TasTEA Time! Loyd Green Tea with Lemon

Here's tea number 2 from a company that seems to be the Polish version of Lipton.  Here's the thing about green tea from companies that aren't Asian; they have a statistically higher chance of being sub-par in terms of tea quality.  There are exceptions (Dilmah, which has a delightfully warm and full-bodied green tea), but I'm not surprised if people dislike green tea after only having the Euromerican version.  Plus they're adding lemon to it, which I'm just going to say it, lemon kills off a lot of green tea flavor.  Lemon is often used to disguise bad tea from being bad, it replaces an acid found in tea with a tastier acid.  People always add it to tea, but if you have a good tea, you don't need to add it.  But enough of my ranting, let's try the tea.

Outsides:  It's your average medium gold green tea color and...how can i put this?  The tea smells like lemon Pine-Sol.  It's way too....citrusy to smell natural.

Insides:  The lemon flavor kills it.  The tea isn't horrible tasting, mostly sweet with very little bitterness.  It's your average drugstore tea.  But dear gawd, that lemon flavor is overkill.  You could probably mop up your floors with that stuff and expect a nice lemon scent afterwards.  It's really too much, and I've had this open for a while.  

Overall:  I guess if you REALLY like lemon, give this a try.  But for the average person, stay away and stick with something else.  

My Rating:  Pass.  Here's a site:  Loyd Green Tea Lemon

TasTEA Time! Loyd Raspberry and Strawberry herbal tea

Alright, so this is an interesting one.  This tea is artificially flavored.  Even brands like Biglow and Lipton all say that they're naturally flavored.  Even the no-name dollar tea brands say they're all natural.  Not Loyd.  Now I've red the ingredients and have to say, WTF is some of this stuff (Modified starch with waxy maize)?

Ok, ok.  I know I'm biased against the tea.  But yeah, most brands try to point out how natural they are, most even go organic or fair trade.  And I love Raspberry and Strawberry!  Alright Loyd Tea, let's see what you got.

Outside:  Oh polish tea with its cheap cardboard boxes with nothing between the box and tea.  The sachets are pyrimid-shaped for faster prep.  The tea smells nice, like berry candy as opposed to normal berry tea, but that's still kinda nice.  Lastly, the color reminds me more of a light raspberry juice than a tea.  It's a lovely pinkish red and a pity that I don't have my clear cup to show you.

Insides:  The tea is tangy and fruity, tasting less like a tea and more like a light fruit drink.  The raspberry flavoring gives off a more pungent smell but both berries seem equal on the flavor balance.  This may seem like a strange complaint, but the texture doesn't feel light like a lot of teas are.  It's heavy and not very smooth, partially because of the sourness (It's not really bitter).  But with added sugar, it's not bad and pretty tasty while cold.

Overall:  I think for the average human being who isn't too picky about what they consume and doesn't care about the subtleties of tea, this is good stuff.  I'll admit that this is my favorite flavor of the Loyd tea that I have tried since it's fruity and fun, plus doesn't taste as fake as some of the other ones.

My Rating:  Try it!  Here's the site:  Mokate's Loyd Tea