Lemon Grass

Arrrr, it be Talk Like a Pirate Day, mateys! I sailed the Seven Seas today, and came home too late for messin’ about with the likes of the Captain or Mermaids, so I be settlin’ for a tisane fer tonight. Gots to swing in me bunk in a few hours. Arrrrr!

I’d been seein’ here and tharrrr mentions o’ this herb called lemon grass. On me last raid o’ Adagio’s site, I raided a sample fer me treasure chest!

Smells o’ lemon, indeed it does. And looks like the grass what’s been stuffed in my mattress in the Captain’s quarters. Smells better though. I supposed they washed it, shiver me timbers!

Brewed, it be golden, and it tastes fairly good. Not a keg o’ rum by any means, but tolerable. Definitely something I’d take from a rich merchant vessel sailin’ back fro’ tha Indies!

Arrrrrrr!

This is the last of the Adagio herbal sampler. I see that I was also possessed to buy the honeybush sampler, so I’m not quite tisaned out. At least I skipped the rooibos. I must have been past the rooibos infatuation but didn’t yet know what to make of honeybush when I ordered it.

In any case, this is straight lemongrass, which I don’t think I have had before. It looks like fine, greenish straw, and it smells lemony, planty and vaguely spicy.

It has a pretty, light, lemon smell, and though it’s surprising to me, I’m finding I like it more than the Luscious Lemon from Simpson & Vail, which was an attempt at blending about a gazillion lemon things and which sounded terrific on paper, but which had a bitterness to it that I didn’t find pleasing.

Though this is definitely a single note, it has a mild, almost sweet endpoint to the sip rather than turning bitter. Inexplicably, it is lemonier to me than the Luscious Lemon was, probably because I don’t associate lemon with bitter (tart yes, bitter no).

It’s really not bad by itself. Way better than I’d expected. I should mention that I used quite a bit of “leaf” which may have helped. Fortunately, even if I overdid the leaf this didn’t turn soapy on me like the lemon myrtle did. In fact, overdoing is the way to go, I’m convinced.

It’s not the perfect lemon, but it’s surprisingly within striking distance.

This was a great tea with a pleasant lemon-y taste that had just a bit of bite to it. Very smooth on the palate with a great aroma and not too grassy, but with just enough to keep it earthy tasting.

I brewed my small pot of lemon grass for 8 minutes; it steeped to a nice medium brown cup that smelled grassy and lemony. I added a teaspoon of honey (probably unnecessary, since I think it muted some of the lemon grass flavor). Lovely light grassy aroma.

Doesn’t taste of lemon surprisingly, but is nice all the same. I can’t describe the flavour.

I normally mix it with my blacks, but I steeped it on it’s own for a ‘fair’ note.

Unsweetened:
Not bad for what it is. Grassier on it’s own than I expected. Absolutely love the smell, and it’s a pretty green. Citrus doesn’t come through as strongly as one would think by smelling it. For me it has an odd little ‘cooling’ effect around the tip of my tongue, not severe. A lot like I would get when I would use Blistex external analgesic lip balm and accidentally get some in my mouth, just a milder effect.

Sweetened (4 packets of Splenda):
Now it’s a bit like eating a flower (There are some little white ones that grow wild around here but I can’t remember the name, but this is like a lot of those). I think I used too much Splenda. I split a normal amount of tea between two cups but use the amount I would normally use for a full one.

Pretty drinkable either way. I like sweet things so naturally I prefer it sweetened, but I wouldn’t throw fits if I were offered it unsweetened as a guest.

Between the grassy taste and the cooling effect, it doesn’t get a whole lot from me, but I still love the smell and the slight lemony taste, and I can’t really fault a tea for being what it is.

I imagine it will be great blended with other teas or tisanes, however, on its own it is very grassy tasting (surprise).

I combined lemongrass with other fruity teas (some White Monkey, a hint of orange dulce, some african nectar), and cold brewed it! So refreshing especially with some squeezed mandarin oranges.

Lemongrass is lemongrass is lemongrass.