Revolution Tea

I don’t think any pears or evern pear-like substances were involved in the making of this tea. The dry leaf doesn’t smell like pears, the tea doesn’t smell like pears, and there’s certainly no taste of pears.

I bothered to steep this twice for once. I detect a bit more fruit flavor in the second steep, but it could still do with about twenty times more.

This one’s just all right. It smells nice before its made, but the flavor is unimpressive — you can’t taste the peach! I keep it around for when I’m not feeling well and want something with ginger.

I ordered this to go with my desserts PF Changs tonight. They serve it in a cast iron tea pot there which is pretty cool. BUT sadly it’s a pyramid bag, happily it’s loose leaf in said bag. Our server Tim brought out two cups with the tea and my husband gave it a shot! I was pretty surprised. I was more surprised when he asked for a second cup!

This was pretty good. I could really taste the apricot in this Oolong which I liked. But I wasn’t really tasting the Oolong in the tea. My husband liked that it was a mild tea, at least mild to him. I didn’t like that they left the bag in and b/c of this the tea got a little too strong and dark. It started as a light color and got closer to amber before I was able to get the bag out of the pot.

I enjoyed teaching my husband a little more about tea while we sipped. :)

Just realized that a majority of Pilot Truck Stops carry revolution teas! I decided to try my hand at a honeybush tea. It came sealed in plastic… not a box.

Steeping smelled lovely!

Decided to be brave and take a sip without sweetener…. ick! First impression was the horrid taste of cough syrup…

I did not give up there! I sweetened with agave necter. Little sip… better… I could taste a hint of caramel… but the cough syrup taste lingered… bleh…

I hope my honeybush experience wasn’t ruined…

BTW I drank this tea with ice… don’t know if that had a bad affect…

Crisp, fruity and lightly flavorful, this tea is great both hot or iced. The pomegranate seeds add good flavor and the health benefits of the tea makes it a good way to stay pumped with full of antioxidants.

Picked this one up at a Pilot truck stop a while ago. I had quite disappointing experiences with the other sachets I picked up, so I wasn’t expecting much from this one, but such is cupboard cleaning: sometimes you drink teas you’re not the biggest fan of.

The dry sachet smelled very generically tropical; I could maybe pick out pinapple? But also worringly artificial. I’m starting get a bit skittish about some fruit tea blends since they can go so wrong so fast for me. Anyway, when I brewed it, it was better than I was expecting. That’s not saying much, but the aroma is decently pleasant and not too fake or sickly-sweet smelling. The green tea isn’t obliterated in the aroma or the taste, which is nice. It tastes fairly generically tropical, like it smells, but it’s decent enough. I was surprised to see that there is mint in this, since the combo of mint and tropical fruit sounds horrible and wrong to me, but while the mint flavor is definitely noticable, I don’t hate it. Overall, it’s not a terribly exciting tea, but not so bad that I won’t drink the whole cup.

This tea greatly surprised me; I picked it up from a truck stop in St. Louis, MO on my way to the airport after running out of all the tea I’d brought with me on the trip. I purchased it alongside several other pouches of Revolution varieties and tried it third or fourth in line, expecting it to have the same mediocre steep I’d gotten out of the others. Not so!

The apricot and safflower flavors dominate the taste of this infusion, while the lovely floral scent was strong enough to get the stewardess to ask me what I was drinking – from a window seat! The oolong flavor is much less smoky/roasty than you’d expect looking at it, and comes through strong under the fruit flavors to be one of the more satisfying bagged teas I’ve yet to try.
-Cash

I wanted a fruity tea this afternoon, and this one jumped out of my samples box at me. I picked this tea up with an assortment of other Revolution Tea sachets back at the beginning of May at a truck stop of all places. The dry leaf on this one smells really peachy. I can see through the sachet that the oolong is accompanied by a bunch of flower petals.

I went ahead and brewed this a full five minutes because if I recall correctly my experience with the other teas from this company was that they were a bit weak. The aroma is oolong-y; it says on the pouch that it’s a green oolong, but it smells more like a dark one to me, with a faint roasty aroma. The fruity peach notes are there in the background.

