Lupicia

After two missed deliveries due to Sandy, my Lupicia order is finally here! I was planning on trying a different tea first, but this one stuck out because it came with a recipe for an iced latte. It’s funny, this isn’t a tea I ever would have ordered without Steepster. I tend to stay away from strawberry teas since they can be so easily artificial-tasting, but this has so many reviews and seems to be a really popular blend. I needed one more tea to hit the $60 for free shipping and the one I wanted was out of stock, so into my cart Strawberry & Vanilla went!

The latte is pretty simple: simmer the tea with water and sugar, add milk & matcha, heat to a boil, then strain over ice. Voila, latte is done! First off, it smells amaaazing. Super bright strawberry scent, and very smooth and creamy. I did try this before adding all the extra stuff, and the cream/vanilla is really strong even before the milk & matcha step. There’s matcha in the leaves, just a bit, which adds a nice grassy/smooth taste. And of course, the sencha base is as fresh and bright as you’d expect from them!

I think Lupicia is one of the few companies to always nail fruity flavors, at least in my mind. The strawberry is pure, sweet, delicate and so on-point. However, it doesn’t overwhelm the tea—it manages to be strong but also complements it. It doesn’t taste heavily flavored, though the strawberry and also the vanilla are super-present. And as a latte, god almighty it’s perfect. Uhnf, creamy sweet grassy fruity perfection. I really didn’t even think I’d like this tea that much, but I LOVE it! I’m looking forward to digging into the rest of my order even more now.

Lupicia is amazing. Why don’t I go there more often? Because it’s in the mall!

I couldn’t resist taking some of this home after I smelled it. It has a warm aroma of strawberry and rose layered nicely on top of the black tea. I love the tiny roses mixed into this tea, it’s so beautiful! Combined with the tin they have for this I felt like I was buying some tea art.
Brewed up the liquor is a deep red color. It’s slightly sweet with a light strawberry flavor that doesn’t taste artificial. Then there’s a hint of vanilla and lingering flavor and scent of rose. This is so delicious that I almost regret not going to the mall more often.

This could possibly get me to order a rooibos!
I get the rum and caramel but combined this is BUTTERSCOTCH and you all know I love butterscotch! On the other hand – Rooibos – :P
However the flavor is so strong I can’t even taste the rooibos so all is well! :)
On the shopping list it goes!

I got a sample of this in Lupicia’s latest newsletter.

The scent as I prepared this tea was of a very buttery caramel. It seems very autumnal to me; I can’t help but think of colorful dry leaves (which we don’t really get in California) and smoky fires. It’s not that these are part of the brew, but back when I worked at Bath & Body Works one of the seasonal Halloween fragrances was “Creamy Caramel” – and the association of that smell with fall has become permanently affixed to my memory.

I ramble.

The tea is sweet. The rum note is quite strong, and grows more noticeable as the tea becomes cooler. Although I am not drinking this with milk, I can definitely see how the creaminess would complement this tea.

Very seasonal and appropriate tonight, when the first bit of winter chill has appeared.

Pleasant, but not a particularly outstanding tea. The raspberry is light and fragrant, more of an afterthought on the tongue than in the liquor itself.

Picked this up online. I think Lupicia has a habit of releasing things in store only to see how well they go over before putting them online. Whatever the case I am so happy I finally get to try this!
Sweet Mercy in a cup this is wine!
Lightly Jasmine and such a lovely jasmine it is.
White wine, muscat, …. I’m in heaven!
I adore this blend and once again Lupicia does not let me down.
There is a buttery feeling in the mouth, it is somewhat broth-y, absolutely lovely green tea base, a bancha or sencha perhaps … would have to take out the dry leaf again to figure it out – if I even could – who cares right now I am exhausted and could use a glass of wine errr I mean cup of tea!
:)

ETA: As this tea cools more it tastes a little like Juicy Fruit Gum!
WOWZA!

In my last review I said nothing could possibly be worse than rosehip + hibiscus. What an ignorant statement, and how wrong I was!!!! I have just found its rival – tian cha! I have never tasted anything as terrible as this before… it assaults my taste buds with its extreme sweetness and herbal bitterness. It tastes exactly like those Chinese herbal teas for medicating purpose. Sickening… it should not be marketed as a beverage!!!

Having been a tea drinker for some time, I am now fully aware of my love for oolong and aversion to herbal teas (except peppermint). Knowing that this tea is a blend of ginseng, ginger, cinnamon and mysterious maca, I prepared myself for the worst (it couldn’t be worst than rosehip and hibiscus, could it?) before taking a sip – and was pleasantly surprised. It’s rather hard to describe the taste but cinnamon was the more dominant flavour. Although many of the ingredients could taste quite strong, apparently they had neutralized one another. The result was a mellow, calming, warming potion that was slightly sweet. Nothing too grassy or spicy, and no weird sweetness (i.e. you know, the kind of sweetness imparted by licorice and marshmallow roots). Lupicia markets it as a “power booster” but I think it makes a great beverage before bedtime.

