Hibiscus Honey Lemon
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Ratings & Reviews
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41 Aroma: 2/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5Tchuggin' Okie (450 reviews) on Dec. 18th, 2025
A heaping helping of dread overcame me when I first ripped open the paper/foil wrapper and caught the whiff of...fruit-scented ammonia cleaner. OK, it didn't quite smell that intense directly; it was more like someone using fruit-scented ammonia to clean the hallway floor while you're in the classroom. Decidedly unfavorable first impression! I didn't expect anybody in the world to produce a tea that actually tasted like that, however, because who would buy it more than once? So...let's brew up some "Hibiscus Honey Lemon" and chug it down the hatch, and see how it rolls.
As expected and hoped, the flavor was much better, though still not anywhere near a favorite, because the strong olfactory sourness pretty much vanished. Apparently, between the honey flavor from the manufacturer and my usual addition of sweetener, there was only a bit of sourness, no more than expected from any tea containing some hibiscus and lemon. However, the honey element was surprisingly bitter, and did detract slightly from the overall smooth character of this herbal-flavored green tea. The green tea really wasn't too detectable to me, except visually in the bag, so the company selected a weak base tea that serves more as filler or ballast than an actual flavor source. I really couldn't say it tasted different than expected for a pure herbal of the same name, or a Celestial Seasonings "Zinger" style offering with every ingredient but green tea.
In the end, if you can get past the weird, offputting dry-bag aroma, it ain't bad. Still, it's far from my favorite amongst this company's offerings. If in Hawaii and buying a couple boxes of locally produced tea to sip on the lanai of your lodging after a day of hiking, snorkeling, volcano-watching, or boogey-boarding, skip this one. Come to think of it, skip this even if not in Hawaii.
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