Liberty London English Garden Tea – Truly Special

Brand: Liberty London

Flavour: English Garden Tea

Ingredients: Chamomile, lemon verbena, rose petals, nettle, blue cornflowers, lavender

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-Free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £9.95

Bags Per Box: 15

Our Review: On paper, this shouldn’t be something we like…but we love it!

It smells just like an English garden – fresh, flowery and bound to make you smile. However, that lovely aroma made us worried about the taste, because normally floral blends are like drinking perfume – it’s just too much. But this isn’t like that. The balance of ingredients is just right: instead of perfume, it’s soothing and relaxing, particularly perfect for winding down in the evening and preparing for bed.

We like it so much that it’s gone straight onto our Must-Have Teas list – but it’s expensive, so we thought we’d compare it to two other similarly floral blends we’ve reviewed before:

T2 Gone Surfing – this has several ingredients in common with Liberty’s blend (lavender, chamomile, rose petals, and lemonbalm as a substitute for lemon verbena). The main difference is that T2’s blend includes spearmint, which makes it refreshing and wakeful, whereas Liberty gives us a cup of pure wind-down tea.

Pukka Love – Again, this includes chamomile, lavender and rose petals, as well as elderflower, marigold and limeflower. We loved this one when we tried it, but both T2 and Liberty take this blend and crank it up a few notches to make something even more special.

In conclusion, Liberty and T2 both give us a moment of magic in a cup, with Liberty carrying a much higher price tag. Even so, it’s definitely worth the money, as a once-in-a-while treat.

Best time of year to drink this: Anytime

Best time of day to drink this: Anytime, especially evenings when you want to relax

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T2 Mint Mix – Like Drinking Shampoo

Brand: T2

Flavour: Mint Mix

Ingredients: Peppermint, spearmint, lemon verbena

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £7.50

Cups Per Box: 40 (approx.)

Review: As you would expect, this one smells strongly of lemon sweets and menthol – in a bad way.  It’s pretty disgusting.

On drinking it, we couldn’t understand the inclusion of lemon in a mint drink.  Yes, in food, you might get such a combination…but with real lemons, not lemon verbena!  All it does is make the mint taste slightly bitter and leave a tacky feeling in your mouth.

The experience of drinking this tea is like drinking shampoo – it’s a soapy feeling, not refreshing at all.  Despite that, we don’t necessarily hate it…we just think there are far better options out there.

Best time of year to drink this: Summer

Best time of day to drink this: After lunch, for digestion

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Pukka Lemon, Ginger & Manuka Honey – Good for a Cold

Brand: Pukka Teas

Flavour: Lemon, Ginger & Manuka Honey

Description: A welcoming cup of spicy sweet organic bliss

Ingredients: Ginger root (32%), licorice root, elderflower, fennel seed, lemon verbena leaf, turmeric root, lemon essential oil, lemon myrtle leaf, whole lemon (4%), manuka honey flavour (2%)

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 20

Review: When you first brew this infusion, it smells just like Pukka Three Ginger.  The taste, however, is different.  It’s like Three Ginger, but with a lingering artificial aftertaste, a bit like soursop (probably because of the manuka honey flavouring).  It doesn’t help that it’s chock full of all those lemony plants that are 100% real, yet taste like they were cooked up in a laboratory.

That said, this is probably a good one if you have a cold, to act as an antiseptic and a throat soother; so this blend has its place, even if we don’t fancy it as a casual treat.

Best time of year to drink this: Colder months, when you feel a bit poorly

Best time of day to drink this: Anytime, really – it works as a morning wake-up drink (because of the lemon), but it’s also soothing in the evening

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Pukka Lemon & Mandarin – Not As Bad As We Expected

Brand: Pukka Teas

Flavour: Lemon & Madarin

Description: ‘An organic citrus sensation to cheer your senses.’

Ingredients: Licorice root, sweet fennel seed, orange peel, rosehip, hibiscus flower, lemon balm leaf, lemongrass, lemon verbena leaf, lemon myrtle leaf, lemon whole (4%), mandarin essential oil flavour, lemon essential oil flavour (4%)

Caffeine Factor: None

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 20

Our Review: Just look at that ingredients list: it’s every artificial-tasting lemon-like plant thrown into one drink.  Does the thought fill you with as much horror as it did us?

This blend smells just as worrying as the ingredients list looks; like factory-produced lemon sherbet.  Surprisingly, it doesn’t taste as bad as we expected.  It’s sort of warm and pleasant, though it carries a sweet, synthetic-tasting aftertaste.  There might be some people who would enjoy this as a snack tea.

