A spring in my step

In what can only be described as an absolutely horrific end of March/beginning of April, I decided that I really did need a spring in my step and so decided on reigniting an old flame. No I didn’t get in touch with an ex, that would be long-winded and as boring as paint – I found some old bags of a flavour in the back of my cupboard and thought I’d give them another try.

Back in the day when flavoured teas were nothing more than a health kick to me, I tried a few flavours and didn’t really enjoy them at all. I thought that a bit of chamomile here and green tea there would leave me feeling refreshed and bright. That wasn’t the case and it left a disgusting taste in the mouth and craving sweetness! Cue Thorntons.

So this past week or so I’ve found some old Twinings lemon and ginger teabags that I thought I’d give another go. And I’m pleased I did.

The biggest mistake, in my opinion, that any flavoured tea novice can make is to not let it brew. It’s not like a bag of English brekkie tea that you dunk, do a little dance and then lob in the bin – you’ve got to give herbal infusions a chance to, well… infuse. The idea is that the flavours are released slowly and give an authentic taste so obviously, the longer the leave it the better. But no matter how long it took me to wash my face and brush my teeth before work, these damn teabags just didn’t cut it. I’d slurp a bit when arriving in the office to find it tasted like warm water. Even adding a splash of sugar made it taste like warm water, only sweeter. But surely, I thought I must be missing a trick here. So I left it a bit longer. Plonk a bag in my handy flask-mug-thing and leave it in there with a bit of sugar until I was ready to drink it bout 30 mins later. Absolutely gorgeous!

What I was missing was a really bright flavour which leaves a strange sensation in the throat. The lemon is nice and zingy to wake you up and then the ginger adds a subtle bitterness that works really well. It’s a dry taste – bit odd for a wet substance – kind of like dry wine but very moreish. I didn’t expect much from this drink because many either love or hate ginger. I’ve always sat on the fence with that one because I love gingerbread, ginger biscuits and crystallised ginger in sweet things but as an addition to bitter foods I cant get on with it. But after wasting roughly 90% of the packet on failed attempts I thoroughly enjoyed my last two bags. Only wish I’d got some more!