Suzi

So what is orzo? It was recommended to me as a coffee alternative, so when I saw it at Lupicia I was curious. As I picked it up, I remember thinking, “Gee, but it has no caffeine, which is pretty much why I drink coffee. Certainly not for the taste. I don’t think I want this if it tastes like coffee…there’s no benefit!” Then I noticed that they had some flavored orzo selections as well, and after some debating I decided to take home the Orzo Strawberry. I’ve had good luck with Lupicia’s other strawberry teas.

Whatever they use for strawberry flavoring in the “Carol” and “Strawberry & Vanilla” teas, it’s here as well, and quite strong. It complements the orzo, which tastes like toasted rice with a hint of chocolate. Yes, chocolate! So I guess this is like a malty chocolate-covered strawberry.

That sounds weird. But it tastes OK!

PS – Drink totally looks like coffee in my glass.

I did it wrong.
It tastes like pencil shavings.
Lame.

I’ll try again later.

Well, it tastes like grapes. Big, purple grapes.
In fact, I feel like I’m in church, drinking the communion grape juice.

The tea’s pretty perfumey, and the grape flavoring tastes pretty fake. I can barely taste the sencha, save for a slight bitterness. Too bad. The tea is completely overwhelmed by whatever they used to to pump up the grape flavoring.

The brew itself is the yellow-green of green grapes, which would be thematically appropriate if the ‘sweet andmellow Kyoho grape’ that flavors this drink wasn’t a deep purple-black. But hey, props for trying!

It’s pretty light, but the Sweet Potato Pie tea does have a yammy flavor. Starchy. I don’t get the ‘pie’ so much as the vegetable, although maybe it’d be a bit creamy if I added some milk. I actually like the tea; it’s a good savory flavor, but like a couple of other people commented, I’m a bit stumped by what to drink it with.

Much better than I expected for a bagged tea. When I opened the paper envelope, the scent of dried apricots came rushing out. Once brewed, the flavor is light, but I could definitely taste a creamy sort of apricot. (It was definitely apricot, not peach. There was a pleasant tartness that peaches just don’t have.) I would definitely drink this again.

I wasn’t sure if I’d like the combination of lavender and bergamot, but the two flavors go together really well! The lavender softens the citrus note of the Earl Grey, but the tea remains bold and intense. Really nice.

(Feeling lazy today so short review, sorry.)

Oh man what did I do wrong?
This tastes like…like…bread???
There’s a yeasty or malty note that reminds me of beer. Am I crazy? (Maybe.) I can taste a bit of the coconut, too, towards the end, but it’s this other bread-flavor that dominates.

It’s gross, to be honest. I’m disappointed. I followed Adagio’s instructions, so what happened? Le sigh. I don’t know whether I’ll give this another chance. I mean, it could be awesome, but is it worth mucking around to find out?

Oh, wow.
“Numerous bits” seems like quite an understatement for all the raspberry in this drink. It’s like a berry punch in the mouth! There’s more raspberries here than there were at the farmers’ market last weekend. The raspberries are stronger than the raspberry-flavor syrup used in soda machine “iced tea”. I feel like the teapot is going “thhhhhhhhb,” blowing raspberries at me. Raspberry raspberry raspberry.

It’s tart and fresh-tasting. The liquor is pink. That’s weird. i wasn’t expecting a pink tea. I mean, this is supposed to be a green tea. Since that often turns out yellow-ish, should the liquid be more of an orange color? Maybe? At any rate, even though I saw plenty of green leaves in the dry leaves, I don’t taste it.

I like it, I’m just a little blown away by how dominant the raspberries are.

I had to put a lot of freakin’ leaves into the teapot to get any almond out of this tea, and even then it was rather disappointing. It was faintly like almond milk.

The two flavors – almond milk and Formosa oolong – didn’t really match each other. I mean, they didn’t taste bad exactly, but this was not a truly blended tea, just a half-hearted attempt at it.

I’m really not getting cucumber out of this.
I mean, I taste cinnamon, and something vaguely vegetal. But I tend to associate a sort of watery crisp freshness to cucumbers, and I don’t get that same feeling from the tea.

The flavor is weak; maybe I didn’t use enough leaves. I’ll have to mess around with it some more.

This is such a guilty pleasure.
I mean, 440 calories in one drink? That’s pretty killer.

But I love these things!

It’s very, very sweet. The matcha flavor is strong, but there’s so much milk and whipped cream that any bitterness from the green tea vanishes completely. It’s like drinking green tea ice cream, but sweeter. Much, much sweeter.

Also, as I was sitting at my desk enjoying the drink, one of our residents came in and kept looking at my drink out of the corner of his eye.
“Is that green?” he finally asked.
“Yes sir!” I answer in my perky I’m-working-hard voice.
“…thank God, I thought my eyes were going wacko on me.”

I like the subtlety of the chocolate in this tea. It’s not WHAM BAM SUGARLY FAKE CHOCOLATE FLAVOR, but a lighter, authentic flavor that works with the tea instead of trying to smother it.

I did slightly oversteep it, so there’s a faint acidity to the brew, but even with that the tea is quite pleasing.

As with all my teas lately, I am drinking this iced.

This is excellent iced.

Sister’s Secret is oolong tea and raspberry. The raspberry is tart, not sugary sweet, and balances wonderfully with the oolong.

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.