Lupicia

Cinnamon cookie? yes please!!!
Thank you so much to Bonnie for the sample!!
I haven’t got much time to write. I am ZONKED. My apologies for the hasty review!!
There isn’t much bakiness here, but I do find a slight shortbread sortof flavour. I think it plays of the pu-erh really well, as does the cinnamon. With some of my agave and milk, this came out to be super tasty. The spice factor really pops with added agave.
Anyhow, I can’t say it’s a dessert tea since it is caffeinated, but it certainly tastes like one!!
Gah, I am so sleepy after going to the gym and then a Tea Guild of Canada meeting. We blended our own tea! SO much fun :P

one more thing. I < 3 pu-erh!

I got this as a sample from my recent Tumblr winnings! This one is excellent.
I really have enjoyed my two teas from Lupicia and would recommend them wholeheartedly for their flavored teas. This one smells just like this SoBe I used to drink all the time. I actually hate grapefruit, but love grapefruit flavored things. Odd right?
This is super tangy, fruity, tart and just sweet enough to really pull this off. I think that Lupicia’s flavorings are pretty spot on. I really love their tea bags, so that’s really saying something. Amazing tea!

Backlogging:

Cookie comes as a surprise. I was expecting something extremely sweet from this blend. I was pleasantly surprised that someone has blended a seemingly sweet tea without all the added sugars or sweeteners! Cookie, is a tea that has a lovely dark black base, the flavor of a cookie, and reminiscent of Danish Butter Cookies. It is not sugared down or cloying like many cookie blends. Now I am not saying I do not enjoy those sweet blends, I in fact quite enjoy them, but this is a different and very welcome spin on a cookie tea! The aroma is in fact very much of a caramel cookie, however I really do not pick out any caramel in the flavor. I do get a baked goodness though which is quite pleasing. However, adding a dab of sugar in the raw did evoke more of the caramel essence. I liked it with sugar very much. Then I decided I may as well take this full tilt, finished my cup, rinsed my cup, and poured a new one. This time I added milk as suggested by Lupicia Tea. It was nice with milk although I really did not note much of a change rather than a creamy aspect which was pleasing. The flavor however remained the same. My full tilt measure was adding sugar in the raw into the cup of Cookie and milk. I had struck gold. Granted Cookie by Lupicia is a very fine tea unto itself unadulterated and perhaps I am spoiled by my expectations of this tea being like all the others, sweetened. I imagine that it is my own immature palate wanting my cookie to be sweet and I will admit while I do love Danish Butter Cookies, they are often lacking in the sweet department for me. Unfortunately for me, I was totally out of any kind of cookie to dip in this tea and I know had I had any cookies I would have loved this tea much more straight. In fact I find it refreshing that a tea company made a blend that in fact did taste of the characteristics of a cookie without all the added sugars! Kudos to Lupicia for doing something unique and doing it quite well! I am sure there are many people who would love this blend even more than I. A lot of tea lovers do not care for sweetened teas yet may enjoy something as delectable as a cookie blend! Some of the flavors this tea evokes are: Buttery, Baked Flavors, Slightly Malty, Rich, as a matter of fact it even looks like a coffee with cream in the cup when milk is added, with a deep mouthfeel.
I really love the tins Lupicia teas come in, of course they are optional, you can pay slightly less without the tin. I will of course order my refills sans tin but I really think they are quite adorable resembling a silver hockey puck! I was surprised at the size of them when I got mine in the mail. I was expecting something much smaller.
I highly recommend trying this tea. I guarantee that you will not have another cookie quite like this in a tea or otherwise!

This tea re-steeped pretty darn well! Re-steeped for 5 mins – first steep was 3 minutes.

For anyone who thinks a tea named Cookie would be sweet, even cloyingly sweet – think again! This is for all of you tea lovers who do not really go for the sweet teas but would love to try a cookie tea anyway! This is a wonderful black tea with no astringency or bitterness that has a butter cookie flavor yet is NOT sweet – that is unless you add your own sugar!
Really good and unusual!