It may smell like a dark oolong (and look like one, from what I can see through the sachet), but it certainly has the leafy, vegetal taste of a green oolong. The peach/apricot flavor remains in the background of the flavor, subtley boosting the oolong itself. I peach flavors can taste medicinal to me sometimes, but this is a true, juicy fresh peach flavor (perhaps because it’s not over-flavored in the first place). I don’t get any ginger from this one, though it says it has some on the packet. I’m pleasantly surprised; I wasn’t expecting much out of this one, but it turned out pretty good after all.

Another one of the Revolution tea sachets I picked up last weekend. It’s so weird to me that they sell white tea at a truck stop, because you know the hot water that comes out of the coffee machine is probably too hot for it.

Anyway, I love pomegranates but haven’t tried too many pomegranate teas (yet). This one smells kind of general sweet-fruity dry, and it’s hard for me to put my finger on one particular fruit flavor. Brewed the aroma develops more and I get distinct notes; pomegranate, yes, but also perhaps black currant or other berries. It smells pretty nice, and the initial sip has a pleasant taste, but there’s some bizarre aftertaste on the back of the sip that tastes artificial. It’s a distinct taste that I recognize, but I can’t put my finger on it right now… lipstick? Weird flavored lip balm? It’s something like that (I’m not wearing either). Definitely weird and off-putting. On some sips I don’t really get it at all, but on some it’s really strong. Maybe it’s just my sachet, and without the aftertaste this would be a nice, light, fruity tea.

I didn’t have super high hopes for this one based on my last tea by this company, but I can’t help but try all the new teas I get right after I get them, so I chose this sachet anyway.

Dry it smelled primarily like herby lavender with a bit of bergamot and something else; an almost peppery note that I’m not sure is coming from the lavender or the tea. Brewed it smells heavily of lavender, and the taste is primarily lavender with a hint of slightly astringent bergamot at the end of the sip. It’s a fine enough tea, and certainly better than the one I had yesterday, but it’s not Earl Grey-y enough for me, and the bergamot that is there just adds astringency and combines with the herby lavender in a not-great way in the aftertaste. My rating on this one started out higher but I kept dropping it as I progressed through the cup.

I’ve discovered that Pilot truck stops are one of the few gas stations (the only one I’ve found, really) to offer non-Lipton tea bags. When I’m on the road I sometimes want a little caffeine boost from a tea, and while I’m not expecting much, it’s pleasant to find pyramid sachets of tea. They actually have a variety of sachets, and I picked up a handful of them on my recent road trip, not for drinking on the road but for trying out later (who has the control over steeping parameters to brew a white tea on the road?). Who knows how old these are, since I don’t know what kind of tea turnover a truck stop in western Maryland has, but I thought I’d give it a go.

Anyway, this was one I grabbed because, orange chocolate, right? I love those flavors together. Dry, the sachet smells like green tea and ginger with a hint of orange, and those flavors pretty much bear out in the brewed tea. I brewed it for a bit longer than it said on the packet because of suggestions on Steepster, but still it’s primarily a very light green tea with some ginger notes (not very strong, but there). As it cools I get maybe a little orange, but no chocolate. Oh well. Disappointing, but then again, I bought it at a truck stop!

Not my favourite. It would probably be decent if I were just expecting a slightly sweet white tea, but I was really looking forward to a deep pear flavour… which I did not get. I guess I’ll keep searching. It is light and soothing, but I can’t see myself buying another box.

A great green flavor, not too earthy.

A good mild tea, but doesn’t have a very strong Earl Grey flavor.

My favorite at-work tea. I’ve gotten everyone hooked on it!

Maybe too many flavors are trying to come through with this tea, but still a treat and quite tasty.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 teabag
Water: 16 oz hot spigot water
Steep Time: a little over 2 minutes (lost track of time at work, not exactly sure)
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: aci berry, vegetal
Steeped Tea Smell: vegetal, hint of berry
Flavor: sweet vegetal, berry finish
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: didn’t note one
Liquor: translucent light olive green

Gift from fellow tea drinker at work.

It was a good, solid berry green, but not something amazing. I think with better steep time and a touch of honey it would be a great daily green.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2011/03/revolution-tea-teabag-green-tea-acai.html

Lord’s Day May 15, 2011
1st Steep Of The Day
Took Some Lavender Grey
And Headed Down route 15 to Va.
The Cup Lasted the whole way to Church.
Great Smooth Earl Grey Tea with Lavender Back Notes.
Keep on Steepin