Milk Caramel

Oh…my…goodness this is good. Yummy.

This tea is a must try for those who love caramel. The toasty flavor of the houjicha is a brilliant pairing with the caramel flavor, giving it a roasty depth that I don’t think I’ve ever tasted in a caramel tea before. I love caramel tea (I think my Sweet Caramel O’Mine Tea … for those of you who have tried it… speaks for itself, no?) and this one is amazing. Maybe not as good as my Sweet Caramel O’Mine, but, I like how this tea is so light and yet offers such a deep, rich flavor.

Amazing, amazing, AMAZING! Love this!

The scent of the dry leaves is amazing! I can really smell the creaminess of the caramel. It reminds me very much of the popular caramel spread from Argentina called “dulce de leche”. The tea brews up quite dark—like a roasted oolong. The taste is toasty and sweet like a sugary Genmaicha!

I’m really really enjoying this—it’s sweet, toasty, creamy comfort in a cup.

(While the aroma is deliciously rich, the flavor is actually really mellow and smooth—no bitterness and no astringency)

This tea smells creamy, buttery, green, toasty and earthy all at once. I’m really looking forward to sipping!

The scent smells so rich that it has me expecting a really thick or full mouthfeel. This tea is surprisingly light and clean. There isn’t as much caramel as I would have liked, but it is still rather toasty and sweet.

It is smooth and actually becomes a little bit more creamy as the cup cools. Very tasty & satisfying! Thank you, ToiToi for a sample of this tea!

I have been wanting to try this tea for months. It has taken every ounce if willpower to not order it sooner. I love hojicha teas. And I think it’s a great base tea for flavors that go well with roastiness. And I love caramel. So I finally caved and ordered some.

I think they sent me the wrong tea. I hope anyway. This has zero caramel flavor. Even when I close my eyes and think only caramely thoughts, I get no caramel. There aren’t any caramel or almond chunks as seen in the picture either. Gotta be the wrong tea, right?

Or is this just bad? I mean its a good hojicha. But that’s not what I wanted. I wanted a buttery roasty hojicha with a little bit of burnt sugar flavor, or creamy caramel, I don’t really care which. Just something! Boo!

Thank you Doulton for passing this tea onto me.

It was delicious, not sure if it was a true caramel flavor but there was a sweet roasted flavor that was very enjoyable. It is a sophisticated flavor that I believe I will continue to enjoy the more I drink it.

Yummm this is SO good, thank you Ricky for sending this one to me. I had this hot and then I had it at room temp. and it was great both times. The milky taste came out a bit more as it cooled, but none the less it was still amazing! Caramel with a milky smoothness and a toasty finish to it…YUM!

Out of the 6 teas I ordered, this one smelled the best. Veeeeery sweet and caramely! And I like that it’s a green tea. I love my blacks, but I like to mix it up sometimes. :P

When brewed, the toastiness of the houjicha comes out, but there’s definitely still some sweet caramel in there.

It tastes toasty right up front. It’s an interesting flavor, the toasty green tea combined with caramel. But not in a bad way, just in a unique way. I’m really liking it! Lupicia knows how to do caramel, that’s for sure! But I think between this one and Caramele, I like Caramele a bit more. But only a tiny bit more. :P The caramel flavor comes through a bit more in Caramele, and it’s more of a hint in this one.

I would say that, if you aren’t a fan of toasty, this probably isn’t for you. But if you like toasty, and you like your flavors to be less in-your-face, you should definitely try this one!

I’m not much of a green tea drinker and I’ve never had houjicha before, so this tea was a bit of an experience for me. It definitely had a toasty flavor, which I am not normally a big fan of. The caramel flavor is a bit subtle for me, I prefer the flavors in my tea to be strong. I did enjoy this tea, but it isn’t something I would normally drink. Thank you Rachel for sending me this one to sample! Prepared with stevia.

This is a little something from my first trade with ToiToi from a while ago. I finally got my trades organized yesterday so there will be a little more variety from here until I’m finished with them. I brought a big old bag of trades into work because that’s where I drink most of them. Anyway.

I’m a little bit skeptical of liking this because it is a green tea and I’m not really partial to those. It smells quite interesting, but definitely green. I don’t think I’ve ever had a houjicha before. At least not one identified as such. Also my first Lupicia tea.

Well, it’s certainly toasty. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever said that about a tea. Toasty. It’s an interesting flavour. I’m not picking up much caramel at all, but I did let it cool down to room temperature while I was avoiding drinking it for fear that I wouldn’t like it. I don’t know why I do that. It’s counterproductive. Now I need to drink this cup and the next cup and 2 cups of matcha in the next hour and a half in order to make the vanpool and I’m probably going to have to pee all the way home and that will suck.

Butterscotch: if you like it, you’ll enjoy this tea. Smells like it and tastes like it… well, like toasted butterscotch, and not quite as sweet. There’s quite a bit of flavor here, no focused attention is necessary. Also Crystal, who surprised me with this delicious gift, noted a nutty flavor as well, good call on that subtlety; I’d peg it as hazelnut.

The creamy mouthfeel continues into a lengthy aftertaste, which is quite nice… like breathing butterscotch-caramel.

I’d recommend this tea for folks like me who don’t seek out “sweet” teas but enjoy a little sweetness now and then as long as it’s not all high notes.

This would be good to use as a flavoring for more plain teas, like that nondescript black that you want to use up. So … on the 3rd steep I added some Irish Breakfast that I actually like, and the results are great. Delicious, it cut some of the sweetness and added more interest to the black tea. This would be a great satisfying Saturday breakfast tea, now, like tea with a little sweet roll on the side, without the calories. When added to another tea like this, I’d give this a 90 rating. The strength of the flavor holds up remarkably well.

Thanks to ToiToi for sending me this sample!

This has a fascinating scent dry. I can’t quite nail down what I’m smelling. Just steeping now.

Yes it’s definitely a toasted scent I’m getting once it’s brewed. Not too sure I’m loving the scent (though compared to the Pineapple Oolong from earlier anything is welcome).

Hmm I don’t think this one is for me. The toasted taste just isn’t sitting quite right.

Mmm, this tea has a nice toasty flavor, just what you’d expect from houjicha. The caramel adds a nice sweet note, and the creamy-ness is an interseting compliment for the green tea.

Caramel and houjicha- I was very skeptical. A friend sent me a sample of this, and it is actually quite good! Probably not something I would re-order, but something interesting for a change of pace. The caramel flavor compliments the houjicha very well, and it makes for a brew that is slightly reminiscent of coffee… in a good way.

This is really nice! Warm and toasty, and the caramel flavor is just subtle enough that it doesn’t overpower. There’s a nutty-ness to the taste. I had some of it unsweetened, and it was nice, but with a little bit of milk and sugar, the caramel comes out more and it’s super creamy and dessert-like. A nice pick-me-up drink. I’ve never really tried houjicha before and wasn’t sure what I would think of it, but this is fantastic.

I love caramel, but this tea really doesn’t work for me. I’ve tried it both with and without milk and there’s something strange about the creaminess of caramel combined with the more “green” and warm roasted flavour of the tea. They just don’t go together well, in my opinion, and the result is a thin-tasting liquid. I don’t think I’ll finish the packet.