Lemoncello

Bright citrusy rooibos, I will miss you! (160)
And someday, eventually, I’ll make an order for American Tea Room.

I’m watching Supernatural 4×15 right now and, OMG. These brothers.

These brothers need to stop lying to each other. I get the impression that this will be a constant for the entire show.

SIPDOWN! the rest of this sample is in to the swap box for the girls here to try if they are so inclined the next time they come over. I’ve promised to hold back some of all my american tea room samples so in they go. I opted to try this one as a cold brew, and while it’s not a terrible tea, i’d rather have della terra’s lemon chiffon any day.

yesterday i went to dinner with two other tea drinkers. they are ladies who like white teas and green teas and rooibos more than me. so i did this awesome thing where i packed up all the pooibos (HAHAHA TYPO! i’m keepin it) and a a few greens i didn’t need anymore into my little tea share bags and gave them both samples and they loved them!
win win!!
they get new teas to try and enjoy for free, and i get to enjoy a brilliant beautiful cleaned out tea stash for the new year!!
i freakin love my tea stash now! so very beautiful.
i could close my eyes and pick almost any tea and drink something i’ll enjoy.
and that’s how things should be eh?
less rooibos in 2014.

the lemongrass saves this rooibos blend.

This was tucked away in my cupboard, and I had to search for it, knowing it would be sipdown with just a sample size to tide me over.

Opening the package is quite a treat. Creamy, sweet lemon wafted up to greet me. I want to take a bite out of this smell, it’s so delicious!

Drinking this is similar to what I imagine drinking a buttery lemon pudding would be: tart and sweet, full and thick, with a lot of buttery flake somewhere in there to boot. I wish there was more cream, and I’m missing the other elements the description raves about (caramel, orange, etc.) It is very delicious though, I just think I prefer Tealish’s Lemon Meringue more – and only because of the creaminess in the other blend.

I’m finally getting around to trying this sample that I bought from my first order with ATR from earlier this year.

Brewed 10 oz. of water at the below parameters with 4 tsp of tisane. Strong, but not overly powerful. This is nice – it’s a lovely non-caffeinated version of lemoned tea. But the taste of the lemon is slightly creamy and smooth, not tart, which I like a whole lot! I can easily drink it this way without additions. I did ice half of this and is great on it’s own. A little sweetener brings out the creaminess more. Will be keeping this one on hand!

The scent of this tea is a bit more earthy than I would like it to be. It reminds me a little bit of dirt mixed with lemon. The lemon scent isn’t at all sugary like some other lemon rooibos teas. It still seems like it will be tasty — the scent just isn’t my favorite.

Sipping… the rooibos base is nice and smooth. It doesn’t feel like dry splinters in the throat which is always a positive. The lemon is very mellow and soft. It’s a little bit too light for me, but it’s very pleasant. I wish that there was another element here.. maybe something creamy or tart? It just seems like there’s lemon and rooibos and while the two together aren’t terrible, they’re just not special. I think this would be a nice tea to be paired with a dessert, but as a dessert tea by itself, it’s not all that satisfying.

I thought I’d try this one iced today, I think this might be my first time trying a red rooibos this way. I made some yesterday and then stuck it in the fridge, hopefully I will drink it in the next few days and this is also a god way for me to start drinking down my stash. My biggest complaint about this tisane is I just wish it had more lemon in it, but overall it isn’t too bad.

A new perspective for summertime. This was my new favorite when I discovered Lemoncello during the wet and cold of an unseasonably long winter. But now that summer is suddenly here in full force, it’s the one tea that has bridged the weather with me. Lemoncello is excellent chilled. It’s not the bold, tangy zing of other cold citrus or fruit teas, though, and it shouldn’t be iced if you can help it—but if brewed to its strongest and let to chill in the fridge, it’s perfect. At its strongest, this tea is not ever bold, which is why I don’t dilute it with ice. The lemon makes it refreshing enough, but the vaguely creamy, sweet quality gives one the impression of luxury, indulgence, relaxation. As a matter of fact, after trying this cold, I literally moved my hammock into my bedroom for the summer, and have been relaxing on it with a chilled glass of this in my hand as I wind down on these hot summer nights. Aah, a revelation of a tea, I tell you.

just got this in the mail and it makes a zesty lemony iced tea…delish and perfect for the evening.

This is certainly not a bad non-caffeine flavored option, but it’s in the unenviable position of being comparable to Della Terra’s Lemon Chiffon and falling short. It has that subtle but funky (I hesitate to say this because it’s so gross but I’ve had a handful of rooibos teas now and am positive it’s a quality of rooibos in general) almost urine-y smell brewing. But the lemon flavor is good, and it really does have that liquor-y limoncello quality. I guess it’s a good back-up option if, god forbid, DT ever stops selling Lemon Chiffon. But until then I know which one I’ll always reach for—sorry, ATR!

That said, I bet it’d be good for iced tea (if rooibos cold steeps well…does it? I’m clueless). And better for that than Lemon Chiffon, because the liquor element would be more desirable than a pastry crust one (not to mention OMG I’d never “waste” Lemon Chiffon that way, ha).