Herbal Citrus

Shae Advent Day 11

I’m drinking this cold, and I taste a lot of hibiscus and lemon. It needs a little extra sweetening, but it’s decently refreshing. It’s almost too tart, but still falls within a pleasant window. I love sour candy, so this sort of reminds me of eating a lemon Sour Patch or something like that!

H is for… Herbal Citrus.

My husband says this is cheating, using Herbal for my ‘H’ with this blend, but it’s the actual name of the tea so I say it goes! I’ve honestly been avoiding this one because it has several ingredients I don’t really like in tea – hibiscus, lemongrass, citrus/lemon. It’s one that he picked out from a local tea company at the market a few months ago, so I know he’ll love it at least. It’s one I haven’t tried yet though, so I feel like I should at least give it a shot. What better time to do that than with this month’s sipdown theme, even though it won’t be a sipdown.

I really was not looking forward to this, so I just kept avoiding eye contact with the cup until the brew got cold. Which is probably (almost certainly!) for the better. I finally took my first sip and (surprise!) I like it. I do like hibiscus when it’s cold, so it probably shouldn’t be all that surprising. I really expected to hate this one though. I’m on a mission to try all of our teas at least once, even the ones James has picked out for himself, so I can now mark this one from my list. I would even say I’d try it again, but most definitely cold. The cinnamon and lemon came through most when steeping, reminding me of a dish my dad makes with lemon, cinnamon, and rice. Now that I’m drinking it, there’s mostly the hibiscus with a hint of lemon. Of course, I added honey to tame the tartness from the hib so it’s very sweet. A good choice for a warm spring day, so I’d say it would be a really nice summery iced tea as well. It does have a bit of dryness that lingers after the sip, but I’m okay with it. Overall, I’d say this one was a success (based entirely on my anticipated loathing).