond amazing in my opinion, and this one is excellent also. It’s very light bodied with a slight floral nose. The tea itself is very fruity, pineapplish and actually on the sweeter side with a bit of sandalwood/earth. I’m so used to these darjeeling type tea being very astringent with lots of tannins but this is exceptionally smooth and mellow. It’s easy to drink plain on it’s own. I’m with LiberTeas, I thought it was superb. Mmmm, I think I’m going to go make another cup right now!

I will definitely be going back to Rare Tea Republic as a customer.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec
ScottTeaMan

WOAHHH! WHAT?!? Amy…….did you just give a Darjeeling a perfect score! Well, technically Temi Sikkim is a region just outside of Darjeeling, but their qualities are very similar. Pay no attention….er…maybe there is no man behind the curtain. :)) LMAO…….Hehehehe.

TeaBrat

I liked it because it wasn’t so astringent but very flavorful!

ScottTeaMan

I do remember Sikkims to be fruity, and less astringent than Darjeelings. I’ve had a couple with minty qualities, and my last one from Upton’s had cherry nuances. You may find that these teas are your “Darjeeling” of choice. :))

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93

Sipdown!
This was my tea of the morning and I am officially out of Assam in my tea cupboard which gives me an great excuse to buy more tea. :)

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Bonnie

Sure, Amy Oh needs an excuse to buy tea…ha ha! Same as I need an excuse…sure! ;)

TeaBrat

It’s true! :)

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93

Tea of the morning!

I’m trying to figure out how you would pronounce “Tonganagaon?”

Regardless, this is a yummy assam, my very early morning tea before the blueberry matcha smoothie. Sorry for the brevity of this tasting note but I am off to the gym. Have a great day, all!

Scott B

I would go with “Tahn-guh-nah-gun”. Maybe RTR could tell you for sure.

They have Two 2012 2nd Flush Assams en route, expected to be available on their site any day now.

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93

Enjoying this cuppa from Rare Tea Republic, a delicious and hefty assam! I was eyeing more assams in the Upton Tea catalog last night which inspired me to reach for this one. It’s cold and foggy here today. Sorry to hear about everyone’s problems with Steepster, let’s hope it gets better…

gmathis

Is it a sign of illness when you read the Upton catalog with a highlighter in hand?

Mercuryhime

@gmathis: naah, it’s a sign of your excellent organization skills!

TeaBrat

LMAO- I was doing that last night

gmathis

Of course, I’m not sure why I do it…by the time I drink down my stash to an order-justifiable level, the catalog will be out of date ;)

TeaBrat

I’m thinking about getting some samples but I need to wait until pay day!

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93

A smooth and delicious assam, lighter than some I have had and with no bitterness. I bough the sample size with my first RtR order and then went back to get a large bag. :) See my previous notes.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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93

yum, another sample from the Rare Tea Republic. This time it’s an Assam.

I steeped this for 3 minutes at 200 F with an infuser ball and am drinking out of a glass irish coffee mug – guess what? It works great for tea too! ;-)

This tea brews up to be a beautiful dark reddish color. It’s a delicious assam. Normally I would take these with milk but today I am trying without. The thing that predominately hits your nose and your mouth upon tasting is MALT, glorious MALT! Then you get chocolate followed by a bit of fruitiness with a bit of tannins in the finish. A very good assam indeed. I think I prefer this with milk (or in my case, soy milk) but it is quite delicious.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 15 sec

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90

Managed to finish this one off today as a cold brew. I think this is what I will do with my other white teas that are getting stale. :-0

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90

I know I’ve had this tea for way too long. For some reason I haven’t really been drinking my white teas at all. I decided it needed a flavor booster so I added some turbinado sugar and that helped to perk it up a bit. I only have 1 tsb. left and that might be destined for the compost as I think it just got stale. oh well. :(

see previous tasting notes for more cheerful comments…

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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90

I’ve had this tea for over a year now and I really just need to finish it off… somehow whites are not among my things to reach for when I’m craving a tea.

This is less sweet than a lot of white teas I’ve tried and has more the character of a green; it’s a bit smoky and vegetal. I am going to try cold brewing some of it overnight to see what happens.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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90

I am almost out of this. :(
So I wonder why Rare Tea Republic does not have any first flush teas yet like the rest of the world. You’d think if they were owned by Republic of Tea they’d be on it. According to their blog they will have some Goomtee teas in by the end of the month.

Maybe I will get some more of this excellent white tea if and when the 2012 selection comes around.

ashmanra

I just got an email from RoT saying their first flush darjeelings have just arrived in limited quantities.

