Lupicia

Very mild black tea at base. The vanilla-strawberry notes are more in the nose than on the tongue but that’s exactly how I like my dainty-flavored teas. This gets a rare 100; whenever I want vanilla black tea this is what I reach for. I also like to make double-strong for sweetened milk tea. Heavenly.

This is one of my favorite iced teas. I use 1 tbsp + lucky extra bit per 14oz steeper, let steep no more than one minute, then let it cool so it comes through undiluted.

It’s not strong tasting, but the lightness of it is really appealing for everyday iced tea. A hint of grapefruit’s brightness and pleasant grassy notes.

However, this tea is finicky. I literally stand by the steeper and smell, pouring it out as soon as it gets grassy. Steeping this one even a little too long makes it a bitter no-go. I also think this tea is terrible hot, but I think that’s just me.

I don’t usually drink a lot of ‘decaf’ teas, but it is getting late, so here it is. This is a rather tasty blend, with lychee being the predominant flavor, followed by strawberries & peach. Another tea from Sil, thanks!

Decent, but still a bit of a disappointment. Although the dry leaf smells very strongly of gummy peaches, once the tea is brewed all I can smell or taste is the base. If I really focus I can maybe get a tiny hint of a peach note, but I was hoping for more than that. This has the same slightly smokey black base as the other flavored black teas I’ve tried from Lupicia. I don’t particularly think it plays well with fruity notes, to be honest. In cases of weaker flavoring (this tea, Framboise) it overwhelms the flavor profiles. Even in teas where the fruit flavors are stronger (Neptune, Strawberry), I just don’t find this base + fruit to make for awesome blends. I think it might be the smokiness that’s getting me, even though it’s not very strong and even though I don’t mind smokey black teas on their own.

It smelled delicious at the store, but when I brought the tea home, it smelled a lot stronger. The taste isn’t quite as pleasing as I imagined either. It has a peculiar taste, and reminds me a bit of children’s cough medicine… Maybe if I give it some time it will mellow down?

Made a couple teas for the travel mug today; this was one of them. I do really enjoy this one. It’s not my favourite tea, but it’s desserty and stands up to the crappy conditions that travel mug teas must endure, so I’m happy to have my half-packet of it. Wouldn’t mind acquiring more in the future either, although I’m not sure I’m actively purchase it myself or anything.

Sipdown, 775. Thanks to CHAroma for this teabag!

I think this one might have been a bit old, and the tea seemed a bit dusty when I opened the packet, so I’m not sure that this will be the most accurate review. The aroma is very classic Lupicia peach, but I’m not sure I am very fond of the green base. I’m generally not keen on green bases, so that’s not particularly surprising; I think I like the peach flavour better with a green oolong base.

The aroma of Strawberries and Vanilla come to mind when steeping this.

At first I thought I couldn’t taste the black tea but its blended well so that it doesn’t stand out. Overall, I like this tea – it is smooth so you barely taste any bitterness.

This would probably taste very good with milk and a bit of sugar.

The dry tea smells like seaweed paper (think: sushi) to me. Once the water hit the tea, I immediately smelled toasted rice. The hot tea prominently tastes like toasted rice. But as the tea cooled, it began to get more of a green tea taste. The green tea does have a slight seaweed flavour to it. I find the tea to taste slightly salty. This is different then other genmaicha’s I have tried, but I think it is a different kind of green tea (and also the matcha). I like any food or tea made from a grain, and this genmaicha is no exception.

Thanks Sil for this sample!

This morning, I made myself a cup of this with a lot more leaf than I’ve used before, and I am getting some flavors I hadn’t noticed. However, it is still not quite raspberry. I’m reminded of Harney & Sons’ Paris, which I also found disappointing. I think the note I’m picking up in this tea is similar to the one I’d passed off as bergamot in Paris – it’s quite perfumey. But I don’t think Framboise does have any bergamot (not that you can really tell from Lupicia’s frustratingly vague ingredient lists). Anyway, my rating is staying the same – I still find the tea passable for what it is (whatever that is…) but wish it had lived up to its name.

No notes yet.

Got a package of these tea bags in my lucky bag this year.

This tea is a winner. It smells exactly like ripe peaches. And even though I tend to prefer other summer fruits – even the nectarine! – to peaches, there’s no denying they smell delicious. This tea brews up into a light green-yellow color and retains a hint of that fruity aroma. It’s a light, refreshing oolong with a fruity complement. And yes, that fruit does taste like peaches. It reminds me a little of the skin off a fresh peach.

Brewing longer than 2 minutes brings out more of a green oolong flavor and is still tasty.

For some reason I really wanted this one this afternoon. Blame it on looking at the sweets on the Fauchon website too long and dreaming of Paris. This time I brewed this one cooler and shorter time to attempt to combat the bitterness of the CTC part of the base.

It seems to have worked pretty well, but there is still a lingering oh so light bitterness. It kind of grows as the cup cools and I drink more of it. I think it is just a character of CTC teas and is unavoidable.

I know companies sometimes use CTC teas in a blend for a specific flavor it imparts, but to me it is never tasty, and I never want it. This would be awesome if it was on a different base. I like the flavoring on this so much that I will certainly enjoy it with milk and sugar at home, but I wish I didn’t have to mask the base like that. The only other calisson tea here on the database is one of Mariage Frères’ Heritage Gourmand collection, but it looks like it is on a rooibos base, which is a no-go for me.

