Lupicia

Sipdown, 157. Ah, back to my tea.

There was almost a tragedy this morning when my electic kettle wouldn’t turn on, but it turned out to be a blown socket and not the kettle. Whew. I decided to go ahead and finish this one up today. For some reason I decided to brew it at less than boiling, and I’m amazed at the difference it made. This is suuuper smooth like this, but it is making me realize that I miss the slight bite of the black tea. It brings everything together more when it is steeped at boiling, versus now the flavors seem kind of muddled and not as balanced. Ah well, lesson learned!

Mmm, fruity, caramelly, a hint floral. If it wasn’t for Paris and Tower of London from Harney, this might have a permanent place in my stash. As it is, I feel like it is a very similar flavor profile to those two blends, but a tiny bit rougher around the edges. I think the black tea base is a little bolder, and the fruits possibly a bit more candy-ish. It’s certainly tasty, but not as well nuanced as either of the other blends, I think. Still, I’m happy to have it!

I wanted to brew a tea this morning that I had had before, knew was sweet with no hint of butteriness or saltiness, and was relatively robust to test my kettle, brewing setup and taste buds. Everything has been newly cleaned (well, maybe not the taste buds), so here’s hoping the weird flavors from yesterday are gone.

Yay I think the off flavor is gone! This is sweet and fruity and not salty or savory at all. I do quite enjoy this tea and if Tower of London didn’t exist, this one would have to have a place in my cupboard I think. It’s definitely good for those times when you want a very flavored tea. It’s smooth and yummy.

I recently got a sample of this tea thanks to ToiToi! I brewed up a pot this morning and I definitely enjoyed it.

Caramel, honey and fruits makes it a bit like Tower of London, and it definitely reminds me a bit of that, but with slightly more fruit and less caramel/honey. Those are still very present, but the fruit is so super strong that it becomes the predominant note. I would say primarily red fruits… Berries, cherries, but with more sweetness and less tartness than usual in red fruits blends. It’s pretty candy-ish, which I can see how that would be off-putting to some people, but I enjoyed it nonetheless and will happily drink the rest of my sample up.

It’s been awhile since I’ve enjoyed a cup of this tea. I still have a tin. I absolutely love Lupicia’s rooibos. It’s not overpowering, and they do the flavoring just right. With my last visit to the store on Friday, the saleswomen tossed in one of the mini holiday tins of this tea “as a gift.” So sweet! The tin had five sachets, which are so convenient to brew in the cute leaf-print double-walled glass cup I also bought! The color of this tea is gorgeous in that cup! I’m tasting honey and berries. Love it!

Great rooibos tea for those that don’t like rooibos. It has a nice smooth fruity flavor. Bought a tin of this last time I was at Lupicia. It’s definitely a re-stocker. :)

I love this fruity rooibos. Lupicia rooibos teas are so much smoother than other rooibos teas I’ve had and don’t leave a weird aftertaste. This one is perfect for an afternoon or evening respite.

Made a cup of this tea with a large spoonful of honey for my poor sick hubby. It’s funny how he has to be sick to enjoy hot tea. :P

It is sooooo hot today! We were out running errands for awhile and took a nice walk, but it is really hot. Came home to chores, and needed something refreshing. I have not yet gotten into making iced tea at home, but my husband only likes it that way, so I’ve been making him this tea iced. It has mango, and I figured that was right up his alley, and it was! I make a bunch and so he keeps a large pitcher of it in the fridge, but he forgets it’s there, so today, I stole some! Ha! It is really delicious iced! Of course, we add a little sweetener too, but it’s not too sweet, and you get this subtle mango with a very refreshing base! Just what I needed!

Love this rooibos. I think the green rooibos is a lot smoother and delicate than red rooibos. This tea made me like rooibos tea more. The fruity flavor also helped with that. This tea goes with everything and I can drink it at any time. Sweet, but not candy sweet.

