We are now definitely edging out of winter chai season and into the fresh and bright teas that I like to sip in spring. Tealicious Tea Room Lemon and Lime tea should fit the bill, with zesty and zingy citrus notes with light and invigorating Chinese green tea as a base.
Tealicious Tea Room very kindly sent me this tea along with several others to review for the blog. You can purchase their teas online or visit their tea room in Durham – I have had the pleasure of visiting myself and the atmosphere is great. The cakes speak for themselves!
But before we get side-tracked, let’s take a closer look at Tealicious Tea Room’s Lemon & Lime Tea blend.
Tealicious Tea Room Lemon & Lime Tea at a Glance
- Blend: Chinese green tea with lemongrass, lime leaves, lemon peel and flavouring
- Flavour: Soft green tea with gentle citrus and herbaceous notes
This tea has a bright, sharp aroma but very gentle and mellow flavour. It’s pleasantly refreshing without stripping away your tastebuds. Very nice!
Full Review – Lemon and Lime Flavoured Green Tea
- Type: Loose leaf
- Tea: Chinese green tea
- Additives: Lemongrass, lime leaves, lemon peel, natural flavouring
- Flavour Notes: Soft green tea, gentle lemon lime, herbaceous
- Aroma: Zingy, grassy, lemon, lime, bright sharp lemongrass, chemical cleaner
- Milk or Lemon: Neither
- Where to Buy: Tealicious Tea Room Official Website
Opening up the packet, I am relieved to find that the aroma from the dried leaf is zingy, grassy and fresh in an authentic way. Too often I find that strong artificial lemon flavours remind me of toilet cleaner! Thankfully, Tealicious Tea Room have avoided that pitfall. You can really smell the lemon and lime along with distinct lemongrass notes that are bright and sharp.
Once brewed into a mellow orange tea colour, the aroma adds more lemongrass sharpness and a slight touch of chemical cleaner, but nothing strong enough to be off-putting. I am still eager to take a sip.
The flavour of this tea is surprisingly soft after the brightness of the aroma. The Chinese green tea provides a mellow and rejuvenating base for pleasant lemon and lime notes to play on. It is not sharp or bitter in the slightest, but also not too sweet. After every sip, there’s a notable herbaceous aftertaste in the back of your mouth from the lemongrass.
Although the texture of this tea is slick and moderately thick, it is also fairly drying and catches in the back of your throat. Combined with the herbaceous lemon lime notes, this tea reminds me of an herbal throat soother. I think it will be a marvellous uplifting tea to drink when you feel under the weather.
How to Brew Lemon Green Tea
For Tealicious Tea Room Lemon and Lime, use one heaped teaspoon per mug or cup. Make sure you get a little piece of everything in that teaspoon, including the lemon zest fragments. Add the loose leaf to your infuser and pour over approximately 250ml of 80°C water.
Tealicious Tea Room don’t indicate a specific water temperature in their instructions, but using water that’s slightly cooler than boiling will really help the flavour bloom without bitterness. I let my tea steep for around 3 minutes and 30 seconds to get a gentle strength. You can brew for up to 5 minutes if you really want to knock your socks off.
A tiny spoon of honey could add some sweetness, if you are craving it, but otherwise this tea needs no accompaniments to hit the spot.
Why Tealicious Tea Room?
The combination of lemon and green tea is a classic, but it can easily go wrong. Whether it edges on the herbaceous and astringent side, like Eloments Double Lemon, or goes full-blown bitter but still sharply sweet like Ahmad Tea London Lemon Vitality… a flavoured green tea rarely provides the same flavour as freshly prepared lemon slices in green tea.
Tealicious Tea Room have excelled here. Just look at the tea! The ratio of lemongrass to lemon peel, lime leaves and green tea is skewed towards more herbs and less tea leaf. This really boosts the lemony flavour and maintains that zing.
The quality of the ingredients is great. The lemongrass is dried and chopped into large pieces, with small pale green flecks of lime leaves. Spotting the lemon peel is a little harder – there are only small chunks dotted throughout – but with the addition of lemon flavouring, it is hard to miss when you take a sip.
Ultimately, this is a well-blended fresh loose leaf tea. I recommend using a tea strainer or infuser to brew it, but you can also buy fillable paper teabags on Amazon. Just try to get non-bleached ones.
Summary
Tealicious Tea Room Lemon Lime tea is a fresh and invigorating blend that’s well-balanced and authentically bright. I have no trouble recommending that you try it. You can buy this tea directly from Tealicious Tea Room who deliver across the UK.
Tea Template Recommendation
Writing tea reviews is a hobby that many people enjoy – so I have created a template to make it easier for you to get started. My Flavoured Tea Review Template is designed especially for teas that combine tea leaves with other ingredients. You can download it from the Immortal Wordsmith Shop and reuse it indefinitely by printing it off or using it on your digital device.