Teas from Concentrate: Delicious Tea Without the Mess

I consider myself somewhat of a tea snob, and I've tried everything from non-bleached tea bags to whole tea leaves, but my favorite discovery has been tea concentrate. It comes in a bottle that you keep in your fridge, and all you have to do is add a couple teaspoons to a glass or mug of cold or hot water, and then whatever sweetener you like, and my opinion is that it's fool-proof and often tastes better than tea from a steeped bag. You don't have to worry about remembering to take the bag out after the right amount of time, and there's no soggy leaves to scrape out and throw away after you're done. I've tried a lot of concentrates, but these are my favorites:

Republic of Tea

Republic of Tea's products can be found in a lot of coffee shops in America, which is where I discovered their Chai Tea Concentrate, and it's my favorite of all the brands I've tried. They also have a website and a catalog you can subscribe to that comes every couple months (and includes a complimentary tea bag!). It's concentrated from brewed black tea, and has a slight sweetness to it and is spiced with the typical ingredients in chai tea: cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon, wildflower honey, ginger and cloves. My favorite evening drink is a decaf chai latte made from Republic of Tea's decaf chai concentrate: a couple teaspoons of the concentrate in a big mug of steamed milk.

Starbucks

I don't go to Starbucks so I don't know if they actually sell this in their store, but they sell it online and it's really good. My favorite is their Vanilla Tea Latte Concentrate made by Tazo -- it's less sweet than a lot of flavored teas, and less spicy than chai. They also have a Green Tea Latte Concentrate which has gotten good reviews, but since I'm not a fan of green teas in general, I haven't tried it.

Carnelian Rose Tea Co.

The Carnelian Rose Tea Co., out of Vancouver, Washington, makes AWESOME iced tea concentrates. My favorite is their Snow Berry blend, because it has hints of vanilla and cinnamon along with the berries. I advise buying a few gallons of spring water from the grocery store to make a good pitcher of iced tea, because many homes have hard water which can make the tea muddy and weird-tasting. Just add 5 or 6 tablespoons to a gallon of ice water and you're done!

I was wary about trying tea concentrates at first because I figured you shouldn't mess with perfection, and I thought they'd taste manufactured and syrupy. But a good tea concentrate is better than tea bags, in my opinion -- faster, easier, fool-proof, and just as delicious.