La La Lemon (Organic)

So, about a month (maybe more like two months) ago I went on a “I have no lemon tea options in my cupboard, so lets buy ALL the lemon teas” kick and I ended up getting like six or seven new lemon based teas – though this one was actually picked out for me during a DAVIDsTEA trip with a non-tea drinking friend who thought it smelled really nice.

I’m just now getting around to trying the sample amount I picked out and I have to say it does smell pretty lovely: like lemon drops with maybe a little orange and vanilla?

I steeped up 1 1/2 tsp. of it in 8 oz. of boiling water for four minutes and the smell is a 50/50 mix. of smooth black base and lemon rind. Taste wise, there’s definitely no vanilla here. Mostly, I taste the same 50/50 black base and lemon rind/peel – but that’s no so bad. I’m mostly just thankful that it doesn’t taste like Pledge and isn’t a cup of ungodly tartness.

I bet this would be a good sick tea…

I know I just logged this a week ago but I wanted to share with the tea drinking world in case any packrats have some of this bad boy left. Steep it in a T-Sac. I realized today that there is just too much broken “leaf” in this one to do well in my infuser and prepared it in a T-Sac instead. If only I had thought of this a year ago..

I will be honest though and warn you that using the T Sac really mutes the lemon flavour. I’m okay with that though, as the bitterness from the black tea and the lemon rind aspect were just too much for me. This way I get a lightly sweet lightly lemon flavoured black tea. Kind of blah but much better than bitter! I’m adjusting the rating back up a bit because it is redeemable but a lot of work.

I used to love this tea, but the last few times I’ve tried it, it’s been awful.

Today it’s pretty good, but that might be due to impaired taste!

2 tsp, 16oz, 175F, 2 minutes.

Edit: It’s not making my teeth sticky today, so: bonus!

I brewed up a bunch of this one to chill in the fridge, and did a second infusion with the leftover leaves to drink now. This is a surprisingly tasty tea – the lemon flavour is very lemon candy, not lemon peel or lemon verbena or lemongrass, and the black base is fairly typical of DT, decent and not particularly astringent. Quite refreshing! I’m excited to try it iced.

ETA: Yum!!! This one is super delicious iced and sweetened. It tastes very much to me like Nestea lemon iced tea. I sweetened it with maple syrup as that’s all that I had at the time, and the boy thought it tasted funny and didn’t like it (I’m trying to find something that he will like… sigh). I think I’ll ice the rest as well and sweeten it with sugar instead… see if he’ll drink that!

ETA: This tea has some serious longevity! Second re-steep, in about 4 oz. water (so 1/4 strength) was quite delicious. I think I’ll try for a fourth infusion. Really hoping I remember to make some up this up (with sugar) for the boy tomorrow…

2013-12-12
drinking this again today. ordered another 100g to fill a tin. it’s one i bought for my sister really. it’s easy to drink but not a lot of personality. next time i brew this i’m gonna do half lala lemmon half super ginger. i think it’s the most brilliant idea i’ve had so far today. (but the day is still young!)

2013-08-30
oh snap did you hear?! James Spader?! he’s gonna be Ultron!
wow. i love that dude. (Spader, not Ultron. Ultron is an evil cyborg not-dude.)
seriously the marvel franchise really has their freakin casting machine amazingly perfected. (except Natalie Portman but whatevs)

there is really no need to say anything about this tea because what is not to love. so easy to enjoy. so easy.

now all i need is for Martin Donovan’s career to be resurrected.

Gah!! My cupboard intake freeze has been broken! Someone gifted me a whole bunch of this. and then I found a small stash of teas in my bag, that I had forgotten about. So half the sipdowns I’ve been working on, are now neutralized. Sighs.
That said, this particular batch of la la lemon is quite good. Dry, it smells heavenly. Just like freshly cut lemons rolled in sugar, one of my favourite childhood indulgences. My last sample wasn’t nearly as fragrant or accurate to lemon.
Steeped, the tea is less sweet lemon. The bitterness of the rind comes out as well, which I find is a harsh contrast to the dry scent.
Dunno what got into me lately, but I found myself craving lemon teas. Lemon black tea that is. Now I really need to try this iced!

I wanted to try this, so I asked for a sample. I didn’t see the reviews beforehand, but figured I’d cold brew it only. I wanted to try it out solely for iced tea anyway. I was going with the quick iced tea room temp brewing method here since the leaves are so chopped up I figured it wouldn’t take too long. Instead, I took a 2 1/2 hour nap, so it turned out very well.

To me, it tastes like something I expect to get out of a soda machine, like in a can. The lemon is just a bit strong so it seems like that Lipton stuff. That’s not really a bad thing, because it’s not sweetened to death so it’s actually enjoyable. But I’d think if you don’t like lemon, this is not a tea for you…well, clearly.

I’m going to have to actually cold brew it overnight to see if that might help pull more of the base tea’s flavor out, if it has any more in it.

I’ve had repeated failiures at getting a good iced tea out of this blend. Finally with the last little bit I had left I think I’ve suceeded in making it somewhat decent.

The recipe I used was 8 tsp of tea in two cups boiling water, steeped for 5 minutes. Then I strained it and poured it over some ice in a 2L jug to quickly halt the steeping process, and topped up the jug with cold tap water. I sweetened it with about 1.5 tblsp of agave nectar.

There’s still a tannic astringency that I can’t get rid of no matter how I steep this tea. I think it might be a character of the tea base itself rather than the steeping process. I wish that they’d chosen to use a different black tea because the lemon flavour seems to only exacerbate the astringency.

So in summary, this works in a pince for iced tea, but I’ve had better and I didn’t care for it hot either. I don’t think I would buy this tea again.

thank you scribbles for this very unusual tea! okay, i will start by saying that i do like this tea. why say it that way? because i am on the cusp of laughter and i needed to have my enjoyment of the blend stated first, before i have a snicker.

i opened the bag and i smelled neo citron. yup. reading the history behind the blend’s design i wondered if david had a cold or at least a bit of sinus congestion while he was in L.A. i tried to remember whether i had liked neo citron but failed because it always used to knock me out.

being the super steeper that i am i gave it my normal 6 minutes, figured that cream would just give me a mug full of feta but did stir in a bit of sugar. i wafted the vapor towards my nose, a st. bernard named neo making it’s way towards me through the steam. i burst out laughing and took a sip. neo citron! but also not.

much smoother, has a hefty dose of caffeine…and you know what? seriously, the next time i’m miserable with a cold i will brew this up, add honey as opposed to sugar (and maybe some rum) and make this as a toddy! it won’t be an everyday for me, the affiliation with cold medicine is just too old, but it will make an awesome substitute for the junk i’ve taken in the past when i’m sick! (that’s a pretty big compliment).

Thanks to scribbles for sending me this tea in our swap.

The black base of this tea was really strong, and while I normally enjoy a good strong cup of black tea, I didn’t really care for this one. Even when steeped at 4 minutes (the lowest suggested time) I found this to have a strong astringency and a very bitter taste from the lemon and orange.

This might have more potential as a cold steep since that may cut down on the bitterness and astringency.