That said, it’s been over three years since we first bought a box of this stuff, and Three Tulsi STILL hasn’t managed to get through it.  She keeps seeing it in the tea cupboard at home and thinking, ‘No, no, not that one,’ and pushing it aside.  It probably ought to be binned, now.  It won’t be purchased again.

Best time of year to drink this: All year round, if you like this sort of thing

Best time of day to drink this: Again, if those lemony plants are to your taste, this is a good all-day tea

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Pukka Lemongrass & Ginger – Fairly Pointless

Brand: Pukka Teas

Flavour: Lemongrass & Ginger

Description: ‘An uplifting organic lemony zing with a flying finish.’

Ingredients: Lemongrass (48%), ginger root (28%), licorice root, lemon verbena leaf, lemongrass essential oil flavour (4%)

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 20

Our Review: The smell of this one is gingery – a little fiery, but with an earthy undercut, which is pleasant and warming.

Unfortunately, even after five minutes’ brewing time, this is quite a watery drink lacking in flavour.  There’s no kick like you’d expect from ginger; and as it cools down, the sweetness of the licorice becomes sickly.

It’s not the worst drink we’ve ever had, but it’s definitely not worth the money.

Best time of year to drink this: Autumn / winter, if you’re a bit run down

Best time of day to drink this: Mornings

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Taylors of Harrogate Lemongrass & Ginger – What Will Kew Gardens Force on Us Next?

Brand: Taylors of Harrogate

Flavour: Lemongrass & Ginger

Ingredients: Rosehips, lemongrass (30%), hibiscus flowers, ginger root (11%), natural lemon flavouring with other natural flavours, natural ginger flavouring, lemon verbena, rose petals

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Uncertain

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 20

Review: ‘Naturally’, the first (key) ingredient in a lemongrass and ginger infusion HAS to be rosehips.  Makes perfect sense, right?  No?

Okay, so you’re confused as we are.  Maybe you’re equally confused by that lengthy list of ‘natural flavours’ – our particular favourite is ‘natural lemon flavouring with other natural flavours’…before going on to list other ‘natural flavours’.  If anyone can explain to us what that means, we’d be much obliged.

Now, for the review.  As soon as we smelled this one, we asked, ‘Why is this real?’  Needless to say, it’s not pleasant.  It’s very gingery (despite only containing 11% ginger root – perhaps there’s natural ginger flavouring?), but with that awful artificial lemon smell you get from lemongrass and lemon verbena.  We know, we know, they’re real plants – but they don’t smell like it.

The taste is all ginger, at first, but with no kick in the throat like you’d expect – maybe because there isn’t a lot of real ginger in this blend.  You can’t taste the floral ingredients at all: why are they even on the list?  Possibly they soften the Lemsip flavour you usually get from lemongrass?  Because it was quite muted, despite the smell.

Overall, this blend is a bit bland, even after ten minutes of brewing.  Maybe you’ll like this one if you want something lemony but hate lemongrass.  But you’d probably just avoid lemongrass altogether, in the case, wouldn’t you?  So, we’re not sure when you’d want to drink this.  Maybe when you’re at Kew Gardens (the producers of this brand) and have no choice to buy whatever they force on you at their cafes….

Best time of year to drink this: No idea.  Maybe when it’s cold out.

Best time of day to drink this: The ingredients probably work best in the morning or afternoon.

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T2 Refresh – Too Many Flavours in One Cup

Brand: T2

Flavour: Refresh

Ingredients: Lemongrass, lemon verbena, hibiscus flower, ginseng, juniper berries, rosehip peels, papaya pieces (papaya, sugar), marigold flowers, ginger, elderberries, cinnamon pieces, safflower petals

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £7.50

Cups Per Box: 40 (approx.)

Review: Just looking at the ingredients list, it’s clear that this may be a tea intended for women.  The scent is lemony and floral, like taking a stroll through the winding roads of Provence.  It’s gently pleasant.

However, the drinking experience is a bit odd.  It’s instantly mouth-freshening – so much so that it makes your mouth water…and then it just won’t stop.  You’re practically drooling after half a cup.  Then you have to deal with the lemongrass aftertaste – never nice.  Although a natural plant, lemongrass always tastes strangely artificial, like lemon sweets made with aspartame.  Plus, so many flowers in one blend cancels out the individual flavours and creates a strong taste of soap, instead.

It’s also worth noting that we can’t taste any of the other flavours.  Papaya?  Not there – and we don’t want that sugar added to the mix!  We don’t consider this one worth the price.  There is definitely such a thing as too many flavours in one cup, and this is a prime example.

Best time of year to drink this: Spring, if you must

Best time of day to drink this: After a heavy meal, presumably – let’s say after lunch – and in the morning, because of the inclusion of ginseng (a natural energy-booster)

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