I was hoping to piggyback off of my inspiring experience with a previous cup from Bigelow tea.  That post can be found here.  Unfortunately, I will not be using dramatic terms or be able to expound on how awesome this tea was.

Instead I will explain to you how mediocre the Lemon Lift truly was.  I was flabbergasted.   There’s a big word.

You would think that tea and lemon are the one of those quintessential combinations. Lemon is on my short list of things I will add to a black tea just to add a little pizzazz or to enhance an otherwise unimaginative black tea.   No lemon or any other addition was going to save this cup, sour or sweet.

Before I was trying all these fancy brands and loose-leaf teas, there was always Bigelow. I’ve been a stalwart for as long as I’ve been enjoying a brewed cup or kettle with family and friends.   But this is a major disappointment.

If you look closely, you see a residue or foam at the top of the cup while brewing. I can attribute this to one of many things.  It could be the temperature, the kettle that contained the water, the way it was heated, or the water itself.    I’ve seen it happen before with stronger and higher quality teas.

I think the issue is the tea itself.   This is not a revelation even though I’m writing it as such.  I think this is either a bad package or maybe the shelf-life isn’t as long.  Teas, like anything else, do have an expiration date.   I believe this was way past its sell-by date.  It’s more of an indictment of the tea than anything else I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Now I’ve had this tea before and it tasted just fine. I know my palate has changed but have my expectations of what a tea should taste like gone up?  Maybe, but I really just want a tea to taste good and sooth the soul. This was pedestrian effort that was good enough to drink but I didn’t want a second helping.   The foam at the top was the most I’ve seen in any of my cups in a while.

I was hoping the lemon would even at the very least, complement my sushi.  That didn’t happen. It was an ambitious undertaking on my part. This tea had no hope whatsoever. But I’m always in search of a silver lining.

This in no way will to discourage me from having a tea of theirs again.  I will give the Lemon Lift another chance.  It easily could have been a bad bag or box.

However, speaking of revelations, I read the comments below and this might be a harder package to find in stores versus others.  And you know their teas are everywhere from convenience stores, to grocery stores, to gas stations, and everything in between.   This may need to be investigated.

But as you can see, a plethora of their selections are available online for purchase.  And they got a ton of new things I would love to try.  Hopefully I’ll get to some in the near future.

Stay healthy,

Ideen