Bigelow

Little October office alchemy … had a bag of Perfect Peach and a bag of Bigelow’s Apple Cider, both of which were a little too weak and a little too hibiscus-heavy for me to love individually. So I got frisky and put both bags in a single cup. Greatly improved! A little like mulled fruit punch.

This is the grocery-shelf lemon tea I was craving. Found it at a King Cash Saver, one of those sneaky grocery stores with a 10% upcharge, but I was there, it was there, and it was worth the extra 30-ish cents just to grab it and go.

Bigelow has kept this in its rotation for a very long time, and it’s been reviewed fairly favorably pretty consistently since it first appeared on Steepster. It differs from the echinacea/vitamin C version I recently tried (subtract licorice, add “a dash of spice”). The addition appears to be a trade secret, but I wonder if it’s similar to the cinnamon/clove combo that’s the hallmark of their Constant Comment blend.

At any rate, I’ll confirm what 13-ish years worth of reviews largely agree on. It’s a decent tea on a light base. For whatever reason, this week, that hit the spot.

Aside from the echinacea/vitamin C boost, this differs from Bigelow’s Lemon Lift by the absence of spice. (Lemon Lift has a little secret spice blend to kick it up a bit.)
Perfectly drinkable, and with tomorrow’s agenda in mind, an immunity boost can’t hurt. Trunk or Treat tomorrow afternoon. We’re expecting 1,000 visitors. Come join us. I’ll either be shepherding a trunkful of 11-year-old skeletons and x-ray technicians or corralling the other trunkful of Blueys and Bingos (I am not a Bluey expert, but one of our volunteers had leftovers from her 2-year-old’s birthday party).

Not sure why, but I have been craving bog-standard black tea with lemon. Bigelow’s Lemon Lift is my favorite cheapie, but it’s only on a few shelves at stores off my normal shopping route. So, any port in a storm, I grabbed this at Walmart last night.

Of course, I didn’t read the fine print until after we were home. There’s some licorice root in the blend, which made me approach it very cautiously this morning. But at a sloppy 4-minute steep, the citrus balances out the licorice so it’s smooth but not sticky.

Final judgment call: performs as advertised—black tea with lemon. A vitamin C boost never hurts, either—school opens next week, and I am drowning in close-proximity people events over the next few days.

One last round of Bigelow torture for today?

Its brewed aroma smells fermented like the Bigelow decaf black. I wonder if it’s the same tea. Before today, I had zero experience with decaf teas. The bergamot is decent quality, though, and somewhat overrides that funky smell. A few sips — all good, I can endure this light lashing. Until the tea after a few more sips feels like chemical burn on my throat. Swollen and so, so dry, like I swallowed a spoon of drywall mud. Please! Please! My uvula can’t take anymore!

Is this the punishment for pocketing a handful of teas from the hotel?

From a Holiday Inn Express. Smells like shou puerh, like it has a little bit of that fermentation. Taste is dry, malty, woody, coppery, earthy, mineral, with a hint of vanilla sweetness on the back of the palate. It’s not too bad despite being decaffeinated and packed in a paper envelope.

Another from the tea swap…This is a backlogged session from Monday morning. I had the intentions of sitting at the computer type my thoughts as I sipped, but I began playing Palworld on Steam and caught up on a letter to a tea friend.

I had hoped for this tea to taste wonderful on the account orange and spice mixtures are one of my favorite mixes in a tea blend. This was too weak in the spies and orange, and nowhere close to the Orange and Cinnamon that Twining’s offers; which is favorite during the Fall/Winter seasons.

Backlog, Friday April 26, 2024

I obtained this one during the tea swap a couple of months back. I’m finally starting to make my way through these teas. I figured it’s easier to throw a bag into the water during work, instead of making tea in a gaiwan, forgetting it, and tossing the leaves out due over brewing and bitterness. This cup held some idea of the peppermint bark. I’ll note that this isn’t too terrible for tea bag tea, but it’s nothing comparable to Teavana’s White Chocolate Peppermint (maybe no tea will ever hold that title). I tasted notes of white chocolate and peppermint, but it was light.

A few weeks (months?) ago, I was invited to go to a tea swap at a local town nearby. However, there were 4 people that showed up, and one of them being the host. I dropped a ton of loose leaf samples there and swapped them for some bags of tea I’ve not tried – this being one of those teas.

While I typically drink my tea loose leaf, I’m not too big of a snob to avoid bags. I was surprised by the strength of peach flavors this bag produced. I drank it hot, but thought how perfect this would be as an iced tea over the summer. It was quite refreshing and I finished the final dregs at room temperature.

Not really a traditional tea, but a great beverage for those of us trying to stop drinking more caloric things like soda. I steep mine at 4x strength overnight and then use 1/4th tea, 3/4th sparkling water for a colorful and refreshing drink.

I need some herbal for today, any more caffeine and I’ll be vibrating.
Perfect Peach is heavy on the rosehips and hibiscus, but does have a distinct peachy flavour (both natural and artificial, according to Bigelow). I also get a slight hint of apple as well.

It’s pleasant and the rosehips and hibiscus are not too overwhelming or sour. It’s a nice blend for those times when you want an herbal without that “Sleepytime” taste of chamomile and mint. I’m a big Sleepytime fan but my brain is programmed to believe it’s bedtime when I drink it.

After learning my lesson about free tea left in the breakroom at work from the stinky feet Cinnamon Horchata tea (which I finally managed to finish), I only grabbed one bag of this instead of the whole box. So glad I did. The ginger is waaaaaaaaaay too spicy for me, making it one of the few cups that was simply undrinkable for me. And the flavor just tasted like one of those medicinal honey cough drops. Bleh.

Terrible. I don’t know what’s so off but the spice blend just doesn’t taste right.

Dislike

This is ok seasonally, for variety, but it’s not great.

I thought Bigelow English Breakfast and Darjeeling tasted the same when I first tried them, but this was when I was new to tea and my palate was even less refined than it is now. I have since moved on to loose leaf, but this is an acceptable fall-back plain black tea.

I thought Bigelow English Breakfast and Darjeeling tasted the same when I first tried them, but this was when I was new to tea and my palate was even less refined than it is now. I have since moved on to loose leaf, but this is an acceptable fall-back plain black tea.

This WAS my favorite tea until I tried loose leaf teas then went back to this and it doesn’t taste nearly as good anymore, not sure why because I didn’t originally think loose leaf tasted better. This is a dark oolong, which I liked, I thought it tasted similar to black tea but more flavorful. But not anymore which is a major bummer. Maybe I just got a bad batch.

This is an acceptable plain no-nonsense chamomile tea. Dislike the yellow packaging though, it messes with my bedtime vibes.