Lupicia

Another interesting tea courtesy of ifjuly
I’ve been avoiding this one. I don’t really do well with Earl Grey, but am willing to try anything people send me. This says it’s not bergamot but the oriental fruit longan. I have no idea what that is, but at least it’s ot bergamot.
This is really citrus. Incredibly citrus. Drowning out everything else citrus. Sorry ifjuly, I know you adore this one, but it’s a big miss for me. Oh well, I learned something – googled longan.

I had a sachet of this last night at my departmental tea time. I got this along with a few other bags of sachets in my Happy Bag this year. Initially I wasn’t enthused about most of them (although this one I did want to try), but I figured out the perfect use for them! I’ve donated them to tea time because most of the girls there have some fear of loose leaf and never drink the loose leaf I bring. But they seemed more interested in the sachets. One of them had a cup of Chocolate Strawberry Puer and loved it!

Anyway, this tea. I have to say that I was underwhelmed by this. Although the peach flavor was fresh and juicy, it was very light. That normally wouldn’t be a problem for me except that the oolong didn’t seem to have much flavor either. I mean, what was there was very nice, but I wanted more. Maybe I should try two sachets next time (though I’ve never had that problem with Lupicia sachets before). Actually it might be the unfiltered water that we use at tea time. That’s probably it, so I won’t rate it just now. I guess I’ll have to try another sachet of this with filtered water.

Another tea courtesy of the amazing ifjuly – thank you so much.

Wasn’t sure what to expect from this – was thinking it would be a nutty, roasty, green – sort of like a genmaicha, but then how does the pu’erh fit in? As it turns out, the pu’erh fits in really nice – ok the pu’erh is in the back and not really distinguishable, but it’s there and I think it’s adding a richness and some depth to it.
I really like this, it is sort of genmaicha – nutty, roasted, green – but the corn is interesting and really noticeable – but it works. Yep, I would order more of this, it’s unusual but comforting. Thanks ifjuly – I think this one belongs in the “odd choice” baggie – it’s strange and needs to be shared… thanks for sharing.

Steepster is misbehaving for me tonight. Locking up, kettle page, not logging me in. Uggg very frustrating.

Thanks ifjuly for sending some of this my way.
I don’t think it really tastes like much, maybe a hint of rum and some sweet, but not really. This is my least favorite Lupicia tea I’ve tried.

Okay, I already reviewed this tea before but I have no idea how to get to the tasting note without browsing through all my logs and I am way too lazy for that, SO I have no idea what I wrote about it :P

Anyway, today I am having a Lupicia day, trying most of the teas that I got in this year’s Happy Bag, because I am planning to make a big order with them later this week… if I really like the teas that I am trying today.

Sakurambo is pretty unusual and definitely has the flavor of some sort of exotic cherry. The base is quite strong but not overpowering. I actually think it could be a tad tastier as the green version. I am still enjoying it a lot, although I am kind of tentative as to whether I would restock it.

Part of my Lupicia Happy Bag 2014. While I would have preferred to receive it as loose tea, the tea bags look really lovely and the quality of tea didn’t seem to be spoiled in any way. I really loved this more and more with every sip. The cherry flavor is absolutely exquisite and natural. Nothing funky about it. I can see how it would be a perfect summer night tea but it works just fine on a foggy winter afternoon as well :)

Y’know — I have never had a Jasmine tea until today. I needed something soothing, I suppose, so I reached for this in my continued to be disorganized mess of a Lupicia order, and I liked this. It was super relaxing, calming, and that’s what I super need sometimes. Words aren’t coming out greatly today. I just want to say this is a positive drink. I would totally restock this once I finish the other nine tea bags.

God, I love Lupicia.

I’m marking this as a sipdown even though I have a tiny bit left, because what I have left is mostly crumbs and will just be used up in a different cold brew. I’ve been cold brewing this one and it has been AMAZING. Really, really delicious and refreshing. Just lightly citrusy, and really a perfect iced tea. Would definitely buy more of this for cold brewing in the future.

Morning tea here. This isn’t my favorite flavored pouchong, but it is rather tasty. I’ve never had a shekwasha (some kind of citrus fruit) and I probably never will, but I think I would probably like them. It’s somewhat like grapefruit but not so bright or bitter, perhaps more like a pomelo. The oolong base is light and green, could me more buttery or floral, but it matches the shekwasha well. Lupicia certainly knows their way around a flavored oolong.

I have had this tea for quite a while. I drank it once, but I oversteeped it or something and I never wrote a tasting note. I don’t know why, just never got around to it I guess. I am going to try to get through some of my small tins of tea so that I can open new teas from Lupicia (which need 50g tins).

