Lemon Lily – Page 9 – One More Steep

Rose Petal Chai by Lemon Lily
Black Tea / Flavoured
$9.00 for 50g

Lemon Lily’s Rose Petal Chai came to me as part of a subscription box from The Sugared Teacup.

First Impressions

As a fan of black tea blends, I’m a sucker for a good chai. There’s just something soothing about a black with with a whole bunch of spices… and sometimes I’ll add some honey or sugar and some frothed milk and make it into a tea latte. I was happy to see Rose Petal Chai in the box that I received from The Sugared Teacup, because while I love a good chai, I don’t always have all the ingredients on hand to blend it on my own, so having it blended for me helps a lot!

Rose Petal Chai came to me in a resealable bag, the aroma of the dry leaf is primarily that of cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon – yum! Lemon Lily’s Rose Petal Chai consists of: black tea, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, rose petal, rosehip, and vanilla bean – all certified organic.

Preparation

Lemon Lily recommends steeping Rose Petal Chai in 212°F (100°C) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Rose Petal Chai steeps to a deep reddish-brown, and has a beautiful aroma that is mostly that of cardamom and ginger. It’s a very relaxing aroma if you breathe it in deep! I found that the flavour of the tea is well reflected by the ingredients list. I can taste the cardamom, there’s some gentle heat from the ginger, and I can taste the cinnamon for sure. I found that there’s just a hint of floral sweetness, which I attribute to the rose petal and rosehip. I can’t make out the vanilla bean, unfortunately, but the overall flavour profile definitely makes me think of a nice chai.

I did try Rose Petal Chai with a touch of honey and some frothed milk to make it into a tea latte and I was not disappointed! If you like chai lattes, I would definitely recommend trying this chai as a tea latte.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Rose Petal Chai twice. The first resteep was fairly similar to the initial steep in terms of flavour and strength of all the ingredients. The second resteep was missing the floral sweetness and the ginger was more lost. I would say that Rose Petal Chai is good for one more steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked Lemon Lily’s Rose Petal Chai. I found the blend of ingredients to be incredibly pleasant, and made for a very nice lightly floral cup of chai. The gentle heat of the ginger and the presence of cardamom make for a very nice cup of tea – made all the better when I turned it into a tea latte! I do wish the vanilla bean was more a present flavour, since I love the flavour of vanilla bean. I think this blend could do with some more rose petals, just to impart a stronger rose flavour into the tea.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

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.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.