Revolution Tea

After a couple of really positive first experiences with Revolution Tea, this was a bit of a letdown. Couldn’t coax any caramel out of it at all. Just honeybush.

This smells heavenly dry. I thought it might be a little tricky to steep it strong enough to get the chocolate without bitter-izing the green, especially with hot water out of McDonald’s tap, but it balanced out nicely. Extremely tasty—I’ll hunt this one down again.

What’s funny about this one, at least to me, is its source: the Flying J Truckstop on I-44 just east of Joplin MO. (Revolution just seemed a little upscale for the venue.) And be ready for a long wait if you ask just to buy the teabag…that really throws the clerk!

No particular standout characteristic, but it’s smooth and pleasant. Nice on its own, didn’t need dairy to tone anything down.

I was hesitant to try this since I’ve tried “chocoate” flavored teas before and did not like them. This one was pretty good though. I actually didn’t taste chocolate in it, but that helped me like the tea.

Well I couldn’t find an ingredients list so whether there’s actually any caramel in this tea will have to remain a mystery for now. I’ve noticed that adding a few squirts of agave nectar does give the tea more of a sweet, honeyed flavour – although I half-think that’s just the natural sweetness of the honeybush talking.

I’m a bit daunted by all the negative reviews this tea has – well at least I’m not going into this with ridiculously high expectations. The smell is quite nice, though more of a honey scent than caramel. The taste of the liquid isn’t anything remarkable, it’s basically like a blend of un-flavoured honeybush and rooibos. A thought occured to me that maybe this tea isn’t supposed to be flavoured at all and the ‘caramel’ in the title is just refering to the natural sweet flavour of the honeybush. Hmm…

*goes to look for an ingredients list *

I steeped it on the low end of the recommended time, because I’m not a big fan of Earl Grey (full disclosure), but I wanted something different for breakfast.
I popped in some milk and sugar, because — again — not an Earl Grey fan, and was disappointed when, instead of lavender and bergamot, I got a dominant smell of burning paint.
What? Burning paint?? This is going to be so yummy….
Um…
The taste is pretty inoffensive. I get a little bit more of that flowery herbiness on my tongue than in my nose, which is unusual.
Just tastes like airplane tea to me.
Oh well.

This was on my shopping list for a while, but I’d pretty much given up on actually getting it.

But somehow! Tealicious happened to be selling them. I’ve never seen them selling any other teas but their own. But either way, it was buy one get one free, so I picked up a box of this and white pear.

Dry, I could only just make out a whiff of lavender. The bergamot was the centre stage. Brewed, the lavender was much stronger, mixing with the bergamot, and giving it an oddly… ginger smell. Huh. I think it’s because both lavender and ginger’s smells are classified as “pungent”.

I get floral notes, and only a little bergamot in the first sip. Very little of the actual tea. This is my first time tasting lavender, and it’s much different from any other florals I’ve tasted. Again, more pungent, although it has its own sweetness. The bergamot comes back as the tea cools.

I followed the time/temp parameters to the letter, but it tastes bitter and oversteeped :-(
I guess I’ll put it in the fridge and see if chilling will save this cuppa…