Lemon Basil Oolong

This one is strange. Very strange. It’s an almost savory tea, and yet I can consider it iced with some honey or sugar syrup.

The basil is prominent. The tea is smooth, and even though I accidentally let it sit out and cool for an hour and a half, it still tastes nice. The lemon is more lemon oil or lemon zest, but I think with sugar added it’d turn more lemonade.

I’m not sure how frequently I’d ever drink this (I’ll have to try it iced… maybe I’d go through it faster!) but it’s definitely something to consider trying.

(I let the water cool while I washed my tea dishes. IDK what the temp was. I think it took about 10 minutes?)

Edit: It’s really good with my batch-cook of the day: ham, pea, roasted squash and goat cheese pasta… :) If I had added some basil to the food, it would have been perfect!

These type of fruit and herb teas always fascinate me. I received this sample from OMGsrsly – thank you so much.
This is interesting (yes that means odd), it is lemon and it is basil but I’m not getting too much oolong. I am also getting a little spice/pepper(?) not sure where that it is coming from. I’m not sure this is balanced correctly for me, it’s a little too basil, not enough lemon (who would have ever thought I would say that?), it really needs more oolong. I think this combination would be really good with a strong dark oolong base, lemon and a hint of basil – this one just doesn’t quite get there for me.
Thanks OMGsrsly for letting me experience this.

I can’t help but think I’d be delighted to smell this delicious, sweet and buttery herb sauce if it was over a chicken dish, or something. I had these chicken sausages a few weeks ago. They were of the basil, feta, and apricot variety and they tasted exactly like this blend. I’m picking up the slightest tone of leafy citrus bitterness, just like in those sausages.. It’s an interesting tea but I’d be lying if I said I’m sad it’s all gone.

The Halloween celebrations over here are postponed until tomorrow. It seems so strange to do all that stuff on the 1st of November, but I know my roommates and I will be less stressed then. To everyone who’s doing stuff tonight, I wish you a Happy Halloween! :)

Another Bayswater sample today…this one I picked because of the pizza that I made for dinner tonight. It was whole wheat crust, Classico vodka sauce with arugula, artichoke, and proscuitto. I thought with the basil note that it mught be a good match. And it is, only I guess I’m just not too fond of basil in my tea? I only got a small sample of this, but will likely pass it on to someone locally who didn’t make it to the meet up. I might just ice or cold steep the rest, though, if no one claims it.

I’ll add that this is a darker oolong base. which I think is good for this tea, as it is not too vegetal to compete with the basil.

I have to assume this is from OMGsrsly, so thank you! Pretty sure I’ve had some of this sample before (or have had a very similar-tasting tea), as this tastes familiar. There’s a solid herbaceous note, which has to be the basil – I feel like I should have known that immediately, but for some reason, basil is an elusive flavour for me, despite the fact that I use it both dried and fresh regularly. Anyhow, the tea is mostly this herbaceous flavour, and not really a lot of (or any?) lemon. Actually – I can smell the lemon much more than I can taste it. Perhaps it’s because it’s being overwhelmed in the flavour by the basil?

I think I read on someone’s post about using this for an iced lemonade. I feel like that would be an excellent choice here – a splash of lemon juice and some simple syrup would probably take this to a much tastier level. As is, it’s fairly meh for me, though an interesting tea to have tried.