Morning Tea

Full review coming on the 13th here: http://sororiteasisters.com/
But in the mean time here are my snippits:

Morning Tea from Lupicia is quite soothing and deep. The vanilla is only a mere hint at the flavor note, so don’t expect this to be a typical vanilla tea. Also if you wait for the tea to cool a bit the vanilla peeks out a tad more, but not a lot. I get more of the vanilla note on the aftertaste which is a lovely little surprise.

There is a slight smokiness in the tea but nothing like a Lapsang Souchong whatsoever. Just a very faint hint at what may remain from a campfire that has been smoldering out slowly. The tea does remind me somewhat of the early fall months, when it is still quite lovely out and not too cold but you can feel the air changing around you, there is a crispness, a slight bite to the air, yet the sun is still shining and all is well with the world. That is the feeling this tea evokes for me!

Now if you desired, you could absolutely add milk and or sugar to this tea. It is hearty enough to handle it and I think would make it quite yummy, however I prefer teas on their own merit without additives usually. I may give it a go with this one though as I really think it would be delicious and maybe pull out the vanilla note more.

I will be keeping this in my morning rotation for sure. Mmmm, more vanilla just peeked through! I love that sneaky vanilla!

A Tea from my Lupicia Happy Bag

Oh…so THAT’S what I’m smelling…Vanilla! I knew there was something hiding underneath…lol…

I want to THANK Auggy for this one as well! Woot! Auggy Rocks!!!!

1-2 minutes!? Hum…okay…I’ll TRY and follow instructions! LOL
2 minutes…it is…

This is VERY Dark in color and basically smells like Assam. It’s a Light to Medium Strength Black and it’s nice! I don’t know if I can taste any vanilla or any other flavors that pop out but it’s a nice, relaxing cup.

I needed to open this tea and I needed something hot for my throat/chest so I combined those two needs and decided to have this tea this morning. Can I first say wow at the steep time? I was surprised that it’s just 1 – 2 minutes. But then these are tiny little bits of tea, so I suppose that isn’t too surprising. It brews up dark, even in that short amount of time, and smells cardboard-y with a splash of almost-creamy vanilla.

Sipping, it’s a little flat. I’m not going to say that is all the tea because I am getting my first introduction to it while sick with a horrible cold. But not a lot of nuance going on in this tea. It is nicely stout, pretty malty. I have a feeling this would stand up well to milk. Even though it is not as flat-tasting as my first sip made me think, it still doesn’t have any subtlety within the flavor. It’s Assam and it makes no bones about it. The vanilla does help, I think. It doesn’t actually flavor the tea but rather adds a little insulating bubble of faint sweetness that smooths out what might be a little too malty and rough. Not that it makes the tea smooth, but it prevents it from being as rough as it might be. It’s malty and cardboard-y and it’s got a decently chewy body to it along with a little bit of an edge. And I’m only half way through my 12-oz cup and I can already feel the caffeine going so this definitely qualifies as a wake up tea.

All in all, it lacks a little roundness in taste to make me a huge fan of this tea, but I enjoy the stoutness and sort of vanilla-moderated-in-your-face-ness of it. But then most mornings, subtle teas do me very little good so that plus the caffeine means that this at least fulfills its purpose as a good wake-up tea. Plus, the heat has made my chest feel better. Brownie points for that.

I wanted something that wasn’t flavored or fruity today, so I opened this packet from my Happy Bag. Both dry and steeped, it smelled pretty bold: dark, malt, sweet, smoke. In smell and flavor, reminds strongly of a savory roasted pumpkin or squash. I want to add a tiny sprinkle of salt and cocoa and use it as a base for a sweet-spicy mole sauce.

I liked the little chunks of vanilla bean mixed in. I also liked that vanilla wasn’t a prominent note—so either it blended exceptionally well with the leaf itself, or it’s pretty mild. Or my nose is terrible. Either way, it wasn’t overly sweet.

I was sorta hoping this would be a little more like the breakfast teas I’m used to. This was milder yet more complicated than I expected, but I liked it anyway. Now someone tell me how to resist opening fifteen different bags of looseleaf at once, because it’s very… challenging to me right now.

Very good. Hints of smoke maybe? Nice smooth aftertaste.