I am not 100% on this, but I’m pretty sure I came across Lemon Lily in the comment section on one of my posts when I asked about flavouring in blends. Jason, the owner, kindly chimed in and was very informative about flavouring!
Since I happen to be going to the Toronto Tea Festive, he kindly offered to provide me with a few teas to try! All the blends are natural and certified organic. I am trying a green, black and tisane this time around! One note is that the recommendations suggest two teaspoons compared to the normal one to 8 oz of water.
Time to taste the teas! Let’s go!
Maritime Maple
Description: “Light and delicious without the calorie crunch, our Maritime Maple Green tea is sweet and aromatic with a great maple flavour from real Nova Scotia Canadian Maple.”
Review: When I saw this, I knew I had to try it! As a Canadian, the surest way to convince me to purchase something is have maple syrup, a maple leaf or use a red and white colour scheme. Maple syrup has a fond place in my heart!
The dry blend smelled sweet and grassy and was made up of little green flakes and yellow maple flakes. I have to say, I’ve never had maple syrup as a flake! After infusion, the leaves did not expand and had mostly a grassy aroma.
The liquor was yellow with a greenish tinge. There was some astringency from the liquor. It tasted mostly grassy with some mild sweetness. I was hoping for more of a maple flavour, which, to me, tastes comforting, sweet, woodsy, and molasses. However, since it is in flake form, I imagine that would be different than tasting it pure. This is still a nice green tea with a hint of sweetness (3/5 rating).
- Type: Green tea
- Origin: Unknown
- Caffeine: Unknown
- Ingredients: Green tea, maple flakes
- Other: Organic
- Company: Lemon Lily
Cherry Vanilla
Description: “Inspired by good old Soft Serve Ice Cream, we took two our favourite tastes and turned them into one very exciting all natural tea.”
Review: Ice cream is one of my all-time favourite desserts. I always have a least a pint (or more) in my freezer. When I picked smelled this at the event, I actually thought it was inspired by the Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla drink!
Either way, the dry blend was a dark black tea base with a sprinkling of safflower which really brought home the cherry and vanilla association. It smelled like vanilla Coca-Cola! The leaves unfurled quite a bit and there was a very faint sweet aroma after steeping.
I found the liquor didn’t taste how I expected. I went in thinking it would taste very sweet from the get-go, however, it was very brisk and bold. I actually couldn’t taste vanilla or cherry at first. It does slowly shift into vanilla and the lingering flavour was cheery. It left the mouth feeling a bit dry.
I admit, the initial taste threw me off, but I did enjoy the shift from vanilla to cherry in the body and tail end of the sip (3/5 rating).
- Type: Black tea
- Origin: Unknown
- Caffeine: Unknown
- Ingredients: Black tea, vanilla bean, safflower, natural flavour
- Other: Organic
- Company: Lemon Lily
Coconut Ginger
Description: “All of the joy of ginger tea with the smooth finish of coconut.”
Review: When I saw this, I knew it was a must-have; coconut and ginger are two ingredients I enjoy a lot! My biggest gripe about tea with ginger is that there isn’t enough of a ginger flavour! So, I went into this one with high hopes because ginger was the first ingredient.
I was extremely happy when the second I opened the bag I was able to smell a delightful ginger and coconut aroma. It actually made my mouth water! After infusion, I did notice that there was an oily film on the surface of the very pale liquor.
Taste-wise, there was a nice kick of ginger, then it morphed into coconut and ended off with ginger. It made the back of my throat pleasantly tingle This blend was very relaxing for me. I would recommend steeping this at the max steeping temperatures to really bring out the flavours (4/5 rating).
- Type: Herbal tea
- Origin: Unknown
- Caffeine: Caffeine-free
- Ingredients: Ginger, coconut
- Other: Organic
- Company: Lemon Lily
Final Thoughts
I’m sure it is very clear that I enjoyed the Coconut Ginger the best! I’m so happy I found a tisane that had a great ginger aroma and taste. I think I’m going to brew another cup! I’m going to be sad when I have no more of this left.
As for the first two, they weren’t bad, but I think I went in with very specific expectations, which as a reviewer, isn’t fair. I normally do a better job of separating my expectations but because maple syrup and vanilla (cherry) coco-cola evoke a specific taste in my head, it was hard for me to separate them. Hopefully, my review was still helpful!
What is your favourite dessert?