85

I love love love lemon but I’m not a fan of hibiscus at all, so it was a gamble on whether this would appeal to me.

The dry leaf smells amazing, sweet and lemony, almost like candy. Always a good sign.

I made a pot of this to share with a friend, 3tsp in my 26oz Bee House pot, 96C water steeped for a long time.

The liquor is a really intense red, from the hibiscus, and there’s a lot of hibiscus tartness, but fortunately, the lemon notes are strong, which shifts the tart from hibiscus bleh to lemony deliciousness. There’s also a hint of grapefruit and orange. The grapefruit, particularly that tangy bitterness of grapefruit, makes a subtle appearance on the finish. I’m not sure that I’m detecting any mango here, but I’m not too disappointed, because this is very tasty. I had my first couple of cups hot, and now the pot is mostly cold and it holds up very well at any temperature.

So yay for reconnecting with old friends and fruit tisanes that don’t get overwhelmed by hibiscus.

Flavors: Candy, Grapefruit, Lemon, Orange, Sweet, Tart

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 3 tsp 22 OZ / 650 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I grew up drinking jasmine green tea with meals, but really fell in love with tea on a trip to Britain in elementary school. My first great love was Earl Grey, and I still adore it and all its variants.

I discovered the beauty of loose leaf tea much later, when, on impulse, I picked up a few teas that were on clearance at a home store. My introduction to loose leaf teas were Masala Chai and Provence Rooibos by the Metropolitan Tea Co and an unknown brand of kukicha and gyokuro (little did I know what a precious treasure I’d stumbled onto with that.)

At the time I was lucky to live in a place with multiple tea shops and several places to have afternoon tea, which is a delight I still miss.

Tea is part of my daily ritual and a nice, affordable way to appease the collector in me.

I enjoy distinctive whites, greens and oolongs, flavoured blacks, and herbals that are heavy on the citrus, lavender or mint.

Rating rubric, to give myself some consistency:
0-15 Yuck, not even drinkable.
16-30 Disappointing, not really inclined to give it a second try.
31-45 Disappointing, but maybe there’s potential? Worth one more try, prepped differently.
46-60 Mediocre, not terrible but not memorable.
61-75 Not bad. I’ll definitely finish what I have and might buy again.
76-90 Very enjoyable. Tasty, complex, it’ll keep me coming back.
91-100 BEST! I love everything about it and I will drink it forever.

Beyond tea, I’m a sex educator, polyamory activist, and radical queer. I love backwoods camping, abstract painting, baking & cooking, nail polish, cats, ceramic sculpture, and home nesting.

Location

Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer