Lemon and ginger is such a great flavour combination that I’m always experimenting with in my cooking… but for tea? Well, sometimes you just need the simple classic. Lemon with ginger and no added twists. That’s what Twinings Lemon & Ginger Tea is all about.
This is my review of yet another Twinings tea – I’ve been loving some of their herbal and fruit infusions. Some are truly excellent. This one is no different!
Twinings Lemon and Ginger at a Glance
- Blend: Dried ginger and lemon peel with natural flavourings
- Flavour: Fiery ginger with acidic lemon and subtle earthy sweetness
This is an impressive herbal blend that’s managed to taste almost like freshly made lemon and ginger tea. You’ll want to drink this tea with a good teaspoon of honey to soothe away a cold.
Full Review - Twinings Lemon Ginger Tea
- Type: Square paper filter tea bag
- Ingredients: Ginger root, natural lemon flavouring, lemongrass, blackberry leaf, lemon peel, fennel, natural ginger flavouring, “other” natural flavourings
- Health Benefits: Soothe a sore throat and treat a cold
- Flavour Notes: Ginger, fiery, earthy, lemon zest, acidic, sharp
- Aroma: Sweet, earthy, fresh ginger, lemon zest,
- Milk or Lemon: Plenty of honey
- Where to Buy: Twinings Official Teashop or Amazon
This is without a doubt the best cold-soothing tea I’ve tried so far. The classic combination of lemon, ginger and honey is so hard to replicate with dried ingredients in tea bags. They rarely live up to the vitality of tea brewed with fresh ingredients. But this one gets quite close!
The dry aroma of the tea bags is sweet and earthy, reminding me of dried ginger and lemon zest. Once brewed, it transforms into a very fresh smelling ginger and lemon tea – it smells almost like the real thing, just a little less lemony.
The colour reminds me of murky white/yellow lemon juice, freshly squeezed.
As for the flavour, it’s certainly a strong and realistic brew. The lemon is weak initially but develops with a sharp acidity that makes itself known once you’ve got used to the ginger a little. It lit a fire in my throat! The earthiness and sweetness of fresh ginger combined with the acidic lemon is a match made in heaven.
How to Brew Lemon and Ginger Tea Bags
Use freshly boiled water to draw as much of the flavour out of the herbal tea as possible. I first brewed my lemon and ginger tea bag for 3 minutes, but the tea was so strong and realistic that I had to start again.
Between 2 and 2:30 minutes is about right. You’ll definitely want to add some honey to sweeten the sharp and fiery notes.
This will be my back up tea for when I have a cold and have run out of fresh lemon or ginger. Although it tastes almost as good as the real thing, there’s just something better about using fresh ingredients to make tea.
Why Twinings Tea Infusions?
At the time of writing, this is my 6th Twinings tea review on the Izzy’s Corner tea blog. They’re a good supermarket tea brand – priced a little higher than most supermarket brands, but still a lot cheaper than premium loose leaf brands. Despite the price gap, they quality of tea is rarely better than anything else on the supermarket shelves. Compare this to my Pukka Lemon Ginger and Manuka Honey tea review or my London Tea Company Camomile review to see what I mean.
The Twinings Lemon and Ginger Tea ingredients are pretty dusty and finely chopped. Nonetheless, you can see compressed ginger pieces and dried herbs amongst the white crystal pieces, which are natural flavouring.
It’s what you’d expect from a tea bag. I’m happy with it!
Lemon and Ginger Tea Health Benefits
Besides providing a great source of vitamin C, lemons can also prevent kidney stones and improve digestive help. Combined with fiery ginger, which can also aid digestion and unblock your nose, and this is a bit of a super tea.
Other ingredients in this blend include:
- Blackberry leaves – soothe mouth and throat irritation.
- Lemongrass – great for stress and sleeping problems, and has been used to boost the immune system throughout history.
- Fennel – good for bone health and reducing inflammation.
These ingredients make up a very small proportion of the tea, however, so any effects will be minimal. Really, you’ll notice the most difference in your throat and blocked nose from the ginger and lemon. Do expect relief for your cold symptoms. Don’t expect miracles.
Summary
I have no hesitation recommending this tea. It’s close to the fresh alternative, easy to find (supermarkets and online on Amazon) and great to soothe cold and flu symptoms.
The score is high for teas of this kind, but not very high simply because it uses flavourings (natural doesn’t necessarily mean the solvents used to bind the flavouring are healthy or good for the environment) and those 3 interesting additional ingredients aren’t present in the flavour. It makes me wonder if they were worth adding! Buy it straight from Twinings or…
About Me
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