Decaf Carol

This is part of the “Low Caffeine” Holiday Tea collection from Lupicia.

Having tried both the Carol and now the Decaf Carol, I find them to be very similar but there are some differences that stand out to me. First of all, the black tea base here is a bit thinner than that of the caffeinated version. However, the flavorings are more intense with the decaf… the strawberry and vanilla really POP and the coconut is much more distinct here!

Both are very good!

I wasn’t going to brew another tea tonight because that requires me to wash my cup and strainer. But I’m intrigued by this loose leaf sample from Lupicia, so I’m washing some dishes!

The dry leaves smell fruity and delicious! It must be the strawberry. Oh, it smells so good!! It’s funny because I just read a post by Angrboda where she said she had to try and type around a “sleepy but social cat (what do you mean make her go away??? I can’t! She’s cute!).” Now I’m doing the exact same thing, precariously balancing my laptop on the edge of my knees with my arms wrapped around a purring kitty who demands attention now. :) I can’t possibly move him when he lays his head on my hand and sleeps.

“You’re making this impossible,” I say to him. And he responds by looking up at me, still purring, and doing that slow blink thing cats do when they’re happy. He’s just the cutest thing in the world! How can anyone dare to disturb that happiness?

At least the distraction has allowed my tea to cool to a drinkable temperature. Wow, this tea is delicious! The strawberry is definitely the most prominent flavor. It lends a great sweetness to the brew so that I’m not immediately compelled to add milk and sugar. Still, I’m going to add just a tiny touch of milk anyway because the kitty decided to get up.

This is really really good! Even though I’m not individually tasting all the flavorings in this tea, I’m sure it wouldn’t be the same if they were left out. This tea has really impressed me! It’s too bad it’s no longer available since the holiday season is over. I really missed the boat with this one. But now I know to look for it next year! And that’s what I call a tea success!

A very nice decaf offering from Lupicia for the holidays. I received this free (loose leaf!) sample at the store recently.

There is so no question that this is what my boyfriend calls a “gummy bear” tea. It’s so so sweet and festive though and the strawberry flavor really comes shining through. The coconut and vanilla round out the flavor very nicely. Ok, it is hard to taste any actual tea here especially after I added soymilk. But what a delicious, low calorie dessert drink! Lupicia does strawberry well – I also suggest trying their strawberry and rhubarb tea if you are a fan of strawberry tea. =)

Thanks LiberTEAs!!!!
I agree with LiberTEAs that the black tea taste/intensity is more pale or mellow in the decaf blend here…but the decaf is tasty! I do prefer the original to the decaf but if you are looking for no caf give this one a try!

It’s a nice subtle flavored black tea plain, but if you want to make the strawberry flavor pop, add a little cream and sugar. It tastes like a dessert/strawberry latte then.

This may be one of my favorite teas to drink as a afternoon treat. The smell is amazing, almost like strawberry oatmeal, or yogurt covered raisins.

I don’t know if I would buy a whole tin of it, since I received this as a free sample from Lupicia as part of their newsletter program. I might be interested in the non-decaf version more, and while the smell is amazing, the flavor is very weak. Honestly, I just love inhaling a deep breath of the sweet steam before taking a slow sip.