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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Flavour: Green Tea with Strawberry & Vanilla

Ingredients: Sencha Green Tea, Natural Straberry Flavouring with Other Natural Flavours (15%), Natural Vanilla Flavouring (5%)

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 20

Review: This is one of the strangest lists of ingredients we’ve ever seen on a box of tea.  They can throw in the word ‘natural’ all they want, but it comes down to one thing: this is green tea with flavouring, and that means it’s NOT natural.

The smell is intensely sweet, like a fairy cake.  A really synthetic one, not even homemade.

And the taste is just as sweet, with a horribly tart aftertaste.  There’s a shock of strawberry at first, and then it’s all hibiscus.  We can’t imagine what the makers were thinking.

You’d expect with green tea as a base, there would be some hint of bitterness, or even a hint of tea.  But we couldn’t taste it – nor could we taste the vanilla.  This was all fruit and children’s sweets.

You get used to it, after a while, but it’s definitely not a favourite.  And if you want hibiscus tea, there is a seemingly endless variety on the market, many of which are far better, and are actually natural.

Best time of year to drink this: Summer

Best time of day to drink this: Afternoons, if you desperately crave sweets

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