Kotobuki

I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while. Of course, it’s also been chilling in my cupboard for a while. Today is the day to break the cycle and finally try it out!

Part of the reason I wanted to try this is because it sounds good. But the larger reason is because Lupicia sells this tea and one called Wedding in individual packets for wedding favors. Since I love tea so much, I thought it might be fun to give out tea as favors! So I bought one favor as a test run to see how nice the packaging is and to see if I even like the tea I’d give to other people.

The packaging is nice and very appropriate for a wedding. It’s a white mesh, drawstring bag with one tea bag each of the Kotobuki and Wedding, individually sealed in opaque, cream plastic with gold lettering. So far so good.

The Kotobuki dry leaves smell very plum-y. The brewed tea aroma is still plum-y but with the added scent of green oolong. Wow! This tastes very wine-like. It reminds me of a sweet red wine I had at Olive Garden. It also has lovely floral notes that I don’t think I’ve tasted before. Maybe it’s the rose. I know rose teas are common, but I haven’t tried any yet.

This is sweet and delicious and possesses no astringent qualities! I’m confident that this would make a good favor because I think it would appeal to people with varying tastes. It’s also unique enough that most people probably haven’t experienced anything like it.

I’ll keep this in my mind as a possibility. But now I have to try the Wedding tea that comes with it. And before I try that one, I think I’m going to re-steep this. It’s just too yummy to throw the bag away after one cup!

WOoot Lupicia! My first time trying them out!

STEEPED: Yellow tea, smells like sweet plums and loads of floral.

TASTE: Light vegetal oolong, slightly buttery and sweet, and quite rosey floral. Very light on the plum, with a plum aftertaste.

I actually stole a bit for iced tea yesterday – and this tea made pretty good iced tea. THe plum was much sweeter, but still floral and oolong flavor present.

I then resteeped it for hot tea and it was good, but there was no plum flavor, but the floral and oolong was pretty nice. I could probably get a 3rd resteeping if I have time.

Overall, check this one out if you like floral teas. The plum here is quite nice, I’d love more of it for hot tea, but is pretty good.

Thanks for sharing this, Ian!

This smells like flower candy when it’s brewed. I think I have had some kind of flower flavored hard candies before, but I don’t recall the flower. I want to say violet. This tea reminds me of them, but with the bonus of oolong.

It’s nice and sweet, but I don’t get plum at all. The flowers create a way more prominent flavor. It’s still good despite that. I think I’ll make a cup of it coldbrewed for lunch tomorrow, maybe that will help bring out the plum more!

This is a naturally sweet oolong, like really sweet! The plum flavor is definitley there with a little extra something…possibly a slight floral hint? I had this hot, but I think it would be pretty amazing iced. I had family over this weekend so my time was spent trying to entertain guests and keep the house clean from the kids toys everywhere, so I am backlogging and didn’t get to really enjoy my tea during my “down time”, but it was still a nice pick me up but almost a tad too sweet for my taste… like I said, I need to try it iced (I tend to like my iced tea a bit sweet versus my hot tea) hehe. Oh and before I forget, I thought it was really cool how the tea unfurls into huge, fat tea leaves!

I got to sample this thanks to Amy oh! :) I somehow decided to try this first. I have an idea. We need a campaign against crappy tea bags. This is an example of what tea bags should be like. It smells wonderful, it is easy to use, and the leaf is great quality. It smells sweet, fruity, tart, and almost like a relaxing spring afternoon to me. The oolong looks perfect. I don’t think I’d be able to resist buying this if I had smelled it in the store. I’m now addicted to smelling the pouch this came in. drool face It reminds me of a Japanese plum gum I used to purchase. I’m going to do multiple steepings of this one just to see how the flavor holds up.
1st sip? ahhhhh. Total spa tea. It is very sweet and the plum comes through nicely. I have to admit that I love this tea. I think I love more teas than ones I hate. This has some really lovely undertones. It has a very vanilla base flavor coming through that I’m really enjoying. The plum itself is not too tart (I think some companies would have added hibiscus..which would have ruined it). Knowing such amazing teas out there is going to kill my budget! :p Overall I thought this was really nice. It has a slight floral-ness to it that is quite relaxing. Oh! This is also my first tea from Lupicia! Congrats Lupicia for being another temptation on my list! wink

I am really glad that this tea came along with January’s newsletter, because it is one that I have not yet tried but have been wanting to.

It’s really quite nice. The plum flavor is mild, and the Oolong flavor is the prominent taste in the cup: buttery, sweet, and slightly vegetal. I can taste a hint of rose – but just a hint.

A really lovely flavored Oolong, I like it.

