Lupicia

This is my first cup of tea today. :) I like drinking sencha in the morning because it is mellow and calming… it allows me to enjoy the beginning of the day (in contrast to breakfast tea which instantly shakes your drowsiness off with its astringency, as if it is pushing you to work! work! work!). This tea has a beautiful yellow-green liquor. It tastes vegetal but the flavour is not as strong as most other Japanese sencha – kinda tastes(?) like a grassy park in a cool morning. :) I am happy with it.

I got this in my swap with Will Work For Tea—is it just me, or are oolong and pineapple a very popular flavor combination recently? Or maybe I’m just noticing them more? In any case, I like oolong and I like pineapple, and I’ve found that I really enjoy Lupicia’s fruit-flavored blends so I knew I couldn’t go wrong with this!

The dry leaves don’t smell like pineapple, they smell like a milk oolong! With flavored oolongs I dislike when the “flavor” parts overpower the actual tea, so this made me happy. Plus, you know, I love milk oolongs. After a 13-hour cold brew the pineapple is a lot more subtle than I thought it would be. The oolong is front and center, buttery, sweet and creamy. I don’t know what kind they used, but it really does remind me a lot of a milk oolong, with gentle floral notes in the background as well. The floral aspect reminds me of Butiki’s pineapple oolong, though they are a bit less potent here. The pineapple comes in at the end of the sip, subtle and a bit tangy as pineapple should be. Very natural tasting and not artificial. Another winner from Lupicia, I really need to make an order there soon!

I am so behind on my tasting notes, this is from 3 days ago! I think it just slipped my mind, so I suppose I should dive back in. This was in my box from LiberTEAS, which yes I am still digging through. Honestly, I doubt I’m even halfway there yet! The shame of a slow tea-drinker.

I love mango, and it seems to be a flavor that’s pretty easy to capture in tea-form. After a 12-hour cold brew this had a really fresh, juicy mango flavor, almost like fresh juice or biting into a ripe mango. It’s not artificial at all, which is always nice. However, surprisingly I am getting a really strong floral taste as well. I thought at first it might be from the oolong base, which adds some nice grassy vegetal notes, but it’s clearly rose. Like, if I didn’t know better I would swear this was a rose mango blend. Though really, that’s not an issue for me since I LOVE rose! In fact, I think I enjoyed this a lot more because of the rose taste. The fruity and floral notes just go so well together. I’ve really enjoyed the teas I’ve tried from Lupicia so far, they really nail their fruity blends.

At first I thought this tea was really amazing. I loved the roasted, slightly sweet houji tea base (for some reason it reminds me of Mont Blanc dessert!) as well as the gentle, sweet, apricot flavour. Everything went well until the tea started to cool. The apricot aroma began to smell artificial and grew stronger and stronger, up to the point that it became off-putting and pungent… weird. Now I don’t want to touch the cup… :(

Sweet potato pie! How cute! :) The dry leaves do smell strongly of its ingredients – sweet potato and butter (the latter is so strong that it smells a bit like cheese!). It’s an extraordinarily creamy aroma, so rich that I think I can get fat just by inhaling it! When brewed the aroma softens and becomes less overwhelming. Taste-wise it is slightly sweet, with a savoury, buttery undercurrent. I can really taste the sweet potato – though not the flavour of real sweet potato but more like that of sweet potato sundae. Overall I find this tea special and likeable. It’s going to be a perfect winter drink with a bit of warm milk. Too bad this is only a sample…

This came as a sample in an ancient Lupicia newsletter and I’m just getting around to trying it now.

Firstly, I am not a huge fan of grape or muscat flavored anything, a muscatel flavor is nice if it’s in a darjeeling and it’s natural, but this reminds me of bubble yum, or japanese gummy candies. Very artificial tasting. I have no idea what the base tea is here, it’s a lighter color which makes me wonder if it is an actual darjeeling with artificial muscat flavor? I like the base tea a lot, it’s smooth and light.

It’s easy to drink plain without any milk and sugar. Not my favorite due to the overwhelming flavoring but I will certainly finish the cup.

This teabag came as a free sample in one of my recent Lupicia newsletters.

