Spring

Sampler Sipdown September! Yet another of my T2 sampler stash, which I’m happy to say is getting pretty small now. I think I only have a few packets from each of the black, flavored black, green, fruit, and herbal sampler sets left now. This particular one was from the herbal set, and I hot brewed the entire two-serving sampler packet, but then put it in the fridge to chill overnight so I could drink it as an iced tea.

It steeped up a bright pink from the hibi, but smells incredibly citrusy. The iced tea has a very sharp lemon taste. Honestly, this hits just a bit too hard on the lemongrass, and the additional lemon citrus in the blend is just a little too cleaner-like for my tastes. The orange and hibiscus that lingers in the background beneath all the lemon is probably the best part of the tea for me, and what made it suitable enough to drink a single tall glass. But it didn’t strike a good enough balance for me overall to ever care to revisit this. It’s just one of those teas where the lemon came off too strong and thus made my brain immediately feel like I was drinking bathroom cleaners or furniture polish. I love lemon, but it just has to be done right.

“Spring”, a fitting name to this lovely herbal tea. A slight tangy flavour from the apple acid, orange and lemon granules, gives the tea a refreshing quality. Sugar is not needed as the tea is quite sweet already from the fruits. The lemongrass and hibiscus definitely stand out from the fruits but is a lovely combination I have not tried before. Can be served hot or cold.
A tip to presenting this tea when serving cold is to boil it with some fresh fruits such as apple, orange and lemon to naturally sweeten the tea. I prefer to let it cool in the fridge overnight instead of adding ice which dilutes the tea. However it may be too strong for some drinkers.

WELP, I was looking forward to trying this after cold brewing overnight in my lovely new More Tea bottle but then the bottle didn’t survive my bike trip into work.

Internal glass shattered. Devastated.

And I only had a one cup sample of this tea, too! Sigh. Not a great start to the day. Can only go up from here, right?

For a positive spin, that’s technically another sipdown. I so wanted to get under 70 before my Butiki order arrives, but I’ve just received my Mr. Earl May teas so the challenge intensifies AGAIN!