I first tried it in Landry's Restaurant in Tampa. I believe if you order an iced tea that is what they automatically bring you - they do not have iced tea that they brew in-house. You will find Republic of Tea served in bottles in some nicer restaurants, airport restaurants, and the tea bags for hot tea or for fresh brewing at home are available in Panera Bread.
My favorite thing Republic of Tea offers is their bottled teas. This is a miracle since any other bottled tea, I absolutely can't stand. I want it fresh brewed on site, or not at all. I'm a true tea connoisseur. I can tell if it's not fresh brewed or if they have lied to me. Sometimes I'll ask a server, "do you fresh brew your tea here?" They will say, "oh yes Mam, it's fresh brewed." Then I take a sip and immediately detect, it is Lipton or Nestle that comes in the fountain drinks, probably right next to where they got the Coke or Sprite. Please understand, fresh brewed tea is NEVER, NEVER squirted. If someone is squirting your tea, it's the wrong kind. Fresh tea is brewed and then poured. There is just no other way. Just because the front of the bottle says, "fresh brewed" means nothing. If it's in a bottle, IT IS NOT FRESH BREWED. That is sort of an oxy-moron. I have sent back a lot of fake iced teas when I have been lied to. But I'm always nice about it. What I feel like doing is screaming, "LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE!!! THIS IS NOT FRESH BREWED TEA, SO WHY DID YOU LIE TO ME WHEN YOU KNEW YOU WERE SQUIRTING IT OUT OF THE SODA FOUNTAIN?" But after all I am a Christian and I do try to be a good example, so instead I just call the server over and say, "Um, dear, this isn't exactly what I was looking for...could you just bring me a water with lemon? Thank so much..."
There are some restaurants I will go back to just because they have fantastic iced tea. Some places where I really enjoy their house iced tea: Reb Lobster, Olive Garden, Perkins, Moe's Southwestern Grill, Shane's Rib Shack, just to name a few. As I don't want to bash anybody, I won't name the places I hate. But suffice it to say if they have bad or fake iced tea I remember it and never go back.
So back to the Republic of Tea...I became exposed to it through Landry's. And I love it. Right now other than Landry's I don't know of any place but the Tampa Airport that you can get it, so Susan Lilly who works there (bless her heart - I love her!!!) blesses me with a bottle sometimes. My favorite is their most popular of the glass bottled variety - Republic Darjeeling Black Glass Bottled. It's $4.50 a bottle or $51.00 a case (for 12). Yes, I know it's on the expensive side. This is why the bottle sits in my fridge and it is for a special occasion only. Either when I'm real happy or real sad...
I hope sometime all of you can taste it ~ I know you'll fall in love just like I did, especially if you are a real tea lover.
And that's okay. Just let us be as we lavish love upon the fur-kids of the world. It doesn't mean we don't care about people. We do care. In fact most of the people I know who are great pet lovers are also the greatest philanthropists. If you're not a dog lover, you might not understand the overwhelming intensity that many of us felt about Tank's reunion this past week. You might think we've lost our marbles. That's okay, we think you've lost your heart. ;) Before I go on with this post, let me say that we were delighted that CBS 10 posted the video and article about Tank and his Celebration Church reunion yesterday. Click here to watch it. (But then come back!) If you haven't realized it, there is a revolution in America about dogs. Dogs have always been loved and known as the most loyal companions ~ "man's best friend". But things have gone way beyond this. Dogs aren't just dogs or friends anymore. They are family me
Comments
I don't get terribly excited about any bottled product except diet coke-I guess that counts it is a plastic bottle.
I could handle bottled tea before I could handle instant coffee!Don't play with my coffee!
I haven't broken down and blown the $50+ on a case of bottles, but I did just purchase the loose tea. I'm going to try to make iced tea using the tea leaves at home. We'll see....