I love art, so I was really into the name of this one! After I realized it was predominately a darjeeling blend, I do wish I had steeped it at a somewhat lower temperature than boiling.

I got a dark brownish-red tea liquor in my cup. There is definitely a lot of second flush darjeeling going on here, and another element which I am guessing is an assam? It has a very woodsy and spicy element in the cup. Sipping on it plain wasn’t too bad at all, but it was also nice with a touch of soymilk. Overall, not bad, but I don’t think I need any more.

This is my first review on anything at all, especially tea, so here goes!~

They smelled very sweet already and the smell of pineapple was very strong as well.

With a spoon-tip-full of sweetener, the Oolong came to life.

The floral flavors burst out onto my tongue, I savored the creaminess as it flooded my mouth, and after I swallowed, the taste became very buttery and silky, leaving a aftertaste of sweet pineapple and sugary butter.

Thank you Will Work For Tea for this Sample!

Tonight granddaughter Megan (OldSoul on Steepster) and I are trying a couple of Oolongs and I’ve started a box of tea samples to get her started with her Steepster reviews.

This was our first tasting.

I tried to brew this Pineapple Oolong in a small pot which became a disaster. Too much water to Oolong tea produced a weak liquor. Bleh.
This would be part of this evenings learning experience! I wasn’t going to quit!
Reaching for my 4oz Gaiwan, I transfered the wet leaves and began steeping in the Gaiwan for 2 minutes.
Now the liquor was rich and yellow, full of orchid and pineapple scent.
This was what I had hoped for.
Megan smiled.
We added a little sweetening and sipped the smooth, pineapple flavored tea.
One of the things I pointed out to her was the change in texture as the tea cooled. The discovery of butteriness was something new for Megan. She was surprised at how floral the tea became as the cooling increased and how sweet the tea was without hardly any sugar.
Ah…
This was what I had hoped for.
What a delight to drink tea with Megan.

Although the Oolong orchid flavor is quite tasty, the pineapple is not nearly as good and pronounced as the Butiki Oolong which I prefer.

Thank you Will Work For Tea for this Sample!

I’m catching up on my reviews now that Steepster is working fine again.
Hello all! Missed you’hooo!

This is my spiff up day. I put on a dress and heels, try to look a bit respectable but not flashy (don’t want to call attention to myself just blend in) and off to Church.
The drive is one of the most spectacular I’ve ever seen. There is open space set aside…long stretches of fields between Fort Collins and Loveland so that you have total unobstucted views of the Rocky Mountains. The Mountain Peaks jut up higher and higher in layers to just over 14,000 ft. and are snow capped much of the year. Breathtaking!

When I returned blessed twice with the Liturgy and the Rocky Mountains,
I wanted tea. Of course!

The Lupicia Caramel Macchiato Tea had coffee beans mixed in it. Uh huh!(You could keep some of this around for those “doubters” who have not come over from the dark side to the light.)
My steeping went a little long (I like it this way). A nice roasty coffee/tea. I must say, this had a strong coffee flavor. Mocha and caramel, much smoother than a cup of black coffee would have been.

I added a good bit of cream and some sweetening for a cuppa Joe/Tea.
This was pretty good.

Not too tea’ish if you want tea that tastes like TEA.

I picked up some Lupicia teas in the store last time I was in San Francisco. Probably the most delightful tea store I have ever been to, and if you’re ever near a Lupicia store, I’d highly recommend dropping by for a visit!

Momo was one of the teas I picked up during this trip. I figured I like peaches, and I love tea, why not try them together? I had a hot cup yesterday, and wasn’t particularly impressed. I detected a faint peach note aftertaste, but the black tea was predominant. I had also added a touch of rock sugar because I read that this brings out the peach flavor. Mostly tasted like those Japanese peach gummies, which I adore, but find strange to drink.

I decided to try it iced today, and boy, was that a treat! I have already had two large glasses, and imagine I probably won’t be sleeping much tonight. It is lovely on its own without sugar, and the peach note really sings when it is iced. Highly recommend it for the dog days of summer.