This tea is the best wine tasting tea I have ever had – and its not even touted as a wine flavored tea! What the?
I love it – apples and apricot and fallen autumn leaves? YES MORE PLEASE!
Tastes like the holidays!

I AM in LOVE!
Just LOVE. Lupicia NEVER lets me down!
Imagine every amazing tropical fruit EVER but it is in just ONE KING of fruits!
BLISS!!!!!!!

I was craving strawberry ice cream for about a week now! I wasn’t able to get any either! So today, I whipped this up in my work mug. As my husband was driving me to work, I took a sip of this. OMG HEAVEN!! I was so giddy with excitement because I was having the strawberry ice cream I had been craving! Woo! This is absolutely delicious and hit the right spot. The amount of green tea matcha in it is perfect. Absolutely amazingly delicious!

This is such a beautiful and delicious tea! The oolong tea base is smooth and delicate. It has the most adorable floral bouquet, which is fragrant and nectarous like osmanthus. When paired with the mango scent, the result is a sweet, delightful tea with fruity and honey notes. YUM!!! Now feeling like a bee in summer garden… :D

“Momijigari” is the Japanese word for going out to look at the changing autumn leaves. The smell of this tea in the shop made me want to try it right away. The combination of apple and apricot in the dry leaf creates a honey-like note for me, and indeed if I had to say which colour this tea evokes for me, it’s definitely that red-gold of autumn leaves.

When brewed (nice and dark), there’s a slight bitter or smokey smell, which may be due to how there really are autumn leaves mixed into the tea. Both with and without milk, this is really delicious, with a good balance between juicy fruit and black tea flavours. Overall, a creative idea, very well-executed by Lupicia. I have a feeling this would be delicious iced.

This is a tea that has to be served iced! I like the bittersweet grapefruit flavour which is authentic and refreshing. The green tea base is very delicate and light even though I have used boiling water and extended the recommended steep time a bit. I would like it to be a bit stronger! But still I think green tea is an excellent choice of base because its grassy flavour compliments the grapefruit flavour perfectly, making this a very natural and summer-y cup. I think I can see a grapefruit orchard outside now… ;)

When I opened this sample up, I wasn’t sure what this was going to taste like. It was fruity! In fact, when I brewed this up, this tasted like bubble gum! I only drank about 4 ounces of this tea when I started to feel jittery again. So strange. I only drank the Keemun this morning and this Sakuramba for lunch. I think I need to reduce my caffeine intake. Anyhow, this tea is okay. I wasn’t a huge fan of the flavor.

I bought this out of curiosity because it was on discount at the nearby Lupicia store. I noticed, once I got it home, that the directions are unusual: you don’t just brew this tea. By Lupicia’s directions, you boil it for 3-5 minutes.

The idea of boiling tea is so contrary to everything I’ve learned over the years that it felt sacrilegious, but lo and behold, the result is wonderful. It’s a green which goes down like a rich black tea, minus the bitterness. It has a fantastic, brothy Umami quality, and there’s something deliciously buttery about the way the flavor lingers. It’s been perfect for the cooler autumnal weather.

The previous reviewer sounded terribly unimpressed with it; I encourage anyone who has this tea or is thinking about trying it to boil instead of steep the leaves. I’ve been using about three teaspoons to 14 – 16 ounces of water in a saucepan, straining it as I pour it into a mug.

This is a pretty good tea. I haven’t had a solid bright green tea in a while. This made me happy today. I love when the color of the tea is bright green. This tastes great! It is sweet and thick. There is no astringency to this as well.

As much as I don’t like grape flavored anything, this tea is actually fairly good. It tastes exactly like grape soda!

I received this as a sample when I was in the store in San Francisco. I was glad because it was one of the teas I had wanted to try. This is the bagged version, but I assume the loose version would be similar. The scent from this one is really strong. It smells like sour cherry. When steeped, this tastes like a subdued version of how the smell would taste…if that makes sense. Id be interested in trying the green tea version to see how it compares. While this won’t be an order for me ever, because of the taste, I wouldn’t turn down a cup if offered

Wow, I am the first reviewer of this tea! :) Trust me, this is GOOOOOOOD!!!!
Basically, it has everything I love. It is fruity, floral, and chocolatey… all these lovely flavours are present in the aroma and liquor, and it’s amazing that they are perfectly layered and balanced (which I think is really difficult because there are so many flavours involved)! It’s a memorable, beautiful and cheerful tea… now I know why it is called “Wedding”. ;)

My throat has been feeling funny since this morning… not a good sign. I want something soothing and sweet – and this tea is exactly what I need. I usually avoid tea with lemon myrtle but the lemony, herbal scent seems comforting to me today. I have never tried maté before, and I don’t really know what it tastes like even after drinking this tea. To me this tea is not very different from other herbal tisane.

This was not as good as I have expected. I was sure that I didn’t oversteep, but the liquor was slightly bitter. It had a roasted flavour which I didn’t really like… overall this was quite a strong Darjeeling. Hmm I now have to go and look for something more mellow in my cupboard…