TeaBrat

Oooh. They’re not on the website yet! :)

Cheryl

“limited quantities” in RoT speak = these are gonna cost you, big time, hehe

Scott B

I have some other things I wanted to order from RtR, but I have been waiting and waiting on their FF Darjeeling so I could just place one order. Hurry up, RtR!

Shinobi_cha

As far as I know, they aren’t owned by Republic of Tea, actually…you can see in their blog they have been on a buying trip, so I’m sure it’s just a matter of time…

Shinobi_cha

Wow, cool… you learn something new everyday! I did think RTR’s name was awfully similar…. that explains it!

ScottTeaMan

Thank s for the link Amy. This is one tea I am going to buy from RTR.

TeaBrat

It is very good. I also like the Shangri La white.

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90

Initally this was one of the least favorite of my RTR whites, but I keep drinking it and drinking it. It is really growing on me! Time to up the score (again)

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90

A nice afternoon cuppa with lunch, this time I am really getting the essence of cooked peas. very good… see previous notes. I am enjoying this a lot and bumped up the score a little bit. Rare Tea Republic has some very interesting white teas…

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec
ScottTeaMan

Even though the description doesn’t say “white”, it does look like a white tea. Sounds like another great tea!

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90

And just when I’ve been warming up to this tea i seemed to have lost it somewhere in my apartment. How does one lose a tea? Well if you saw my stash you might understand but this was in a pretty big envelope. I hope I find it again.

I have to be really in the mood for white teas in order to appreciate them. Lately I’ve been intrigued by the vegetal and slightly smoky essence of this one. There is a tiny hit of corn flavor somewhere in the background. I figure there is some perfect way to steep this that will turn it magical but I haven’t discovered how yet. Or maybe not.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 0 sec
ScottTeaMan

What an interesting white tea. I was wondering where it was from…the name intrigued me. A Nepali white. Hope you have enuff to find that magical brew. :))

TeaBrat

me too… the Himalayan white from the same company was also excellent.

ScottTeaMan

I’ve been meaning to try some Himalayan teas. I will, but I am trying to widdle my tea stash down a little.

ScottTeaMan

Hey, I just realized that ryhmed! hehehe……

TeaBrat

lol… yeah I know what u mean

TeaBrat

I’ve had very good luck with the Rare Tea Republic for Himalayan stuff.

ScottTeaMan

wHAT OTHER GOOD TEAS DID YOU EXPERIENCE FROM THEM…….Oolongs?? Puerhs??

TeaBrat

I’ll send you a list. :)

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90

This is definitely a nice and interesting white tea, it’a bit more vegetal than floral and I’m picking up some spice and a lingering bit of smoke here but it’s still very light. I like it fine but it’s probably the least favorite of my three white teas I’ve tried from the RtR line. I know this is a boring tasting note but I’m not feeling that inspired, perhaps some more extended tastings in the gaiwan will yield a better result.

I did one steep in the infuser mug for 190 F for 3 minutes and then a resteep at around 160F for three minutes.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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94

It’s a green tea kind of morning and I am revisiting this today – very enjoyable!

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94

I’m finishing off the rest of this sample this morning, I appear to be on a roll with this green tea thing. I would definitely order this again, it’s so flavorful and unique. It seems a bit nutty this morning too. I highly recommend it – see my previous tasting notes. Some teas are really just a pleasure to drink and for me, this is one of them.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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94

I’ve never had a green tea from Nepal before – evidently this is my week to try all things from Nepal and so far I am loving it!

This was steeped for 4 minutes at around 180 F according to the package instructions. I’m totally with LIberTeas on this one, it’s a very unique green! Definitely lemon-y and vegetal with a bit of astringency but thankfully not bitter… I would describe it as clean and zippy. I then decided to resteep the leaves at around 160F for 3 minutes. It got a lot lighter and more delicate so I was for sure more a fan of the first steep. Very cool!

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 4 min, 0 sec
ScottTeaMan

The couple Yunnan greens I’ve tried were….that’s perfect…clean and zippy. Zippy really fits for some reason.

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86

mmmm. I discovered when brewed properly, this is a fragrant floral tea with jammy notes and a touch of vanilla. It is very delicious like a fine wine! I don’t know about the aftertaste though, for me it’s very astringent. I had to take some points off for that but if that doesn’t bother you check this one out!

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86

hmm. So I guess I have some mixed feelings about this one. My first steep was at 4 minutes with boiling water and I should have known that was too hot because the package says 190 F. It got too bitter and astringent for me. I am used to treating darjeelings more or less like a black tea but I think I need to start treating them more like oolongs. My mistake for sure.