Ah well, now I’ve spent a bunch of time looking at confectionaries and pastries online in Paris shops. How will I have the time to visit them all! :)

Drinking this a bit out of season, but it’s a fantastic tea. Delicately flavored, and gives the feeling of a crisp autumn morning, watching the leaves fall.

It’s so peachy! I took this iced to work today, and was sad when I drank it all. It’s not too strong a fruit taste like when I’m drinking my Teavana teas, and the green tea base is noticeable but not too strong.

I am trying this tea for the first time.
The loose leaf tea contains small sugar crystals, which makes it nice to look at. The scent is noticeably cherry without being overpowering. When brewed, the tea has a light flavor, but not dull like some other decaffeinated teas can be. The flavor profile is there, but on the delicate side. A bit of milk in the tea is nice as well.

Sipdown! 781.

Yum. I still think it’s so unique to have such a deliciously nutty yet unsweetened tea. It’s really quite tasty. At some point (you know, when my stash gets down to a manageable 250 teas or something), I’d like to pick up a few more things from Lupicia. They have enough interesting teas to give it a shot, even if their prices are a touch expensive!

I’ve been to Hawaii only twice, but after buying a small tiny tin of this the first time, I learned my lesson and bought 150g the second time around. This tea is just phenomenal. The quality of the oolong is out of this world. This is a very, very fresh tasting tea. It’s sweet but not too sweet. Fruity, but not like an herbal/tisane.
There are tiny little confeito candies in the tea, probably flavoured with juice, which really gives it that sweet flavour. This tea needs no extra sweetening, it’s really quite fabulous without any added sweetener. My friends who don’t even drink tea are always impressed by this one as well. I think it’s one of my favourite oolongs. Lupicia really knows how to do oolong well.

No notes yet.

I made a cup of this tea to reassure myself that bergamot and (some) keemun and I are all still good friends. Sometimes I dislike keemun but not this keemun, which I love. Hopefully.

Yay! I do still love it. Honestly going into it the bergamot (of all things!) was kind of smelling not good to me, and I love bergamot! But upon first sip I was reminded of how delicious a good Earl can be. I love the base, I love the bergamot, I love everything about this tea. It really is my perfect Earl Grey.

It’s 9pm and I have an 8am class tomorrow. Done with midterms and I wanna sleeeeep.
Chamomile tonight! Oh dang. Haven’t had this in a while.
Not the biggest fan of chamomile, but it is a good sleepy time tea so chamomile it is!

Snack-time tea of choice by my Uncle, who loves sakura leaf and bark flavor. Good for him that I brewed this at 212F/boiling instead of the usual 200F; the salted cherry leaf definitely emerges here, and this becomes a much stronger, sharper tea with just the 12 degree difference. A drastic change that caught me off-guard! Like this, the salted sakura scent is pretty heady, and it’s distracting with the salty notes and heavier flavor.

While Uncle loves this darker, mildly salted version, I much prefer the delicate sakura-scent, slightly malty profile at 200F. But a resteep of the same leaves at that lower temperature gives me that plus a bit of complexity borrowed from the salt profile, which is interesting.

The texture is the same; smooth body, but dry finish, with a heaviness that’s a bit like saltwater. This is also a tea that’s astringent (texture) without being bitter (flavor). The dry finish does let the aroma linger nicely. A guess just for fun: I think this is an Assam black tea base, from the smooth, malty, cohesive body.

I’m going through my teas trying to get rid of things I don’t want anymore, so check the US swap thread! In a couple days I may make a box to sell again because I really need to clear stuff out of my apartment and really cut down on how much I have.

For some reason I thought I never drank this, when in fact I did drink it hot. I decided to try it iced.

It brews up very pale, so I may have let it go a little longer than intended. The floral notes of the oolong are so STRONGLY orchid this way to the point it’s almost overwhelming. It hits really hard in the aftertaste.

The pineapple is very subtle, but it blends so beautifully into the floral notes of the oolong. I’m saving the wet leaves to cold brew and we’ll see how that goes.

As it mellows out in the glass, there’s more of a creaminess to it. While this is nice, especially if you like orchid filled oolongs, it just could use a little bit more pineapple. But seriously as a floral oolong this is awesome. This might be the first time I am having an oolong like this iced so I’m still a bit apprehensive but I think I’ll start to love it.

edit: I think I like it better when it’s more room temperature than iced. The flavors are more well rounded which is much more enjoyable than feeling like you’ve been hit in the mouth with an orchid. I’m still going to cold brew the leaves though. Maybe the steep took some of that oomph out of them.

Happy Monday! First tea of the week, and grateful for it.
I must up the rating on this, again. It’s so consistent to brew over up to 4 steeps, it’s so deliciously candy-earthy, and it feels good to drink. The liquor is also a treat; cool, deep, cherry-tinted red brown, with that favorite-candy scent (of course.) and so smooth…

Also taking a cue from the heightened sense of alarm I got when I realized how little I had left of the dry leaf. I don’t like having a large stash of tea (no more than 30) so I rarely cling to any given batch. I’ve never before been so scared about running out of a flavored tea before! Or maybe it’s this new and addictive world of puer I’m attached to…