Got this as a sample. I had never considered buying it before because it seemed so simple – I mean, Lupicia’s got amazing unusual flavours like Marron Chocolat and Champagne Rose, and that’s what I gravitate to! But when something simple is done well, it’s worth it. This is done well. If you put a few vanilla beans in a jar of sugar and seal it for a few weeks, the sugar takes on the vanilla flavour, and this is exactly what I’m reminded of with this tea. I brewed it with milk and a little bit of sugar, and it’s remarkably smooth. A bit like a high-quality vanilla ice cream where you know they used vanilla beans rather than artificial flavouring, only not as sweet. I guess I would call it a grown-up vanilla, for lack of better words!

I don’t know if I’d buy it myself – after all, I’m still eager to try out so many of Lupicia’s unusual ones – but after drinking up this hot mug of it, I’m leaning toward “yes.” A great morning tea for when you want something more than a typical breakfast brew, but you don’t want to be knocked over with anything exotic.

I bought the bagged version because it was cheaper than the tin and they were out of just the regular loose tea. I have to admit, when I opened up the packaging I was disappointed. Whereas the loose oolongs I have bought from Lupicia in the past had tightly-rolled leaves that unfurled huge and beautifully, the contents of the bag were mostly small pieces of leaves and dust! I don’t know, maybe the package accidentally got crushed at the store or something.

Despite the absolutely LOVELY, strong, juicy mango smell (which is what convinced me to buy it), my expectations were lowered by the appearance, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the brewed tea tasted delicious. The mango taste was definitely there, both when steaming hot and slightly cooled down. With a small spoonful of sugar, it was perfectly juicy without being cloying. Very refreshing. I can only imagine that the loose leaf tastes even better!

This is a bad tasting note in the technical sense—more like a review. But I’m not terribly good at tasting notes anyway, SO! Short and sweet:

This is a decent cup of tea. I’ve been drinking gallons this past week, sometimes oversteeping (SQUIRREL!), but it doesn’t hurt anything. Little bit molasses and raisin type notes, especially on second steeps. Strong enough, no sharp unpleasant flavors. Not outstanding, but smooth and very drinkable.

This is one of the first loose leaf teas I purchased, but now I am
drinking my last bit of this tea. Definitely the best chocolate flavored tea I have had yet. Goodbye sweet tea!

I have logging to do from the Victorian Tea Room as well as the Emilie Autumn Tea and Cupcake Social, but I am super exhausted and with school starting this week, I have way too much to do to really spend any time logging.

I got this as a sample. I prepared it iced and wasn’t expecting much because I typically only drink black teas that go well with milk. Just black tea and a bit of sugar – what a pleasant surprise! The grape flavour was juicy and crisp without being cloyingly sweet. Just enough sweetness. I agree with the grape gummy candy mention. I don’t know if I’d go out and buy a bag of this, but it was tasty nonetheless.

Darjeeling Second Flush, I hardly knew ye. Drank the last of this today in my to go mug. It’s still pretty tasty but I miss my malt monster black tea. Thankfully my friend Becky and I are tea swapping and she’s sending me nearly a pound of Malachi McCormick! Am I lucky or what?

Some news for my Steepster pals: my hearing test resulted in good news and bad news. The good news is that while I do have some hearing loss, the audiologist said it’s not too severe and she did not think that I need a hearing aid at this time. The bad news is she does think I have some nerve damage inside my ear, and said I should see an ENT as soon as I can afford it.

In other news, I am now an official member of the Letter Writers Alliance! If you would like some snail mail, feel free to send me a message with your address. :) One caveat is that I am a pretty busy person, and it may take me awhile to get something cool out in the mail to you.

I’ve had this the last couple days in the travel mug. It’s not the greatest darjeeling I’ve ever had, but certainly not bad either, especially for the price! A little bit of fruity sweetness and mild astringency.

Thank tea fairy Sil! :)

I tried to savour this, this morning seeing as it was a sample, but it was so good it went down a little quicker than I expected.