Loose
Appearance: large “kernel” oolong, two toned green, deep purpleish pink petals
Aroma when Dry: sticky sweet desert floral, almost gooey
After water is first poured: floral icing
At end of steep: subtle sweet fruity notes, powdery
Tea liquor:
At end of first steep: transparent light green
Staple? No
Time of day preferred: unsure, first tasting
Taste:
At first: jammy, sweet berry, slightly sticky
As it cools? plum syrupy notes start showing
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No.
Lingers? Yes, very sweet, cloying jammyness, violet notes show

This is the tea I drank this morning… Sorry I’m a little late!

Let me start off by saying I’m always hesitant to drink flavored oolongs-they’re so complex and can change so much and so many of them are beautiful on their own, so I’m always a little careful when drinking flavored ones.

That said, this is done very well. This was another sample my friend Bella gave me (bless her soul), and I can see why she loves it! The plum isn’t really too tart or present. It provides a bright sweetness that sort of stirs in the background behind the tea and the other ingredients. The flowers add such a nice light and floral taste, and I LOVE it!

My one complaint (it’s my fault)-I made it in my Noble mug and drank it for a while with the cap off. However, once I got in the car to go to school, I put the cap on and it was left on for little while-this did not do too many wonders for the tea. After a little while with the cap on, the tea started to develop that plastic-y taste that happens with low quality jasmines. That, however, was my fault, and I won’t make the mistake again!

I spent the morning editing a loooooong document and just as I stopped for a break my latest order from Lupicia turned up at the door, so I decided to take that as a hint and went to make some tea.

The flavour of this oolong is elusive. Generally, I prefer the fruit flavour of a fruit tea to be more definite, but for some reason the delicacy of this one is really working for me. The plum is mostly in the aroma, but it lurks around the edges of the taste, too, and it somehow puts me in mind of the texture of a plum – and yeah, I have no clue how it’s doing that. The tea itself is smooth and feels a little viscous in the mouth, and now it’s cooling the taste of the Taiwan oolong is really coming through.

Time for another cup, before I start on the next fifty pages of this document.

Listening to: Crass- Banned From the Roxy

It’s one of those nights. Apparently I more than woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I kind of woke up nearly glued to the wall. So its been a blargh day. I have tried this tea twice so far, this first post will be my detailed review from the other day and then I will post another on my thoughts on this tea today. :)

Observation 1:
The boyfriend made the tea. He steeped loose leaves for 2 minutes in boiling water. The liquor is a very bright yellow and there is a fruity scent about the tea.
Observation 2:
Tea without additives: The tea has a very clean bright taste. Not like any other oolong I have tried thus far.
Observation 3:
Tea with sugar to taste: Its kind of nutty and fruity. This tea is very easy to sweeten. I am reminded of fruitcake.
Observation 4: I hate fruitcake.
Observation 5: Considering the delicateness of this blend, I decided that milk was absolutely out of the question.

Overall, a very bright fruity tasting tea that I would like to try as an iced tea, I think it would really shine in that spotlight.

Boyfriend remarks:
“Blardablarg.”

The oolong is buttery and smooth, with no astringency at all. There’s a hint of rose and the plum taste is likewise smooth without any sour or “bright” flavor that things like hibiscus and citrus impart. I give this to my friends who have had bad experiences and are afraid of tea being ‘bitter.’

The fragrance of the tea is very strong and perfume-y. I have tried it plain, with milk+sugar, and made into ice cream (I steeped it in the hot milk/cream.) The dairy suits the buttery finish of the oolong, and I find that with sugar and dairy, the plum and rose tastes are complimented and come out much stronger, while tea’s floral notes and oolong flavor fade into the background.

Nice Oolong base, high quality and smooth as the Lupicia Teas tend to be. It’s very nice and interesting but I had to read the write-up about this tea to realize it was a Plum flavouring. It’s nice, certainly, but it’s not a very strong flavour – just a slight tinge to add to a good Oolong base. A very straightforward tea – a tad underwhelming maybe, but still solid.

I must say this oolong doesn’t do a whole lot for me, which is a shame since I’ve adored their other flavored oolongs in the past. The plum flavor is definitely subtle to the point of being barely identifiable in the mix; mostly this just tastes like a nice quality oolong, something to drink with food when you’re not really primed to notice what you’re drinking. I’m not too mad since I got this for 30% off (I didn’t even know Lupicia did random sales like that…reason enough to make the trek to the Century City location), but if you’re there looking for a good fruity oolong I’d say go with Lupicia’s pineapple or melon oolong.

I bought this tea at Lupicia because of the lovely smell. It is fragrant but not in an overpowering way, fruity and flowery at the same time. It brews up a light, yellow color. The lingering aftertaste is nice, I can taste the plumness and oolong, and it is sweet enough not to need sugar.

Pleasantly floral and smooth. Very light fluffiness to it.

I really liked it. It made me sort of sleepy.