Suzi

If you want a minty, refreshing tea, don’t go any farther. This is it.

I was expecting a much greener, vegetal tea. When I opened my tin, however, I was pretty surprised because the leaves didn’t look anything like my other green teas. I took a sniff and realized that the leaf was at least 50% mint leaves. This was not at all a bad thing, as far as I was concerned, because it is a hot summer day and what is more refreshing than mint tea?

I brewed it up and threw some ice in, and voila! A lovely summer drink.

((I might have to try blending this with a strawberry tea. Doesn’t that sound lovely? Strawberry mint, iced. Yum.))

In case you’re wondering, this isn’t pure green tea matcha. It’s the tea mixed with a little sugar. As a result, the powder is noticeably grainier than other matchas I’ve had, with granules larger than even Lupicia’s other latte mixes.

When mixed with milk, it tastes rather like green tea ice cream. Sweet and creamy, but with the slight bitterness of green tea. It’s nice.

Kitchen Sink really packs a one-two punch. When I first sip the tea, it tasted quite green and vegetal. It was quite nice, pleasant and mild. Then I swallowed, and seemingly out of nowhere a wave of fruitiness hit me. I couldn’t begin to tell you something specific from it. It was a citrusy berry-like sweet tangy extravaganza of flavor.

As I drank more of the tea, the initial green tea taste and the fruitiness blended in my mouth until it was just a symphony of fresh, fun flavors. It was just fantastic :D

Pouchong may have been the first oolong I ever tasted, because it’s the ‘default’ taste I think of whenever I hear ‘oolong.’ It’s lightly vegetal, and almost like a green tea except it doesn’t have the sharpness. A little floral, but not to the point that a specific flower could be named. I like it because it’s a very fresh and clean flavor.

Lupicia’s Strawberry & Vanilla has a strong perfume scent coming from the dry leaf. It makes me think of Bath and Body Works’ fruity sprays. Kinda artificial, but not at all unpleasant.

This tastes like those prepackaged strawberry milk drinks. It’s very sweet and creamy. There’s barely any flavor from the green tea; it’s completely buried under the strong strawberry note, which does not taste like the strawberries found in nature. It’s more syrupy, I guess. Does that make sense?

I like this, but I don’t love it. It definitely works better as a cold beverage, but I’d drink it either way.

Bananas and peaches?
I don’t think I’ve ever encountered this particular flavor combination in a tea, although I’m sure Jamba Juice has a smoothie or two with both fruits in it. Thanks to the sample that Liberteas sent, I’ll be trying this tea out, iced.

It smells wonderful, nice and fruity.

Yum! The banana really pops in this tea. The peach isn’t as strong, but I know it’s there because of the sweetness that lingers on the tongue. It’s another great summer blend from 52teas.

Thank you LiberTEAs for sending this one to me!

It’s a perfect summer tea. Very tangy and lemony. I tried it warm, but it made me think of Airborne and other illness-preventing concoctions, but after tossing some ice cubes the drink became refreshing and delightful. I feel like I’m drinking sunshine…no, this tea makes me feel like I need to go sit out on the porch with a nice tall glass and read a book. If only I had a porch…

I think this may be the first peanut-flavored tea I’ve tried, although I’ve had almond, hazelnut and chestnut teas before. The nuttiness is pleasant, but it is not strong. It balances with the rooibos flavor but doesn’t transform/transcend it into a truly peanut butter beverage.
I can’t detect the strawberries, so I think calling this “PBJ” isn’t quite right because there isn’t any jamminess. :(

I’m glad this is caffeine-free, because I need more evening teas, but I can’t help but wonder if the PBJ would taste better with a different tea base since the rooibos seems inclined to overpower it?

I like the subtlety of this raspberry tea. Too often, I get a raspberry-flavored tea that has been pumped with sugars or berry-flavoring so that the berry flavor just screams in your mouth.

SBS’s tea definitely has a pleasant raspberry aroma of medium strength, and while you can definitely taste the raspberry it balances with the black tea instead of trying to dominate it. I drank it hot, but I think that this would be great iced, too.

It’s not a complex or fancy flavor, but for a good basic summer tea I’d stock up on this one.

