Tag: Herbal/Fruit Infusion

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Lemon Lily’s Summer Splash

Summer Splash by Lemon Lily
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$9.00 for 50g

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Lemon Lily’s Summer Splash came to me as part of The Sugared Teacup’s July themed subscription box.

First Impressions

Summer Splash came to me in a nice white, resealable bag. I’m a fan of packaging that is useful, so the seal is always appreciated. When I opened the bag, the first thing I smelled was berries and then there was a hint of lemongrass. This tea has some heavy ingredients! I estimate that I could probably get about ~3 teapots worth of tea from this bag (25g). Summer Splash is a special Canada 150 Celebration tea.

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Summer Splash is made up of: organic elderberries, organic hibiscus, organic lemongrass, organic lemon peel, organic orange and orange peel, organic currents and organic raisins. As per their website Lemon Lily is a certified organic tea company (located in Canada!) that uses all 100% certified organic ingredients. I’ve classified this herbal infusion as being ‘flavoured’ as opposed to ‘straight’ because it contains more than one ingredient (which is my usual requirement to be labelled as straight).

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Preparation

Lemon Lily recommends steeping Summer Splash in 200°F (93°C) water for 4-6 minutes. My initial steep of Summer Splash was for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Summer Splash steeps to a bright ruby red, it’s so pretty! The aroma of this tea is primarily berries with some hibiscus in it. When I sipped this tea, the only thing that went through my mind was it was very tart. Quite a bit of mouth puckering going on for me when I sipped this. With the addition of honey, the tartness toned down a lot and I could taste the citrus flavours in it, as well as the berry flavour. I did not really like this tea hot, but Lemon Lily does list Summer Splash under their iced teas, so I poured it out into a bottle to chill in the fridge. Verdict? It’s incredible iced – the level of fruitiness is just where I like it for an iced tea and it has a refreshing quality to it.

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A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Summer Splash and found the second steep to be a bit lacking in terms of flavour. It was missing the intensity of hibiscus and citrus that I found in the first steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Lemon Lily’s Summer Splash. I think this herbal infusion is destined to be an iced tea only, and would highly recommend either cold steeping it or chilling it down with some ice cubes. It’s just so much better cold than it is hot (Lemon Lily clearly has the right idea since they list it under their iced teas). I find that the hibiscus can be overwhelmingly tart if you don’t do anything after the infusion is done. I would highly recommend adding some kind of sweetener to help tone down the tartness, it really helps to allow you to realize the other flavours in there. Overall, I think it makes a fantastic iced tea, but it just needs a little help in making it palatable.

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Arbor Teas’ Orange Spice Lemongrass Tisane

Orange Spice Lemongrass Tisane by Arbor Teas
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$9.95USD for 2.5oz

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Arbor Teas has provided me with Orange Spice Lemongrass Tisane for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

When I read the list of ingredients for Orange Spice Lemongrass Tisane, I was thinking to myself that I needed to keep this for when I have a sore throat or an upset stomach. The ingredients that make up this herbal infusion are: organic lemongrass, organic orange peel, organic cinnamon, organic ginger root, and natural cinnamon and orange flavouring. Typically, you can find a lot of lemongrass and ginger in herbal infusions that are meant for people feeling a bit under the weather. I know that for me, growing up, my mom made a lot of batches of ginger tea that had a bit of lemon and not quite enough honey to kill the spice of the ginger that she would slice up to put into the water. That said, let’s get into it!

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The packaging is the same as the other sample that I received from Arbor Teas (Silver Needle), so I won’t be getting into about how their packaging is very cool and compostable (which I think is fantastic for the environment). This blend has a great lemongrass aroma to it as soon as I cut open the packaging. The lemongrass, orange peel, ginger root and cinnamon are all very obvious visually in this blend, with lemongrass clearly being the star. I can smell the lemongrass, orange, and ginger. It definitely reminds me of the lemon-ginger-honey ‘tea’ that my mom would make for me when I was sick, this leads to a very comforting feel the aroma of this blend.

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Preparation

Arbor Teas recommends steeping Orange Spice Lemongrass Tisane in boiling (100°C/212°F) water for 5 to 7 minutes. My initial steep of Orange Spice Lemongrass Tisane was for 6 minutes.

