Hoku

TTB Tea #13:

Another tea that isn’t on the website. I’m glad it’s here though because the tiny and tightly scrunched oolong leaves could almost be mistaken for green unless inspected carefully.

1 bag (3.4g)/6oz water.

In addition to the leaves, I can see yellow strands of something I assume to be flower petals, pink pepper corns, and silver balls… odd. The aroma is very fruity with a hint of floral.

After 3 min. the liquor is a medium peachy golden color… the kind that is lovely in a tea cup, but ugly in 1970’s flooring lol.

The aroma is that of pineapple and peach… I’m assuming the “peach” is guava- I have no clue what guava smells or tastes like.

The flavor is exactly what you’d expect from the aroma. Fruity, but not overly sweet… kind of the difference between fresh pineapple and canned. This is fresh. You can almost taste the firm texture of the fresh pineapple. The fruityness is grounded by a smooth, light oolong base. Quite lovely!- and I don’t even especially like fruity teas… or fresh pineapple for that matter lol.

Another Hawaiian flavored tea bag from Lupicia. At first when I opened the packet and took out the sachet, there looked like there wasn’t enough in there. Lo and behold… after steeping the bag was full, the leaves really plumped up and unfolded nicely. The tea has a light fruity scent both before and after steeping. The taste is mildly fruity too, it is nice in this tea I get the tea taste and its not over powered by fruit. It doesn’t need sugar to make it taste good but with sugar added, the fruitiness comes out more. When I looked at the dry bag, it looked like there was a couple konpeito candy pieces too so added sugar is not necessary.

In the tin, Hoku is a tightly rolled green oolong with yellow flower petals, pineapple chunks, green sugar bits, pink peppercorns, and tiny silver balls that represent the stars that are Hoku’s namesake. The scent is pure tropical fruit, and the visual and the scent together are perfect for a Hawaiian tea.
This makes a medium yellow brew, with a lovely tropical fruit aroma. Unsweetened, the flavor is a medium oolong with a little fruit – most of the fruitiness is in the scent. Hoku practically begs for a little sweetener to accentuate the tropical fruit flavor. I think this would also be nice iced.

This tea is the best. It used to only be available in Hawaii, but now it’s on the website. The candied pineapple bits are what give it that awesome scent and flavor. I made 32oz. of this last week and brought it to work and people who aren’t normally tea drinkers said that it was amazing and asked how they could get their hands on more. LOVE. THIS. TEA.