I finally figured out my best approach to Lupicia’s Matcha au Lait mix. First, I put a tablespoon’s worth of tea in my bowl. (I don’t have any teacups large enough yet shallow enough to whisk in, so I use one of those bowls Chinese restaurants serve rice in.) Then I fill the bowl about a third of the way with hot water, and whisk it until the tea’s blended in. At that point, it’s a very thick matcha. Then I fill the bowl the rest of the way with milk, and whisk again. Since the tea’s already dispersed in the hot water, this method avoids the clumpiness I had when I just used milk (even when I heated the milk first), plus adding the milk second helps cool the tea down so I can drink it immediately.

The strawberry flavor isn’t strong, but it’s definitely there. With the milk it’s very tasty.

When I was at Lupicia last week, all the matcha au laits were on sale. I wonder if this means it’s being discontinued already? Did anyone happen to notice if this was a limited edition for summer?

Ugh, I think I found a new poison.

I took a sip and made such an interesting face (oh, woe, that we did not have a camera to record it) that my boyfriend immediately grabbed the cup away from me and tried it himself. He described it as “hawaiian punch, but much, much worse.”

I can’t be so generous. To me, it tastes like bubble gum that’s been chewed for a while. Only the barest residual of the flavor remains, replaced with a stale nasty taste that leaves your mouth feeling funny. Old, nasty bubble gum. That’s what ‘Green Tea With Mango’ tastes like to me.

Side note: Y’know, for a green tea the liquor is awfully red. It’s about the color of caramel. I’m guessing that’s the hibiscus at work.

Thank you LiberTEAS for sending me a sample of Tropical Explosion.

The coconut and pineapple are the strongest notes. They balance well with the white tea, creating a blend that isn’t very sweet, but still decidedly fruity. There’s a bit of a mint effect from the tea, that refreshed/clean/slightly tingling feeling? I wonder what causes that. (At first I thought I was crazy, but it looks like JaneFan tasted it too.)

I don’t usually go for a lot of tropical fruit flavors, so this isn’t a blend I would have picked out myself. I’m so glad I got a chance to try it, and just might have to order more in the future!

My previous Earl Grey experience is limited to cheap tea bags, which I never enjoyed, so I always assumed I wouldn’t like this. But I’ve had a sample from Lupicia around for ages now, and I thought now was the time to try it.

Lots and lots of bergamot. I never thought of Earl Grey as a fruity tea before, but Lupicia’s blend is heavy on the citrus note. The tea is very smooth and refreshing, especially iced.

This was on sale at Mitsuwa this week, so I bought a big ol’ bottle of it. I had not tried it before.
It’s the best pre-bottled jasmine tea I’ve ever had! The floral flavor is really strong, but the tea remains very light and refreshing. Really awesome iced.

((As a comparison, the other prepackaged jasmine tea I usually drink is Adagio’s. It’s pretty good too, but if I compare it side-by-side with Ito En’s I can taste a slight bitterness in Adagio’s tea, which I believe is the preservative they add to their “pure” tea. ))

This is so refreshing. I really like how strong and vibrant the flavor is. Most pear teas I have tend to be kinda weak or lack the tartness of a true pear, but it’s all here :) The pomegranate’s pretty light. I could sorta taste it, but only as an afterthought compared to the pear.

This is a very pleasant summertime tea. Thank you, LiberTEAS, for sending the sample to me! I’ve got to see if I can get some more :)

For a cheap bagged tea, this is not bad. I mean, don’t get me wrong. It’s not great. The peach flavor is very strong, dominating the drink. The taste of the green tea, meanwhile, is pretty much not there. But this is drinkable. It doesn’t need any sweeteners or additives, since it’s already quite syrupy.

The tea looks like little sticks. Not at all like other green teas I’ve had. Lupicia calls this a houjicha, but it doesn’t look anything like Adagio’s houjicha (my only other exposure) so I’m not sure what to expect.

The flavor reminds me of dry roasted grain. Like puffed wheat cereal that hasn’t been sweetened. Not at all like other green teas. It is mildly sweet, actually.

Lupicia’s website recommends blending this with milk for a tea latte, and I could see the flavors complementing each other well. It also makes me think my flavor comparison to cereal is not completely off-base; we eat milk with cereal, right?

Slightly bitter aftertaste, probably because I used water that was hotter than necessary to brew the tea. We don’t have a controlled water heater at work; it just comes out off the dispenser ‘hot’ and you deal with it. I tossed a couple of small ice cubes in to lower the temp. a tad, but I don’t think I did enough.