The nice thing about this being an herbal infusion is that you can’t really “oversteep” this. With tea blends that have tea leaves in them, you run the risk of ‘burning’ the leaves or oversteeping them, which can lead to very bitter or very astringent cups of tea. With herbal infusions, there are no tea leaves so you can’t really do much damage to them. That said, the longer you steep this blend, the more intense the ginger and cinnamon flavours will be, which may lead to a spicier cup.

First Taste

Orange Spice Lemongrass Tisane has a very bright fragrance to it – the orange and lemongrass play nicely together in bringing forward bold citrus scents, while the ginger is in the background with just a hint of spice. I can’t really smell the cinnamon after this has been steeped, but that’s fine by me as I didn’t really smell it in the dry leaf either. This herbal infusion steeps to a nice bright yellowy-orange, I quite like it! It’s a very cheerful colour. The taste is primarily lemongrass, with hints of orange and ginger. The ginger has a bit of spice to it, which was to be expected.

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A Second Cup?

I typically don’t resteep herbal or fruit infusions, but I did try this one for a resteep. I found the flavours in the resteep to be very mild compared to the initial steep. The impact of the lemongrass wasn’t as strong, and the orange was hard to find in my cup. The ginger wasn’t as strong either, which led to it being a bit disappointing. I would say that this tisane is good for one steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I thought that Arbor Tea’s Orange Spice Lemongrass Tisane was just okay. This isn’t an herbal blend that I would have picked out for myself, mostly because of the lemongrass and ginger. It definitely does make me feel like I should have an upset stomach or be feeling under the weather while having this tisane because of what my mom used to make for me when I was sick. That said, the lemongrass and ginger flavours are strong and they go very well together. The longer you steep it, the stronger the ginger flavour will be in the resulting cup. I think that Orange Spice Lemongrass Tisane would be great if you’re looking for something to tame an upset stomach, or if you’re looking for a caffeine-free alternative to tea or coffee.

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The Key of Tea’s ImmuniTea

ImmuniTea by The Key of Tea
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$8.00USD for 2oz

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The Key of Tea has provided me with ImmuniTea for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

ImmuniTea has an excellent punny name and the Key of Tea’s website states that this blend is of immune-boosting herbs. ImmunitTea consists of: elderberry, rosehips, peppermint, lavender, sage, hibiscus, ginger root, and echinacea. The ingredient that really stands out the most to me when smell the dry herbal blend is the ginger. Ginger in general can be a pretty strong ingredient, so I’m not surprised that it overpowers the other ingredients before it’s been steeped. It’s a very pretty blend though, I love how I can see the individual ingredients in the blend.

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A word of advice, some herbs can interact with prescription medications so it’s always a good idea to talk to your physicians/pharmacists and let them know that you’ll be taking any herbal supplements. Here is an image of the retail packaging, provided by The of Key of Tea:

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Preparation

The Key of Tea’s website didn’t have any preparation recommendations for ImmuniTea, I used boiling water (100°C/212°F) and steeped it for 5 minutes.

First Taste

ImmuniTea steeps to a very pretty reddish-orange. I love the smell of it as I poured it into my tea cup – the smell of ginger, lavender, and peppermint wafts up to me and it just puts me into a really good mood! There’s just something about it that smell delicious and inviting. On first sip, I note that ImmuniTea has a light sweetness. There’s a strong ginger flavour, with a freshness at the end of each sip. I found that the combination of ingredients makes for a nice warming sensation.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped ImmuniTea twice with an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found the first resteep was a bit milder than the first, and the second resteep wasn’t as good. I think that ImmuniTea is good for a total of two steeps.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved The Key of Tea’s ImmuniTea. The warming sensation was a delight, thanks to the ginger. I loved the freshness at the end of each sip, that I attribute to the peppermint. The sweetness of this herbal blend adds a little extra something to it, and makes it a tasty delight. It’s a good blend of herbal ingredients and I do enjoy a good herbal tea from time to time because the lack of caffeine means I can drink it at 9pm and not feel energized all night long. The ginger is the strongest ingredient in the dry leaf and steeped tea, and it’s just so good and works well as a pick-me-up.

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