Lipton

I do not have a good history with Lipton teas. Me and those, we are not destined to be friends. But this “lemon balm” tea is maybe the lowest point in our history just yet.

Some context: cidreira, or lemon balm or melissa officinalis (or something like that, but you know, with spelling) is a plant whose infusions are really popular in Portugal. Like mint, or chamomile, or linden, lemonbalm tea is one of those standard herbal infusions. With good reason, I do not know why this seems unknown worldwide, this is light, delicate, just a very very nice herbal tea.

You can usually buy it pretty cheap from several brands and supermarkets. Lipton is probably the priciest brand, fancy pyramid bags and big stands on supermarkets. Considering my history with Lipton i had never had this infusion yet, but just had it and they managed to spoil it. They added chicory (!) to a light lemony-minty herb. 10% chicory. It tastes muddy. It tastes like chicory overwhelming the poor lemon balm. It´s awful. Chicory and lemon balm, they add nothing to each other. WHY? WHY do this? I truly do not get it.

Resumo em Português:
isto não é chá de cidreira nem deveria poder ser chamado chá de cidreira. É uma mistura de cidreira com chicória. Chicória, que vai muito bem com café mas nada bem com cidreira. Chicória, que adiciona qualidades a certas infusões, mas que na minha opinião, não tem nada de nada a ver com cidreira. Achei esta mistela intragável, especialmente para o preço que cobram. Lipton, porquê esta porcaria?

Oh. My. GOD. This has to be the worst tea I’ve yet had in my (I’m still insisting it’s short) life thus far.

I went to Humpty’s yesterday (oh, Humpty’s, night owls everywhere thank you for your blessed existence…) and had a wonderful breakfast of bennies and perogies, ahh. I also had apple juice, and ordered a tea, but pocketed the Lipton bag the server gave me (thank heavens) on the side and steeped David’s Nepal Black instead. What a lovely meal.

Well, that Lipton’s bag was still in my pocket today, so I scored some hot water with honey off SBUX and steeped this worryingly steamrolled-looking little bag. Good grief, I would have been better off drinking honey water.

The dry smell is nasty. Like tea dipped in some sort of cleaner. The wet smell is actually worse – my notes (yeah, I have a little tea notebook now, what a dork) say, “Cleaner and black pepper! Huh?”

But the taste! Gack! Hurk! It tastes like a cardboard box shoved to the back of the top shelf of the closet in your spare room would taste if it were liquefied – oh, but not before you dunked it in Lemon Pledge furniture cleaner! Oooh, can I insert that little red >_< face from the rating scale?

Ew!

I was given some of this tea from a friend. It is very pleasant in both aroma and taste. Added to my shelf as I adore citrus tastes.

Colour: Dark Honey
Smell: Sharpness of the grapefruit yet also the sourness of the lemon. Light yet very fresh and citrus smelling.

Taste: Again the most domineering flavour is the grapefruit but you can still taste the lemon and lime in the background with a hint of the green tea. I would say this lives up to it’s name and is delightful to drink for a ‘pick me up’ so it would be grand to be used as a morning tea. Warning for those unsure about citrus flavours as this is quite strongly citrus.

I first had this tea in the Baltics in 1991, then again on a train to Murmansk in 2000. It was wonderful. It tasted just like black tea except without the bitterness and with a very slight sweetness. It took years to find a grocery store in the USA that carried the yellow label. Lipton Yellow Label is my favorite tea.

I like this stuff but…I keep tasting cinnamon-y. Or something similar.
Its really, really odd to me.

After watching a documentary on Hulu about tea I decided to give Lipton a try again. I grew up with Lipton in the house but when I got older and discovered loose leaf teas I left the grocery store brands behind. I’m really glad that Hulu inspired me to give Lipton another shot because this tea is really good! There’s something so soothing and simple about it. And for those who don’t like the orange rind flavor, me neither. Thankfully there’s none of that in Orange & Spice!

This tea has a clean flavour like all of the superfruit brand. this tea naturally sweet but was so great with a bit of stevia powder

This was the first tea I ever had, as it was always in the family cupboard. Since, I have tried various sugar to liquid ratios and found one that works well. The only problem is quality control. Some cups are EXCELLENT and others are absolutely horrible. The flavour is very impressionable. More so than any other tea I have had.

It’s a nice, refreshing tea for lazy Sunday afternoons!
I make a teapot (about 2 cupfuls) and adore the nice hints of mango and peach in this lightly flavoured white tea.
Recommended for people who don’t want anything too strong in taste. No need for milk or sugar either. An overall delightful fruity tea.

Backlog #4: I don’t think I will ever not have Lipton tea bags in my cupboard because sometimes you just need a plain tea that is hot and sweet. Nothing fancy, nothing frilly. Just something that you can’t screw up very easily unless you let it sit for far too long.

Plus it does make a fantastic iced tea.

Work was exhausting today and I feel too tired to make one of my fancier teas. Just this with sugar for tonight. Good news is that I’m off two hours earlier tomorrow, so it won’t be as exhausting.

Apparently I still want this tea. I always develop a taste for it and only it when I am not feeling well. But the good news is that I am feeling better. I have two more days of medicine and then hopefully I will be back to normal (and indulging in some choice oolongs!)

I’m feeling a little big better today. I think I am feeling good enough to actually break out the gunpowder green later today. That’s exciting. I haven’t had a proper cup of loose leaf in a few weeks.

According to Think Geek, this month is National Tea month. I think that is kinda cool and a good excuse to write an actual tea blog post sometime this month.

I’m sick with an ear infection and a cough that won’t stop. So I am all medicated up and under orders to actually rest. Sugared and hot for this tea to help me feel better with a handful of peppermint Hershey kisses.