Adagio sent me a free sample tin of Birthday tea when I made a purchase last month (my birthday is May 22nd) and it was a complete surprise. I opened up the tea and was amused by the rainbow-colored sprinkles nestled amongst the black leaves. It is described on Adagio’s website as a blend of “vanilla, cream and a hint of caramel”; if it tasted anything like cake or frosting, I would be hooked.

It took me a few weeks to get around to trying it, but I have to say I’m disappointed. It doesn’t taste like vanilla frosting. It doesn’t taste like sweet, sugary cake. It has the slightest hint of vanilla…and that’s it. It’s practically a plain black tea. If steeped over 5 minutes, it goes bitter really fast.

The lack of flavor makes me wonder if I got an old batch or something. I mean, it just doesn’t taste all that sweet to me! But hey, it’s not like I paid for it. It’s definitely a better birthday present than socks or granny underwear. ;-D

Today I made Lupicia’s Caramael Matcha au Lait mix like this:
1. Two teaspoons of matcha powder in the cup
2. Cup half-filled with hot water
3. Whisk stir whisk stir.
4. Fill the rest of the cup with 2% milk (because i don’t like drinking hot hot tea, the cold milk cooled the drink to the perfect temperature)
5. Whisk stir whisk stir.
6. GULP GULP YUM YUM.

It was pretty good. Kinda creamy. I can’t say that I get a strong sense of ‘caramel’ from the drink. Just green tea, with perhaps a hint of burnt sugar. Maybe I put too much milk in, and it was drowned out? But that doesn’t seem right, since the tea was pretty thick. shrug

Ah, Rose Green Oolong.
You make me feel like a princess!

The tea is so strongly scented that the smell of rose petals fills the entire kitchen. It’s lovely. Perfect for springtime. It kinda makes me think I should be wearing something pink, or sparkly, or at the very least a floral 1950s housewife dress.

Anyway. Definitely one of the nicer teas I own. Light, refreshing, delicate, rosy. I really don’t know what else to say about it, and besides, I have to go do something girly now like give myself a pedicure while wearing an avacado face mask.

Ciao.

I’ve had a couple of unsuccessful attempts preparing this with milk. Lupicia’s instructions are simple: put matcha in cup, put milk in cup, stir, heat, and stir some more. Every time, it’s left the tea rather clumpy and it separates pretty quickly from the milk. Bleah.

So I tried it with just hot water today. It worked out…decently. Something about the milk really brings the flavor of the strawberries out. When I drank the tea as prepared today, it was green and slightly bitter up until I swallowed, after which there was a hint of a strawberry aftertaste. That was a little disappointing, because it is a LOT easier to prepare with hot water.

Maybe I’ll try mixing the tea with water and the blending milk in? I don’t know. I haven’t given up on Strawberry Matcha au Lait, but it definitely isn’t working yet.

I’ve ordered this before, and I know I wasn’t crazy about it, but I can’t remember why…

As I drink the tea, it’s light. Has a very nutty note to it.
Whoa. WHOA. That is a funky aftertaste going on. It makes me think of…barley or something. It’s kinda nasty, actually. The taste makes me wish I had some honey to sweeten the brew, maybe it would help. But all I have is sugar grains, and I don’t think they’d dissolve in cold tea. Guess I could try it, though.

My tongue’s not particularly sophisticated, so I couldn’t tell you what specific sort of Oolong tea this is. The aroma has a slightly floral note to it, like jasmine. On the tongue it is a little astringent. Oolong is a very difficult tea to pre-brew and package, I think. The flavor is complex and something always seems missing from the final bottled beverage. This is not as great as a freshly-brewed cup of tea, but it is good. It is very light and I feel refreshed as I sit here, drinking it. It’d probably be even nicer with some ice.

We’ve been remodeling our kitchen, and most of my tea things are packed up, so I’ve been relying on tea bags and pre-bottled drinks to get me through the renovation period. (Oh, the horror!) The pyramid-shaped Lupicia bagged teas have been some of the best for flavor.

Napa Blanc’s a great summer tea with a bright, strong aroma. The muscat grape is very sweet, but the addition of a slight floral note (jasmine according to the company’s description) tempers it nicely.

The Napa Blanc flavor is one of limited edition ‘California’ flavors, available only at Lupicia’s stores in Santa Clara and San Francisco. I’m not clear on whether these are available for a limited time only, or the limitation is only on the locations where Napa Blanc can be purchased.