Whittard Lemon & Ginger Tea Review
Brrrr. It’s certainly cold enough today to warrant a warming cup of Whittard Lemon & Ginger tea! This fiery blend is a total classic, served in a cosy mug or taken for a walk in one of my portable tea flasks, it should keep the winter sniffles away.
Lemon and ginger tea tastes fantastic when brewed freshly with ginger root and lemon slices. I am yet to find a teabag version that can replicate that. But Whittard are a fantastic company and one of my favourite affiliate pals to work with.
Let’s find out if their Lemon & Ginger tea packs the right zing.
Whittard Lemon Ginger Tea at a Glance
Izzy's Rating
3.2/5
- Blend: Lemongrass, lemon peel and dried ginger with assorted herbs
- Flavour: Very strong bitter lemon pith with fibrous ginger
This tea is strong! It’s bitter with lemon pith notes and a really intense fiery ginger note. The intensity fades a little as you swallow and overall it’s easily tamed with a generous teaspoon of honey.
Full Review – Whittard of Chelsea Ginger Lemon Tea
Izzy's Rating
3.2/5
- Type: Tagged paper filter teabag
- Ingredients: Lemongrass, ginger, lemon peel, linden flowers, blackberry leaves, lime oil, flavouring
- Health Benefits: Reduce inflammation (sore throat, red nose, etc.)
- Flavour Notes: Bitter, lemon pith, lemon juice, intense ginger, spice heat
- Aroma: Lemon, lemon pith, grass, hint of mint, dried ginger spice, touch of sweetness
- Milk or Lemon: Generous teaspoon of honey
- Where to Buy: Whittard of Chelsea or Amazon UK
The aroma from the teabags is super intense. It’s lemony, with a little bitterness that reminds me of the white lemon pith between the fruit segments and the zest. There’s also a hint of mint, which is quite refreshing. A good start.
Whittard Lemon Ginger tea brews into a cloudy yellow tea colour with a hint of marigold. If you let the tea sit for a minute or two, a lot of the ginger fibre will settle at the bottom of your cup.
You can really smell the fire of the ginger once the tea has brewed, and there’s also a hint of warm honey sweetness – very well-rounded and comforting.
The flavour… oh. That is strong!
Lemon pith – extremely bitter and strong – hits you first, with intense fiery ginger burning your tongue straight after. That fire settles to the back of your throat after swallowing a sip, and a rush of lemony sweetness coats your tongue, a very welcome relief.
I found the bitterness to give this tea a medicinal quality, but the heat of the ginger is energising too. This is definitely a good drink to consume when you have a cold making you feel sluggish and sleepy.
How to Brew Fruit and Herbal Teas
Use boiling water for this herbal and fruit blend, pouring approximately 250ml over your teabag into your mug. Let it steep for 3 to 5 minutes – any longer and it will blow your head off.
In fact, if you like your tea to be quite weak, you could brew for just 1 minute and still get a good strength from Whittard Lemon & Ginger tea.
A teaspoon of honey is an excellent addition to this tea, soothing the fire of the ginger and reducing some of the initial bitterness.
Why Whittard of Chelsea?
Whittard are one of the most popular tea brands in the UK (for loose leaf, at least) and they sell internationally. This particular blend is vegan and sold in plastic-free packaging – all the teabags are individually wrapped in paper, which helps to keep them fresh too.
However, as always, the loose leaf version that Whittard also offers is better. The quality will be better, and it also gives you more control over how much tea you brew, and the strength of your final cuppa.
Unfortunately, Whittard’s loose leaf boxes contain plastic packaging to hold the leaves, unless you buy a whole metal caddy tin instead.
Lemon and Ginger Tea Health Benefits
There’s actually not much lemon in this tea, with only 10% of the ingredients made from lemon peel. Instead, Whittard have opted to use lemongrass for the bulk of this blend.
Lemongrass has anti-inflammatory properties, which means it could soothe the inflammation of a sore throat and runny nose. It has also been used traditionally to relieve pain and reduce a fever – though there’s not so much modern scientific evidence for this.
39% of this tea is made from dried ginger too. Ginger is a known anti-inflammatory agent, and the spiciness of this ingredient will also get your nose running – so it’s ideal for clearing a blocked nose.
Ultimately, despite not containing fresh ginger or lemon, it still has ingredients that could soothe some of the symptoms of a winter cold.
Summary
This tea is bold, strong and delicious with honey. Although it doesn’t live up to the flavour of fresh lemon and ginger tea, it is a very good backup option and I highly recommend keeping a box in the cupboard for winter sniffles. The best way to buy this tea is directly from Whittard’s website, but you can sometimes find it on Amazon too.
Tea Recommendation
If you’re not keen on Whittard, or there is an ingredient in this blend that you’re trying to avoid, read my review of Hampstead Ginger and Lemon Tea next. It’s made with only three ingredients and is just as simple to brew.