So in my second steep, it got steeped more like a green tea for 3 minutes with around 160 F. Now I’m getting some more pleasant apricot jam like notes in addition to floral & vanilla. But yeah the astringency is still lurking there. I might need to start all over again with this one or perhaps this is a gateway into a learning experience that I might want to avoid first flush darjeelings in the future? I suspect it needs a more delicate tasting perhaps in the gaiwan. Stay tuned…

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Honey

I did the same thing yesterday with a FTGFOP1 and my tea was so bitter I literally spit it out. What’s odd is that I followed the brewing instructions, but I will definitely brew it like a green next time.

Uniquity

I find that once a tea gets bitter (over-steeping, too hot water, etc) that bitterness remains in future steeps of the same leaves, even if they are handled more delicately the second time (or third, or fourth, etc). Maybe a new set of leaves will yield better results?

TeaBrat

Live and learn, so they say. Uniquity, yes I have a little bit of the sample left so I’m going to try again armed with my new knowledge. :)

ScottTeaMan

Darjeelings (esp FF’s) do not resteep well. Lower the temp and Amy, try steeping no longer than 3, or even 2.5 minutes.

TeaBrat

will do!

Indigobloom

I’ve had a few that have steeped really well the second and third time. Not so much with the lower quality ones. I’m looking forward to your review of this at a lower temp!!

ScottTeaMan

Indigo…….what do you consider lower quality ones?

ScottTeaMan

Sometimes I will brew a second time, but I usually add more leaf to the 2nd cup.

Indigobloom

Hmmm probably the ones that don’t resteep well!! lol
my spice exchange darjeeling brewed even better the third time. Sweeter and fruitier than the first!

ScottTeaMan

I guess I could, but I’ve never steeped a Darjeeling more than twice.

Indigobloom

how long do you brew for? I tend to do shorter steeps

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89

This is a sample I picked from the RtR website – I thought, due to the description it sounded more on the sweet side. This most definitely IS a darjeeling. I didn’t think I liked them but I got some samples to try anyway.. lol

I steeped this for 4 minutes at about 180 F. I could have gone hotter on the water, the package says to use 200.

I have to admit I was sorely tempted to put soymilk in this but I think it would have ruined the really delicate flavor here. It’s light and delicious! Very fruity tea but I do get the pine needle thing they are describing here. Quite a fragrant aroma which I believe is described as the “muscatel finish”. Well I am a complete newbie to darjeelings since the one I had before was Twinings I believe and that just gave me a stomach ache. This is definitely a different experience and I am enjoying it. I am a little nervous about the astringency but it doesn’t seem to have much.

Now I’m going to have to get familiar with what all these letters mean. SFTGFOP = Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe , you got that? ;-)

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 4 min, 0 sec
ScottTeaMan

Hehehe….I usually brew my second flushes 3-4 minutes, just below boiling (200-205). Only for 2nd flushes will I occasionally add a dash-just enough to color the tea-of milk. I do this if it is a little rough around the edges. :)) PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN! :)) I laugh!

TeaBrat

I may be converted yet… :)

ScottTeaMan

Just a side note: I’ve already lapsed on a New Year resolution. I promised myself I would consume more of my evergrowing tea stash. Well, I’ve already purchased some Mei Li tea, AND Thunderbolt Tea was having a 2011 tea sale, so I couldn’t resist buying more Darjeeling tea! OK…….I’m restating my resolution, starting……NOW! ;-)

TeaBrat

ha – I know I already bought too much tea for Jan. already… :)

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87

I’m finishing off the last of this sample – the white teas from RtR are so good, definitely some of the best I’ve had. :)

Azzrian

I LOVE this tea!! :) Rare Tea Republic is one of my fav vendors!

TeaBrat

Me too…

Azzrian

Great minds Amy :)

ScottTeaMan

Even the name of this tea has always intrigued me. Looks like I’ll eventually order from RTR…….someday. :))

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87

This really is a delicious silver needle tea – light, creamy, soft & floral. It’s a very relaxing brew. I thought it was good but I was not blown away by it like the Shangri-La Himalayan white I had by the same company, which was also more energizing and had more caffeine IMO… interesting. This tea was a lot more expensive than the other one I liked but definitely seems like it would be better for a relaxing and elegant moment. I guess it isn’t fair to compare apples to oranges anyway. As always, I may be updating my tasting notes in the future. :)

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 15 sec

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94

Hmm
It’s a sipdown for me and this tea. I guess I will need to start getting my Temi teas from Upton Tea Imports in the future. I have enjoyed this a lot!

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