Red Rose

I’ve had this for many years of my life and it holds a special place in my heart. I am preferring different teas the older I get but this will always be a classic to me.

Sadly not a fan. I’ve had non-decaf Red Rose orange pekoe tea for many years of my life, and I’m pretty sure I’ve tried the decaf version before, but the most recent box we got of it was unpleasant. They changed the bag styles since I think I had it last, and while I’ve had mostly Tetley decaf black tea lately I found this to be very, very mild in flavour and it tasted kind of like grass to me. I tried it with two tea bags as well to see if it would help, and while it did make it stronger (I drink very strong black tea often) the grassy flavour was still there but more intense (which would make sense since I doubled the tea!). It wasn’t the worst, but it didn’t taste like orange pekoe to me. It actually reminded me a teensy bit of genmaicha, which I really enjoyed, but what put me off is that it isn’t supposed to taste that way. It didn’t taste as good as genmaicha, but it had a burnt grassy flavour that was reminiscent of it to me.
I’ve really enjoyed Red Rose tea for years, but I think when I drink tea from them I will stick with non-decaffeinated.

Look, we all know why you are drinking this. You wanted the cute little ceramic frog but you got some sort of squirrel instead. Or maybe you are over a coffee drinker’s house and they unearthed this box with a flourish of pride from some hoary old cabinet. It’s neither good nor bad- it’s just tea. Don’t make it into sun tea, that’s what the Lipton’s is for.

I saw a box of 60 bags on sale for $3.00 so I decided to pick up a box. This brings me up to 73 teas in my cupboard! I keep telling myself I need to finish some of the teas before I get more but It never works out that way. My tea stash just keeps expanding.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted. It was a bold taste but not bitter which is what I like.

The instructions say that one bag is good for two cups of tea so I made 500 ml (2 cups) and after steeping at 100 C for 5 minutes it made 2 medium strength cups of tea (which is perfect for me). However, if you like it strong or add milk you might want to use one bag per cup.

I keep trying to really like this, because it’s peach, and peach is one of my favorite flavors in the world. But it’s not quite peach enough. It reminds me more of a fruit salad. Maybe it’s the hibiscus, or maybe it’s whatever the “cobbler” part is. It’s okay, and is drinkable, but it’s never going to be a go-to peach tea for me.

This is a good black tea.

Just don’t make the mistake I did the first time by steeping it too long (more than 5 minutes) or it can get quite bitter.

Flavour: Mild black tea in the American idiom. Not complex. When served sweetened, notes of date and carrot cake are the order of the day.

Aroma: Moderately aromatic. Notes of date, sweet spice, pastry, and snapdragon blossoms greet the nose.

Mouthfeel: Moderate in body. Just barely stout enough to satisfy.

Appearance of brewed tea: Rich caramel brown tea topped by an appealing thin oily lacing. A good looking cuppa, I’d say.

Caffeine: Below average caffeination for black tea.

Virtues: I find the aroma and appearance of this tea to be quite inviting. Moderately intense flavour lacks distracting off-notes. Inexpensive and readily available in US supermarkets.

Faults: Intolerant of indifferent preparation—tastes soapy and grassy if brew water is insufficiently hot. Flavour and aromatic intensity of this tea seems to vary from year to year; the American-market Red Rose I recall from the 1980s was a more robust tea than the Red Rose of today.

The Verdict: This is my favourite inexpensive and widely available tea sold in US supermarkets. Careful brewing will reveal some unexpected rewards. I find American-market Red Rose entirely serviceable for drinking when I’ve run out of finer teas. Cheap and cheerful.

This was, up until my introduction to DAVID’s Tea about a year ago, what I would always think of when someone said “tea”. However any time I have tried this before was in my tea hating days, so I could never say too much about it. However, my grandmother makes a pot every morning and these days I’ll never say no to tea.

I can see why this is popular. It’s super basic. Not bitter, even if over-steeped (my grandmother leaves the bag in, much to my chagrin). Slightest citrus note, but nothing in your face. I, personally, would get bored of it, but to each his own.

So I went out for dinner last night and wanted a tea with my meal. I ordered a green tea and they brought me one with spearmint which generally would have been fine but I noticed it was Tazo which, for various reasons, I didn’t want so she brought me their tea box so I could pick another. They were all Tazo except Red Rose Orange Pekoe so that’s what I chose. I drank it happily with cream and it was pretty good. I prefer it with sugar too but I passed on the extra calories. This tea reminds me of my grandparents. My Papa always drank this tea and my Nanny had a collection of those little figurines that came in the box years and years ago. A nice little change from my usual herbal selections.

This tea did not taste like Earl Grey in any sense. Having drank many good Earls, this was not even close to tasting like one. It was simply put, cheap and terrible. Don’t waste your $$$ on this one. The Red Rose basic is a far better choice!~

Very light but good taste

Teeny Tiny TTB Round 2

I’m always up for another lemon dessert tea, even if it happens to be a bagged brand. I’m familiar with Red Rose, but I’ve never tried any of their teas before. Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve had a tea in a regular old traditional-style tea bag. Dry, it smells like more chiffon than lemon, it’s quite sweet.

Wow, the steeped tea also smells like a giant pile of meringue with a hint of lemon. Eh, this one is weird. The lemon is really chemically, and it’s reminding me of lemon-scented dish soap or something. Or lemon pepper. I taste zero black tea here, just an artificial sugary dessert flavor. And a weird aftertaste to go with it, ick.

I have a habit of throwing a cinnamon stick into tea and this one does quite well with that. It’s my father’s favorite. Sometimes you’re just feeling a plain cup without much to-do.

This a citrus Earl Grey with lemon and orange peel in it. It’s either light on the bergamot, or it’s masked by the citrus. It’s unique, I’ll give it that much, but I personally prefer plain bergamot.

Sad that people don’t like this because I’m really into it. Valid point that it doesn’t taste like cobbler, but the peach taste is pretty strong. Would recommend.