Lipton, Blueberry Pomegranate White Tea

Lipton Description:
Savor every sip of this delectable taste treat of luscious blueberry and succulent pomegranate. White tea is an ancient blend created from the tips of tea buds before the tea leaf blossoms, and perfect with these fresh fruit flavors.

Ingredients:
White tea, green tea, dried apples, rosehip peel, chicory root, cinnamon bark, licorice root, ginger root, orange peel, modified cornstarch, natural flavors, dried blackberry fruit pieces, dried black currant fruit pieces, pomegranate juice solids, dried blueberry fruit pieces, dried raspberry fruit pieces.

My Review:
My son popped in today with a box of this to share an afternoon cup of tea. He even got out the cups and steeped the pyramid bags. All I had to do was enjoy. Yep, pretty awesome!

Dry this smells very nice. Not overly strong but quite fruity. You can see the leaf through the bag. As you can read in the ingredient list, there is a lot of different things in the bag. Once steeped, it does not plump as much as I expected but I believe that is due to the large amount of fruit pieces.

The taste is mainly blueberry. I really don't taste the white (or green) tea, but I can't say I am really disappointed. This is very lovely fruit flavored. I wish I had looked up the ingredients before the cup was gone. Maybe I could have separated some other flavors out. Everything melds so wonderfully together. Sometimes a tea with a lot going on can taste muddy. That is not my impression here.

Noted for the record, we used well below boiling water. I left the sachet in the mug just to see what would happen. This never became bitter but did manage to develop a mild bite on the sides of the tongue. If you are getting a bitter cup, try using cooler water.

If you like a sweet fruity no fuss sip, this is well done.    

Lipton Green Tea Superfruit, Acai, Dragonfruit, and Melon

I notice Lipton teas seldom get a fair review on tea blogs. In my reviews I attempt to objectively look at each tea based on what it is trying to achieve. This is a mass produced tea aimed at appealing to as large a segment of the general public as possible. It is not micro-blended for the most discriminating of tastes, to be sold only in small quantities in specialty shops. With that being said, lets check it out.

The bags for this one come in paper envelopes. Almost all other companies are now using mylar envelopes that hold in the freshness. Paper envelopes while biodegradable allow the tea to go stale quickly. The tag is taped to the bag. I find this is irritating as I have ripped the bag in the past trying to get the tag loose. The bag is the flo-thru variety which makes it appear there is very little actual tea in it.

There are no steeping instructions on the envelope and my son has the box these came in. I went online and according to Lipton I should use boiling water. Normally I use cooler water for greens. I let it steep 3 minutes. The brew is a pale green. It turned orange as it cooled. The bag plumped up some but not much. The smell is light and fruity.

I found the sip to be very pleasant. It is fruity but not overly so. It is actually quite light. At first, the taste makes me think pomegranate. Then it reminds me of a Jolly Rancher watermelon stick without being overly sweet. There is a lingering fruity aftertaste that I liked.

The green tea taste is more hint than flavor. I have had an unflavored Lipton green tea before and I did catch its flavor in this, but it is very subtle. I thought this would be non-offensive to someone who thinks they don’t care for green tea. So I tested it on a co-worker who claims to hate green tea and he said, “This is really good. I would buy a box of this to keep around.”

I had to look dragonfruit up because I had never heard of it. Yes, I have seen them in the grocery store, and yes they do look alien. Since I have never tasted one I can’t say if it is accurately represented in this tea.

I like this tea. I admit it does not come close to the fruity goodness of Fusion Teas Super Fruit Sencha. On the other hand I liked it more than any of the Republic of Teas fruit flavors I have tried. It would be good iced. If you are looking for a tasty light fruit tea, give this one a try.

Lipton White Tea with Island Mango and Peach Flavor

Given to me at work. Made the mistake of looking at the date on the box. Good grief – amateurs… Even expired this was actually pretty good. It smells nice. The taste of the mango and peach can be easily separated and the flavorings don’t hide the tea flavor. The tea pieces are pretty small but a lot larger than usual tea fannings. Nicely done.

Lipton Diet Green Tea With Citrus

I know I can’t even pronounce most of what is listed in the ingredients. I know this doesn’t taste much like tea. I know it is over sweetened. I know it is more soft drink than tea. I know there is probably no real citrus in it. I just can’t help myself. Dog gone it I like this stuff and I am not ashamed to admit it. It is cold and refreshing and especially handy when I am too lazy to accomplish more than twisting the cap off the bottle. Tea is listed as an ingredient, so I can almost convince myself this is better for me than the Dr. Pepper I almost grabbed.

Lipton, Spiced Chai

Flavored black tea. The bags came sealed in paper envelopes. Nice spicy smell as I opened it. The tag was taped to the bag and so I accidentally tore the tag off the string and ripped the top of the bag. The brew is dark and cloudy from the spices. The aroma is cinnamon and pleasant. This didn’t taste like other Chai teas I’ve tried which have a strong clove/pepper taste to me. This is more cinnamon but not harsh. You can taste other spices but they are very subtle. If you like a cinnamon tea, you might be pleased with this offering.

Lipton Green Tea

Since these reviews are often about grocery store bagged tea, I am not sure how I almost missed this obvious choice. This is green tea in a 2g bag. The box contains 20 bags in standard Lipton paper envelopes. The tag is taped to the bag making it too easy to tear the bag. The brew is a light yellow-green. I left the bag in the cup a little too long the first time and it became very astringent. I immediately brewed a second cup and removed the bag at the proper time. The second brew remained very pleasant to the bottom of the cup. I found myself really enjoying the light flavor of this tea. It is very smooth without a lot of bite. It has a mild grassy taste. You must be careful not to use boiling water as it also makes a very bitter cup. I preferred this over Tazo Green Tips (which I also liked). This is no where near the quality of a good loose leaf green, but you don’t have to search very hard to find this, it is inexpensive, and can be an acceptable intro level green tea choice.

Lipton Decaffeinated Honey Lemon green

Given to me at work. It is a bag tea in a paper envelope. The tag was taped to the bag – really bad idea. The tea did not seem to expand much at all when brewed. Upon sipping I couldn’t really pick out the green tea in the blend, maybe because it is decaf. The honey dominates, which is odd as it isn’t listed as an actual ingredient. Didn’t taste the lemon. There was an odd mint taste. Not sure if it supposed to be there or if the envelope had been stored with a mint tea. I would drink this again if someone offered it to me but I wouldn’t buy a box. Wasn’t horrible, just very ordinary.

Lipton

This is the first taste of tea for most of us in America. Disagree if you like, but it is the iconic yardstick most of us use to measure all other teas. Love it or hate it Lipton iced tea is as American as apple pie. I personally am not a fan of it hot, but actually look forward to it iced. With every drink I am reliving family memories.

It is popular for those who take their tea drinking ‘serious’ to look down on Lipton tea and dismiss anyone who likes it. I think this is unfair. There are certainly a lot of teas that are far more complex and interesting. There are also a lot of teas that taste a whole lot worse. Lipton is blended from a large variety of teas to always give a consistent cup of tea. That’s important to most people.