Luscious Lemon. With a name like that, how can I not be at the end of my perfect lemon search? And let’s look at the ingredients, shall we? Is there anything in there that doesn’t have the word “lemon” in front of it? There’s even a cute story on the bag it came in.
In the bag it does smell incredibly lemony, and steeped, it still maintains its lemonyness in the aroma. But alas, the taste. It’s lemony, but it seems… not really weak, but light. And I can’t decide if it is sweet or whether it needs sweetening. There’s a hint of sweetness to the aftertaste, but there’s also a bit of tart vegetalness and a slight bitterness in the finish. I do like a little sweetness in my lemon flavor, not that it has to taste like candy.
This is the second night I’ve tried this. Last night it was really disappointing; it tasted washed out. Tonight, I made it in a smaller cup and I must have gotten the tisane/water ratio better because it has more flavor and tonight it’s actually somewhat sweeter. I think it tastes better a little cooler, too.
As an experiment, I made another cup to which I added some Upton Peppermint. I thought that might tame the tartness and approximate what I like about I Love Lemon a bit more since that also contains peppermint. It really does help with the tartness and adds some depth to the flavor as well, except that I don’t love the Upton Peppermint. It has an earthy, dirty taste to me. And I think I put too much in, too. So there is a downside as well as an upside. Note to self: try with another peppermint. I have a sample from Adagio, and I opened it up to take a whiff. It doesn’t have that same earthy smell the Upton does, so that may work better.
Last variation: Luscious Lemon plus the last of the Upton Peppermint (decupboarding after I finish this note) plus my all purpose sweetener, two bags of Tazo Honeybush. Not good. The peppermint must have been a bit dusty at the bottom of the can and I have this strange coating on my tongue now. Mostly, I seem to have overpowered the lemon almost entirely. I’m going to try this one more time before I give up on it, with the Adagio peppermint and less of it.
Not perfect, and not as close as the Harney & Sons Lemon Herbal or the Teavana Strawberry Lemonade. But it does show promise, if I can get the steeping and peppermint right.
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You know in the movies and tv where there’s an EMT desperately trying to resuscitate someone? Well, that’s the image I have of you trying to make this poor tea work. :)
Hahaha! Yeah, I’m really trying to find a way not to admit defeat here. Of course, I could just admit that I really like I Love Lemon even though it’s a plebeian, grocery store brand that doesn’t even come in loose leaf. Then again, it’s been February since I had it and I’ve had a lot of tea since then so I may not even like it still. If I didn’t have to buy a whole box to find out, I’d find out. :-)
Haven’t been here long, so don’t know the lemon saga from the start, but just jumping in to say I had the most astonishing lemon myrtle rooibos from the Cultured cup (part of a tasting on the egullet.org tea forum), and was so amazed by the lemonyness (alone as well as the fabulous combination with the rooibos) that I looked up the lemon myrtle. It’s an australian tree whose leaves have a unbelievable percentage of some key lemon flavor thingie by weight when dried—check wikipedia on this.
You might want to try a lemon myrtle tea if you’re trying for death-by-OD-of-lemonyness.
Heya, thanks for the suggestion. I did have a lemon myrtle experience that wasn’t so great. I made it too strong and got a soapy taste, which I have never since been able to avoid thinking of when drinking lemon myrtle. :( I haven’t had it in rooibos to my knowledge, though, so I might get up my guts to give that a try. I have since had at least one experience where I didn’t taste soap while having lemon myrtle in a blend, but it can go either way for me.
Don’t recall any soapy taste to this one; it was so perfect that I’m going to order a bunch to stash at home and at work.
You know in the movies and tv where there’s an EMT desperately trying to resuscitate someone? Well, that’s the image I have of you trying to make this poor tea work. :)
Hahaha! Yeah, I’m really trying to find a way not to admit defeat here. Of course, I could just admit that I really like I Love Lemon even though it’s a plebeian, grocery store brand that doesn’t even come in loose leaf. Then again, it’s been February since I had it and I’ve had a lot of tea since then so I may not even like it still. If I didn’t have to buy a whole box to find out, I’d find out. :-)
Haven’t been here long, so don’t know the lemon saga from the start, but just jumping in to say I had the most astonishing lemon myrtle rooibos from the Cultured cup (part of a tasting on the egullet.org tea forum), and was so amazed by the lemonyness (alone as well as the fabulous combination with the rooibos) that I looked up the lemon myrtle. It’s an australian tree whose leaves have a unbelievable percentage of some key lemon flavor thingie by weight when dried—check wikipedia on this.
You might want to try a lemon myrtle tea if you’re trying for death-by-OD-of-lemonyness.
Heya, thanks for the suggestion. I did have a lemon myrtle experience that wasn’t so great. I made it too strong and got a soapy taste, which I have never since been able to avoid thinking of when drinking lemon myrtle. :( I haven’t had it in rooibos to my knowledge, though, so I might get up my guts to give that a try. I have since had at least one experience where I didn’t taste soap while having lemon myrtle in a blend, but it can go either way for me.
Don’t recall any soapy taste to this one; it was so perfect that I’m going to order a bunch to stash at home and at work.