You know how some teas are perfect, & not a thing about them should be changed? Yes? well this is that tea for me…. mmmm the cherry flavour, but it’s not regular cherry it’s choke cherry, which I used to pick with my dad, grandma, uncles & cousins when we would go ATVing in the bush.
And the added hint of the pine takes this over the edge & reminds me of my childhood. So perfect!

tea #3 of iceday sip down

also received this one from kasumi
I forgot to smell the dry leaves, but as soon as the hot water hit this I could smell pine needles. really? in a Chinese/ Japanese tea? oh but yes, the smell & taste reminds me of camping, I can smell it sitting here next to me.
it tastes like choke cherries, so delicious, tart & dry. yum! as this cools in tastes just like wintergreen leaves I would pick from the forest floor, yet sweet & tart. this is Devine!

I think this is my first Lupicia tea. I must get more, but I think the green would be even better. although this is quite the light flavored black.

Prior to entering the Lupicia shop in Kyoto I had never heard of muscat. Heck, even after buying the minimum 50g I still didn’t know what muscat was. The smell however, I knew that I loved it. Rich, fruity, thick and heavy. If their was a way to smother myself in muscat I would, which is why I’m paying a guy from craigslist to buy a bunch of muscat grapes and fill a bathtub with their jelly goodness for me to bathe in.

A cold brew was all I thought of, 10g in a large glass container left over night for 8+ hours. Gives me enough to drink over the course of a day.

I’ve yet to try a hot brew, but given the over powering flavour and scent of the oolong, I’m not to keen it would do justice.

Playstation Network, what have I ever done to deserve this?! I’m just minding my own business, trying to watch some late night Netflix, but no, Sony is determined to ruin my evening. Well, Sony, I have delicious tea so you can’t ruin it! Take that!

Ahem… anyway, I’m a huge huge fan of Lupicia’s Chestnut Green so when I saw that tattooed_tea was swapping this I just had to have it. Chestnut seems like kind of an elusive tea flavor, so I will hoard all the different kinds like a squirrel waiting for spring. You know, a squirrel who actually drinks all her nuts before spring comes because they’re so delicious…

This has the same sweet, nutty taste as Chestnut Green. The candied chestnut flavor is just so perfectly captured, there’s no mistaking it for anything else! There are strong notes of caramel and spun sugar, backed up by the black base which is surprisingly strong. I haven’t tried many of Lupicia’s black teas, but they seem to share rather robust bases!

I don’t think I like this quite as much as Chestnut Green, which is ever so slightly superior in terms of the base, but it’s still absolutely fantastic! Plus I can be really indulgent with this one and add a nice splash of creamy milk.

Sipdown! 206/365!

Brewed up this morning for a tasty treat, though I should have added a splash of sweetener as well as cream (and milk would have been better, but we were out). I do enjoy the flavour of these barley teas! Thanks again for the share, Sil!

Woah. Steeped up a crazy strong cup of this last night! Good thing it’s not caffeinated, but I bet if you gave this to anyone without telling them what it was, they’d identify it as super strong coffee! For the re-steep, I plan to dilute it with a bit of milk and perhaps a touch of sweetener, as it was pretty darn strong.

Though I do still like this one, I definitely have more of a soft spot for plain roasted buckwheat teas. The flavour of buckwheat is just sweeter, nuttier, and tastier. Lowering the rating a bit here, but may up it if I can recreate the flavour of a sinful coffee drink with far less calories! (And no tummy upset!)

ETA: Tried the resteep as a latte?? YES YES YES. Soooooo good! Maybe a touch over sweetened, but this is pretty tasty!

Woo, another sip down! 795 :) And yes, Sil, it’s a sipdown even though you gave me more, because they are separate entries on my swaps sheet. That’s just how it works. There are many ways in which my large cupboard may be slightly artificially inflated…

This isn’t quite as good as the first time I had it, but I think that’s partially because I oversteeped it a bit (so it’s a bit strong) and because my tasting ability is compromised. Still tasty though, and one I’ll likely look at picking up sometime in the future.