Tangy, Lemon Zingy Thingy (Other Fruit Teas)

Member Name: Fishbulb

Product:	Other Fruit Teas
Date:	20/05/02 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Better for you, Low in calories, Very Tasty

Disadvantages: no caffeine, No Caffeine, NO CAFFEINE?!?!?!?

Since this category is just called 'other fruit teas, I'm gonna tell you right now, that I've only written about one.

Marks & Spencers, Lemon Fruit & Herbal Teabags. 99p for 20

I’m a coffee fiend, and a bit of a tea monster too. So for one bizarre reason or another, I’ve set myself the task of going without either for a week. Why? You may ask, well here’s the deal.

Lately I’ve been feeling a bit run-down, had quite a lot on at work, and have been drinking WAY too much coffee and tea throughout the day so I thought I would try and give my body a bit of a rest from caffeine and try to establish the sleeping pattern of a normal human being as opposed to my current sleeping pattern which is not dissimilar to a mole.

This morning, when I woke, I had a beautiful cup of orange, cinnamon & mango tea and after watching my hubby slurp down his cup of Yorkshire Gold with loads of sugar and milk I felt rather proud that I’d managed so far. Then I got into work….

….and walked past the coffee shop to get to the lift to go into work. Hmmm… I thought, I could sure go for a doppio macchiato right about now (double espresso with a splash of foamed milk) but no. I resisted. I’ll have a nice cup of herbal, I thought when I get to my office I’ll go to the kitchen and make one. But I had forgotten the teabags?!?!?

This prompted a swift march over to Marks & Spencers at lunchtime where I scoured their shelves for something herbal and tasty. My eyes fell upon a small silver box with the word ‘tea’ cleverly chopped out of the side. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the top half of the box was a bright sunny yellow “LEMON” it said “FRUIT & HERB TEABAGS” they’ll do and what a bargain at 99p for 20, that’s less than 5 pence a cup. I had to walk past Coffee Republic, Starbucks & Pret a Manger to get here and I
can tell you, you wouldn’t get a cup of tea, herbal or otherwise in any of these stores for much less than about £1.20 – £1.50. Off I trot, back to the office and proudly clutching my tea.

Back in the kitchen, I open the box; it has one of those clever perforated strips across the top. Inside I am greeted by a glossy, shiny individual case filled with my teabag (oh yeah and 19 of it’s siblings) I take the individually wrapped teabag out (still in it’s glossy jacket) and have a closer look. According to the front of the packet it is “a tangy combination of real citrus juice, lemongrass, lemon verbena & lemon balm for a sensational burst of citrus flavour” well, I’ll be the judge of that one I think.

Looking on the back, the ingredient list seems fairly impressive
Lemongrass (30%)
Lemon Verbena (30%)
Lemon Balm (22%)
Lemon flavour (9%)
Apple (4%)
Lemon acid (4%)
Natural grapefruit flavour

All still sounds quite good to old Fishbulb. While I’m waiting for the kettle to boil, I opened the tea bag; it had a nice little tag on it telling me to infuse the tea for five minutes in the same sunny yellow as the inner packaging – it’s former jacket.

Now this may sound a bit weird, but I smelled the tea bag, I like to smell things, I like perfume, I like the smell of fresh baked bread in the supermarket I like to smell my food. It smelt wonderful, like a bowl of fresh lemons that had been sitting in the sun. For anyone who’s ever baked anything that required the rind of a lemon, that is exactly what it smelt like. Also, I couldn’t help but notice that there was quite a strong herbal smell, not dissimilar to tea, but more like the smell of a garden centre when the plants have recently been watered, a slightly earthy, fresh, green, natural smell.

When I poured the water into my cup the sweet smell of lemons and orchards filled the
air around me, it smelt so clean.

The colour of the tea at first was not particularly appealing, a sort of dirty water colour but over the next few minutes the greyish tinged liquid gradually turned into a warm honey colour with a golden glow.

I patiently waited my five minutes and dutifully removed the tea bag and……..this is the point where I am usually very disappointed with herbal tea. I have tried them all, and generally it doesn’t matter how great they sound, how beautiful the packaging and the smell when they are brewed, generally, they tend to let me down by the lack of a decent taste. Either by not tasting like the main ingredient (always a bit worrying) or by tasting bitter and strange

Now that I’m closer to drinking it the smell reminds me of when I was a child and in bed ill, my mum would always make me drink honey and lemon – this smell makes me feel like I’m ten again!

I can honestly say that this is perhaps the nicest herbal tea I have ever tasted, to plagiarise Homer Simpson “Hmmmm… I really can taste three types of lemons”**
I drink both my tea and coffee with sugar, and am equally ok with drinking both without but my preference is for sweetness. I did not add any sugar or sweeteners to this tea and it tastes not unlike homemade lemonade (without the bubbles) with a tangy edge (hmmmm… so the packaging was true) it’s sharp without being undrinkable and sweet without being unbearable. When I add sugar to my ‘normal’ tea and coffee I like just enough to be able to taste it. This is the balance that M&S Lemon tea has achieved.

**Homer actually says, “Hmmmm… I really can feel three kinds of softness” after washing his ‘fat man’s’ hat using a fabric conditioner sample that came free through his door.

This tea, made with boiling water (and sugar to taste) would make a PERFECT lemon i
ced tea if chilled down and served with slices of lemon, cucumber and mint in it in a tall jug filled to the brim with ice. Good for kiddies too as you can decide how much sugar and sweetner (if any) to add.

In conclusion, even though I’m missing my ordinary tea and coffee, I think that this is one of the most tasty, cheap, and drinkable substitutes. I don’t think that I could depart from my friends ‘old java’ and ‘char’ but I’m sure happy about finding this new one.

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