I love dessert. Nothing finishes off a meal quite like dessert. Imagine dessert without the calories and you get this Healtheries Lemon Meringue Pie Tea, one of the first dessert-inspired teas in my collection.
Infusing for 4 minutes in 200 mL of just boiled water gave the tea a bright yellow colour much like lemon curd and releases a sweet pastry aroma much like the meringue and pie crust in one bite. The lemon flavour lacking in the aroma is captured by the taste of the tea, which reveals an initial sweet lemon flavour in the body that reminds of the meringue eaten together with a (too sweet) lemon curd before a slight bitter aftertaste emerged to remind of an overbaked pie crust.
Overall, the tea was almost too sweet and would be better enjoyed with a more acidic, zesty lemon flavour to cut through the sweetness, which is after all what makes a good lemon meringue pie. The sweetener used is stevia and with its signature bitter aftertaste likely accounts for the off-putting overbaked finish to the tea. That said, the lemon flavour came through better when the tea was consumed quickly in large mouthfuls, rather than slow sips as that accentuates the bitterness of the stevia.
This Healtheries Lemon Meringue Pie Tea contained 20 tea bags. It was packed in New Zealand and purchased in Auckland, New Zealand in 2014.