Anyway, this is quite a nice tea. The leaf almost looks like a pouchong, being not quite balled up like other green oolongs, but slightly crumpled. It unfurls into pretty nice looking leaves overall (and a few stems). The flavor is pleasant. The shekwasha (a type of citrus fruit) is light, which I like because it means it doesn’t cover up the oolong flavor, which is very fresh and green. The shekwasha reminds me of a less-tart grapefruit or maybe a pomelo. Citrusy and pleasant. A tasty tea and I just need to remember to keep it in my regular rotation before it ages too much more.

I purchased one of Lupicia’s Tea Bag Sets so that I could affordable try some of the company’d offerings without breaking the bank. Today, I pulled Lupicia’s Sri Lanka from the box. Since I’m a strong tea drinker, I wasn’t expecting much from this tea. Lupicia’s notes state “A Ceylon blend with a distinct aroma and body that goes well with both milk and lemon.” Well, at least I knew enough to know not to use milk and lemon at the same time! I accidentally let this steep for longer than the recommended time, but did use milk and a touch of honey, so it probably evened out in the long run. I was gloriously surprised by this tea! The taste of the tea is much lighter than my usual brew, but there was a smoothness and vague citrus note that made this a extraordinarily lovely cup of tea for a late morning chaser to my usual brutish brew. I live in Southern California, where chilly winter days are very few, and long months of scorching summer rules supreme…..I can see this tea becoming a wonderful alternative to my heavier breakfast blend in the sweltering summer months. LOVELY!!

Thank you ifjuly for sending me a sample of this tea.

I like that the cinnamon is sweet rather than hot. I’m not really getting a lot of pu’erh, but it does add some depth to this blend. I’m not really getting a whole lot of “cookie” but this tea is sweet. Really sweet.
I like it, this was a really nice tea tonight.

I found this teabag in my stash at work. (I’m back in the office for the first time today but I’m not sure I’m going to last the whole day. Still coughing and sore throat-y.)

Steeping at work is always imperfect because the water is kind of take it or leave it, and it comes out of the spigot quite hot. So I try to limit myself to teas that can take really hot water.

I should mention that I’m not a huge sweet potato fan. I really like the fries they do at The Counter, and I will eat a baked sweet potato during the appropriate season, but I’ve never been much for the mashed potato with pineapple thing my BF likes to make for Thanksgiving. I can’t now recall whether I’ve had sweet potato pie. I must have, but I probably thought it was pumpkin.

The little mesh bag had little white dots in it that I assume are the marshmallows, and fine grains of tea managed to escape onto my fingers as I held it to my nose. Wow, what a strange smell to the dry leaf. Definitely potato, but it seemed to me to waffle between sweet potato and white potato. There was also some weird strong scent that I see Auggy has identified as whisky. Yeah, that could be it.

The tea was a really lovely clear reddish brown but the aroma of the steeped tea was bakey bakey bakey and not in a way that appealed to me. The flavor, though, was surprisingly quite good. On the front of the sip, there’s a mild tea flavor, but there’s something sweet and lightly spiced that’s pie-like evident toward the end of the sip and in the aftertaste. The little marshmallows also add sparks of sweetness that pop every now and then in the mouth.

I think this is quite well done. It’s not something I would buy, but mainly because sweet potato flavor is not in my top ten or probably even 20 list. I could see how it would appeal to fans, though.

I received this a while ago, but haven’t written a tasting note until now. Lupicia does peach flavor so well and I love rooibos so I thought that this would be a nice blend. It smells strongly of an almost-medicinal rooibos and an almost-artificial peach flavor. The peach, while on the verge of being fake, has some depth to it — it smells tart, sweet and juicy all at once. A delight!

Sipping… Hmm.. this is not so nice. It has a very artificial quality to it — both in the rooibos base and in the peach flavor. I’m not getting much beyond the rooibos and the peach, which is unfortunate because this tea is peach melba (!) not just peach rooibos. It’s a smooth cup and leaves a little bit of a creamy aftertaste, but it’s otherwise not all that pleasant. Thanks to Azzrian for sharing this tea with me!

Honestly, when I brewed my sample and took it with me to my desk I thought someone had popped some popcorn recently. I could smell the butteriness in this tea from my cup. Tasting, it’s like drinking an almond biscotti. Despite it’s butter smell, this tea is very light and makes me happy. I think I shall dub this my black happy tea.

Now back to watching Sherlock omgwhatdidthatjusthappen

I got the teabag version of this tea. I like this tea. It has a nice mild flavor.

nom nom nom. a little worse for wear but over all still a good time. I’ve had this a number of times since variaTEA gave me some so yay for sharing tea with friends!

farewell banana tea! i will miss you! I had this one with caramel from tea G….and let me tell you…soo good! i didn’t have enough of this for a sil sized cup so i figured, why not add caramel for a caramel chocolate banana tea! To be honest, the chocolate is muted, so it was mostly a caramel banana….but still soo good. I’ll be getting more of this in future! :)