Bigelow
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This is the grocery-shelf lemon tea I was craving. Found it at a King Cash Saver, one of those sneaky grocery stores with a 10% upcharge, but I was there, it was there, and it was worth the extra 30-ish cents just to grab it and go.
Bigelow has kept this in its rotation for a very long time, and it’s been reviewed fairly favorably pretty consistently since it first appeared on Steepster. It differs from the echinacea/vitamin C version I recently tried (subtract licorice, add “a dash of spice”). The addition appears to be a trade secret, but I wonder if it’s similar to the cinnamon/clove combo that’s the hallmark of their Constant Comment blend.
At any rate, I’ll confirm what 13-ish years worth of reviews largely agree on. It’s a decent tea on a light base. For whatever reason, this week, that hit the spot.
Not sure why, but I have been craving bog-standard black tea with lemon. Bigelow’s Lemon Lift is my favorite cheapie, but it’s only on a few shelves at stores off my normal shopping route. So, any port in a storm, I grabbed this at Walmart last night.
Of course, I didn’t read the fine print until after we were home. There’s some licorice root in the blend, which made me approach it very cautiously this morning. But at a sloppy 4-minute steep, the citrus balances out the licorice so it’s smooth but not sticky.
Final judgment call: performs as advertised—black tea with lemon. A vitamin C boost never hurts, either—school opens next week, and I am drowning in close-proximity people events over the next few days.
I hate it when tea has undercover licorice root, glad it wasn’t too powerful. Why is it always hidden in the fine print?
One last round of Bigelow torture for today?
Its brewed aroma smells fermented like the Bigelow decaf black. I wonder if it’s the same tea. Before today, I had zero experience with decaf teas. The bergamot is decent quality, though, and somewhat overrides that funky smell. A few sips — all good, I can endure this light lashing. Until the tea after a few more sips feels like chemical burn on my throat. Swollen and so, so dry, like I swallowed a spoon of drywall mud. Please! Please! My uvula can’t take anymore!
Is this the punishment for pocketing a handful of teas from the hotel?
Flavors: Bergamot, Bread Dough, Chemical, Dry, Drying, Flat, Malty, Woody
Preparation
From a Holiday Inn Express. Smells like shou puerh, like it has a little bit of that fermentation. Taste is dry, malty, woody, coppery, earthy, mineral, with a hint of vanilla sweetness on the back of the palate. It’s not too bad despite being decaffeinated and packed in a paper envelope.
Flavors: Copper, Dry, Drying, Earthy, Malty, Mineral, Tannin, Vanilla, Woody
Preparation
It was a tea yoinked from the coffee bar out of spite. What do you mean the only caffeinated tea you have is Bigelow Green?!
Another from the tea swap…This is a backlogged session from Monday morning. I had the intentions of sitting at the computer type my thoughts as I sipped, but I began playing Palworld on Steam and caught up on a letter to a tea friend.
I had hoped for this tea to taste wonderful on the account orange and spice mixtures are one of my favorite mixes in a tea blend. This was too weak in the spies and orange, and nowhere close to the Orange and Cinnamon that Twining’s offers; which is favorite during the Fall/Winter seasons.
Backlog, Friday April 26, 2024
I obtained this one during the tea swap a couple of months back. I’m finally starting to make my way through these teas. I figured it’s easier to throw a bag into the water during work, instead of making tea in a gaiwan, forgetting it, and tossing the leaves out due over brewing and bitterness. This cup held some idea of the peppermint bark. I’ll note that this isn’t too terrible for tea bag tea, but it’s nothing comparable to Teavana’s White Chocolate Peppermint (maybe no tea will ever hold that title). I tasted notes of white chocolate and peppermint, but it was light.
Flavors: Peppermint, White Chocolate
A few weeks (months?) ago, I was invited to go to a tea swap at a local town nearby. However, there were 4 people that showed up, and one of them being the host. I dropped a ton of loose leaf samples there and swapped them for some bags of tea I’ve not tried – this being one of those teas.
While I typically drink my tea loose leaf, I’m not too big of a snob to avoid bags. I was surprised by the strength of peach flavors this bag produced. I drank it hot, but thought how perfect this would be as an iced tea over the summer. It was quite refreshing and I finished the final dregs at room temperature.
Flavors: Peach
I need some herbal for today, any more caffeine and I’ll be vibrating.
Perfect Peach is heavy on the rosehips and hibiscus, but does have a distinct peachy flavour (both natural and artificial, according to Bigelow). I also get a slight hint of apple as well.
It’s pleasant and the rosehips and hibiscus are not too overwhelming or sour. It’s a nice blend for those times when you want an herbal without that “Sleepytime” taste of chamomile and mint. I’m a big Sleepytime fan but my brain is programmed to believe it’s bedtime when I drink it.
Flavors: Apple, Hibiscus, Peach, Rosehips
Preparation
I thought their peach flavored black tea was well done, and it made a smashing sweet iced tea as well.
Ooh, decaf black peach- I think I can justify that as I have nothing like it in my stash! May we all live long enough to drink all our tea.
After learning my lesson about free tea left in the breakroom at work from the stinky feet Cinnamon Horchata tea (which I finally managed to finish), I only grabbed one bag of this instead of the whole box. So glad I did. The ginger is waaaaaaaaaay too spicy for me, making it one of the few cups that was simply undrinkable for me. And the flavor just tasted like one of those medicinal honey cough drops. Bleh.
Flavors: Ginger, Medicinal, Spicy
Preparation
I thought Bigelow English Breakfast and Darjeeling tasted the same when I first tried them, but this was when I was new to tea and my palate was even less refined than it is now. I have since moved on to loose leaf, but this is an acceptable fall-back plain black tea.
I thought Bigelow English Breakfast and Darjeeling tasted the same when I first tried them, but this was when I was new to tea and my palate was even less refined than it is now. I have since moved on to loose leaf, but this is an acceptable fall-back plain black tea.
This WAS my favorite tea until I tried loose leaf teas then went back to this and it doesn’t taste nearly as good anymore, not sure why because I didn’t originally think loose leaf tasted better. This is a dark oolong, which I liked, I thought it tasted similar to black tea but more flavorful. But not anymore which is a major bummer. Maybe I just got a bad batch.