This tea has all the goodness of Sakurambo, but is caffeine free! This is the 2nd time to have Sakurambo, and I am still amazed by its intense cherry flavour. Not to be missed by anyone who likes fruity tea!

I got this in a swap with Will Work For Tea, who sent me a very generous amount! I have been looking for that “just right” grapefruit tea: I really liked Upton’s St. Isaac’s blend, but I still felt like there was something better and this was recommend to me by several people so I had to try it!

Since I dislike hot grapefruit usually, I made this iced. At first sip it’s just a nice, mild and lightly sweet green tea. Refreshing, but where’s the grapefruit? Then BAM it hits you! It’s actually softer than I was expecting, and only a bit tart, but the grapefruit taste is so fresh and juicy. Not the strongest I’ve tried, but definitely the most natural. I mean, it really tastes like I just squeezed a little grapefruit juice into some green tea. Most definitely will be picking this one up!

Thanks a million for the sample Amy Oh! this is a great tea!
Not something I’d want everyday, but unique enough that it stands apart from your average green fruity tea. At first sip I was reminded of sour tamarind. It has that puckery sort of green apple flavouring, with a citric acidy twist. (not in a bad way, I love sour candies!)
Most fruity green teas, I find, end up generally tasting “fruity” with very little distinction. Mind you, this is a little heavy on the flavouring. Not much green tea to be found in the first steep… but also not a “juice” tea either, like so many flavoured teas are!
Anyhow, sorry for the ramble. I am ready to drop. Been getting stuff done this week in preparation for my vacation next week. I really will need it by the time we leave on Saturday!! phew. We rented a cottage, so I fully expect to read a few books and get plenty of sleep, finally!
And… because I’m feeling silly, check out this adorable video of a dog perplexed by half a lemon. So cute! http://jezebel.com/5925001/beagle-adorably-loses-its-shit-over-a-lemon

Thanks Azzrian!

I just may be the last Steepster to try this (ok…maybe not…but there have been TONS of others!)

This is wonderful! It really hits the spot today! It’s gently floral and juicy-sweet peach at just the right intensity. And the Oolong – hands-down – ONE WORD…AWESOME!

My 18th tea from The Book of Tea. It’s strongly aromatic and the smell seems fruity (citrusy) to me. To my surprise the liquor is not as astringent as I have expected; instead it is medium-bodied, with a hint of honey note. Not my favourite but certainly very drinkable :)

Sipdown! 80/365

Sad, sad sipdown. This pairing of toasty oolong and grapey flavours is just so good. I’m very sad I may never have it again :( Maybe one of the blenders whose teaboxes I subscribe to might be so inclined as to consider this flavour combo (I think I’d need to put this into a note about their teas in order for them to see this. Haha.)

Dang. I forgot this tea existed. Wish I’d tried to pick up more! It’s really good, and I obviously thought so previously, too. Grapey but not too artificial, and a delicious roasty oolong base. I have a scant cup left to enjoy, then it’s probably gone forever. Haha.

Glad I brewed up a cup of this last night/this morning – I had forgotten how tasty it was! All grapey yet not like grape juice… I should perhaps chill some of this and see how it tastes, as that sounds like a very delicious summer beverage. Mmmmmm. Thanks for this one, Azzrian.

Sorry for the massive tasting note spam, guys… I was drinking tea and writing notes offline this evening because my computer wasn’t playing nice with Safari and Powerpoint open simultaneously. Of course, it didn’t much care for Powerpoint on its own either…

Ohhhhh man. Does this one ever smell AMAZING! I just selected it since it was at the top of the box, and later realized that it would be good to compare against Plum Oolong from New Mexico Tea Company. No comparison at all, though. This one is strongly grape in aroma… and flavour too! YES! Oh wow, this one’s delicious. And I guess it should help me figure out the difference between ‘grape’ and ‘muscat’; it doesn’t taste like, say, Welch’s grape juice the way I seem to recall Butiki’s Grape Oolong tasting, but it definitely makes me think grape anyhow. I actually prefer this flavour though… oh man… super delicious! I can’t put down my cup! Which kind of sucks because now I’m out of all the tea I brewed… perhaps it’s a sign to put the computer away and go to bed. I’ll be more productive tomorrow…. right….?

