Linden Flower (Tila)
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Commercial Description
Classic Spanish Tila (linden flower tea) from Carmencita.
Ratings & Reviews
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66 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5Tchuggin' Okie (398 reviews) on Aug. 9th, 2020
I first had some of this drink when living in Miami almost 30 years ago, at a Salvadoran restaurant, without having tried linden tea of any sort before. I recalled enjoying it with pupusas, so another time I was there, shortly before joining RateTea, I saw a packet of teabags at Publix and brought it back, and (thought I had) finished it all off. Meanwhile, a couple of basswood trees (American lindens) I had planted in my yard, for the shade more than the tea, began flowering; I have made some pretty good tea from their dried blossoms on a few occasions.
Imagine my pleasant surprise, then, when I found a well-sealed little Ziploc-style bag in my pantry that still had a couple of Carmencita bags therein. They had been hidden at the bottom of a miscellaneous spice tin, in a dark place and still smelling fresh, despite the passage of a few years. The Carmencita tea still looked, smelled and tasted as I remembered: a nice, clear yellow/amber hue, rich, smooth, somewhat buttery, faintly reminiscent of a mix of chamomile, vanilla and mild anise, and creamier than the much younger, dried basswood flowers from the yard. The commercial, chopped, Spanish linden-flowers tea and the homegrown stuff taste just different enough to notice (Okie-grown basswood flowers yield a tea that's sharper and a little grassier), but it's a compliment to Carmencita that their years-old bags from European lindens held their own against relatively fresh, whole linden flowers (albeit from the variety native to North America). I probably won't buy linden tea anymore, since I can make as much at home as ever desired, but it was nice to rediscover this one for the sake of strolling memory lane, if nothing else.
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