Tasting Lab: Lemon Drop

Sometimes there's not a lot to say about a tea. I don't think this tea got a fair chance, and was discontinued too soon!

Lemon Drop was first released in the turn of the millennium, one of the first of many new herbal tisanes blended by Murchie's to help expand our lineup. Up until this point, the only tisane we carried had been the humble peppermint. Murchie's has always had a strong and proud history of tea blending, and had made it a point to focus only on tea. It wasn't until the 1990s when interest in tisanes started to take off in North America, with rooibos at the forefront. So in the early 2000s, Murchie's took its long history in tea blending, and began applying it to tisane blending.

Lemon Drop is what came of this, alongside offering unblended Rooibos, Peppermint, and shortly later, Chamomile. Today, we've got several herbals, with a core lineup of flavoured rooibos', and several more inventive unflavoured blends or herbs and spices. And in the summer, we bring back a seasonal lineup of dried fruit blends perfect for iced tea.

Murchie's core values will always lie in offering interesting, tasty traditional tea blends, but as the times change--so must we! Rooibos and others have always offered a delicious caffeine-free alternative that still allows you the comfort of holding a warm beverage in your hands.

First introduced in 2010, Lemon Drop has always been a little unique, using green rooibos at its core and mixing in lemon myrtle, an uncommon herb grown out of Australia. Green rooibos is usually overshadowed by the much more popular red rooibos, and is only used in one other blend--our Lemon Ginger Herbal; it has a gentle, citrusy, grassy flavour, unlike red rooibos' nutty, woodsy taste, and is much like green tea is to black tea. It pairs particularly well with the lemony, herby flavours of Lemon Drop. Green rooibos is processed similarly to green tea, but lacks many of the more astringent notes, making it a gentler choice for those who enjoy green tea but want a caffeine-free option for the evenings.

Lemon myrtle is one of many 'lemony' herbs--lemon grass, lemon balm, lemon verbena--occasionally blended into teas to give a fruity, citrusy kick. I'll admin, lemon myrtle is by far my favourite. The kind of lemon it adds is sweet, candy-like, underlain with a spicy, herby flavour. Paired with the lemon grass and lemon peel in this tea makes for a very vibrant blend. It's an uncommon herb (compared to its other 'lemon' counterparts) I've not often seen in blending, as it's exported all the way from Australia. But it's worth it.

Lemon Drop is still offered in our core teabag lineup, but the loose version of this tea was discontinued in 2017. Although teabag lends convenience, I always enjoy the extra control and nuance you get from drinking loose tea. And it's a shame, as Lemon Ginger Herbal is one of the favourite herbal blends of our lineup, and I think Lemon Drop deserves some of that same love. Maybe two lemon herbals is one too many, but the whole point of the Tasting Lab is to try these blends out, and receive feedback. Lemon Ginger Herbal is our go-to flu season tea; lemon and ginger (especially with a dollop of honey) feels good on a sore throat, and holding a warm steamy beverage always makes me feel a little better.

Lemon Drop doesn't have that same ginger zing, making it a great alternative to superfans of lemon who aren't looking for added spice. It also has no flavourings, just dried herbs. It's smooth and sweet, candy-like and lemony, with a green herbaceousness throughout. As the days grow longer and the evenings warmer, lemon feels like the perfect transition tea.