ETA: Second infusion (3 min) is still pretty good; muscat flavour gives way to more oolong flavour. Not unexpected.

Sipdown!

I wish we’d acquired more of this via Lupicia’s Happy Bags, but sadly not. And now I’m finishing off the last of this sample from Azzrian.

Delicious pouchong and peach, this is really a lovely blend. Easy to sip away the whole cup quite quickly (as I have done!)

Someday, I’ll hopefully make a Lupicia order and get some more of this, but for now it will just be a memory. Sigh.

The only hot tea I have brewed up currently, another sample from Azzrian! Thrilled that it’s another pouchong blend, as I loved Mandarin Silk from the Persimmon Tree.

Aroma is definitely deliciously green oolong with a hint of fruitiness. Oh man… yeah, I think we have another winner. Sweet, real peach initially, which fades into a general fruitiness as the oolong flavour slides in. Delicious. The base is fabulous here, and the flavouring is amazing. I can see myself drinking this on those days where an oolong craving strikes, but I want something a little sweeter. This cup is disappearing VERY quickly. It could stand to be a touch stronger, but I might be thinking that because I just had a couple strong iced teas. Also, absolutely zero astringency/bitterness.

Thank you so much Azzrian! Although I get some misses from you, I’ve also had some absolutely HUGE hits, especially recently! It’s wonderful (yet oh so terrible wallet-wise).

ETA: Less flavour but still delicious second infusion. Drank a bit more after sampling some other teas, and wow is the oolong flavour powerful… and delicious!! Love it.

ETA again: Third infusion too light to bother, most days.

Thank you Will Work For Tea for this Sample!

My very first experience in a tea store that sold loose leaf tea was Lupicia, in the Valley Fair Mall (HUGE) in San Jose,CA. probabably 4 years ago. The truth is that I never would have entered if my daughter wasn’t into tea. The set-up was cool. There was a very long angled table with round containers inserted in cutout grooves with tins of tea samples all labeled so that you could pick them up, open and sniff them. There must have been hundreds of tea tins.
They smelled so delicious that even I couldn’t resist and bought a Muscat, Cookie and Strawberry Rose Champagne tea with no idea whatsoever on how to brew what I had purchased. (I gave most of the tea to my daughter because brewing tea was a mystery to me). The memory of the shop was my Disneylandish tea introduction.

Every time I see the name Lupicia, I think of the shop at Valley Fair.
When I received this tea sample, I opened the packet (as I had the little tins) and inhaled the scent. The rum wasn’t too strong and I couldn’t make out the raisin smell. I looked at the tea which was very dark chocolate brown (smelled cocoaish to me) and there were golden plump raisins mixed in. Aha! This should be good!

I used a small glass teapot to brew western style about 16oz of tea.

The scent and the flavor of rum was not super strong when I raised my much and took a big sip.(I think DAVIDsTEA Buttered Rum is a lot stronger…which some people like and some don’t)
The raisin flavor was harder to pick out. Unless this was Raisin tea (which is like saying dried grape tea) the flavor was an added enhancer. It was an enhancer but the flavor showed up in a way that I didn’t expect and transformed the tea into something else.

I added sweetening and cream. This was a good hot tea but not awesome.

I got distracted and my cup of tea cooled down.
When I went back to to my cup, I noticed the flavor was different than before and tasted just like a Chocolate Chip Cookie!
And it was even like Melting Chocolate Chip Ice Cream when you’re munching on the bits of chocolate!

BUT THIS IS RUM RAISIN! I didn’t get it!

I’m sure I lost my marbles. Someone else has to try this and tell me what they think! Let it cool down and tell me please!

Rum Raisin was better cool! I’m making a Chilled Rum Raisin Latte!

Special Thanks to Azzrian for this one :)

This has a slightly sour chestnut aroma.

It tastes like a cross between a chestnut and a macadamia working hand-in-hand with the medium-mellow black tea base. As it cools a bit – at room temp – it does get a little sweeter-nutty.

After letting sit for a bit I did like this – it’s a nice snuggle-E type tea.