Backlogging:

After receiving a sample pyramid bag of Happiness I could not wait to give it a try. Mostly because I was exhausted and really did not feel like messing with my loose leaf tea, which is really all I have anymore. I was really happy to get a sample tea bag and be able to just boil some water and toss it in. Granted it is not difficult to use loose leaf tea but I was just THAT lazy, the mental aspect of a tea bag seemed right on for me in the moment.

I was not anticipating much, it was after all a tea bag. Yes I have become a bit jaded regarding them. To my surprise and delight I could not be happier, no pun intended, with this Happiness tea!

I clearly can taste the peach and the grapefruit gives the tea a nice bright cheery note but is not biting like grapefruit is known to be. The mallow really makes this tea soothing, almost creamy but not as creamy as a cream tea of course, just a slight smoothing effect. The floral notes are very well balanced and complimenting to the fruit notes.

I steeped my sample bag in boiling water for 2 minutes on the first steep and 2.5 minutes on the second. Yes, this tea bag did re-steep quite nicely!

Happiness is made with a mixture of green tea and green rooibos tea. I do believe that this is the first green rooibos tea I have had the pleasure of trying! Green rooibos is caffeine free, although green tea is not, however is low in caffeine in comparison to black tea. So what you get is a lightly caffeinated tea with Happiness. Yet still, I felt awake after drinking, not jittery but calm, serene, and happy. Green rooibos is not fermented like red rooibos. The process is stopped by withering the leaves right after being cut. I intend to do more research on green rooibos myself, and always love to find something new that I have not tried before when it comes to tea!

I have been looking for a peach tea that really tastes like peaches right off the tree! One that is very natural tasting, I have found that in Happiness. Of course everyone’s palate will pick up some notes more strongly than others but this cup provides so many wonderful offerings! This tea would appeal to floral tea lovers, green tea lovers, and fruit tea lovers and I also feel this would appeal to anyone in your life who does not particularly care for tea at all. Without the sugary, fake flavorings this tea reminds me very much of many bottled drinks on the market today, or a smoothie even. I know my entire family would enjoy this tea! I also allowed the second cup to get cold setting beside me and it is absolutely wonderful cold so would make a very nice summer iced tea!

Got a sample of this and it is so wonderful. I want to get more! The sample was in a tea pyramid but did not seem to be an issue with amazing flavor. Fruity and floral with a wine like taste. Looking forward to having this again!

Thank you Ashmanra for this lovely sample! This all came about after a review of Spice and Tea Exchange’s Chocolate and Strawberry Puer…and Ashmanra (probably others also) were wondering if Lupicia was close to the same flavor or markedly different. Generously offering a sample for a side-by-side comparison, she sent me a sample.
So, I have 2 cups by my side and have taken time to sip and reflect on what I taste in each.
To be fair, this listing is under LUPICIA and this Puer is super fresh tasting Strawberry! More than anything this is dominant. I wish I could taste some chocolate but I don’t. No mocha, no chocolate at all. I could smell Puer when I placed my nose close to the wet leaves in the steeping basket but I realize the Puer flavor as richness and body in a general soft caramel way. I added sweetening and cream which made a latte which is very delicious. I consider this bright, robust Strawberry Puer. Tasting the Spice and Tea Exchange afterwards I noticed that the Chocolate is definately present up front with a more muted Strawberry woven around it. You can taste the Puer in the background and is more complex.

Both tea’s are worth having as unique flavor profiles. They are not the same at all. I am giving a rating for the Lupicia.

This is a nice, green rooibos. It tastes similar to RoT’s Plantain Coconut Raw Green Bush Tea. Similar but not really. I think it is because of the green rooibos has a starchy but sweet taste to it. I’ve never tried it alone, however. This is tropical in flavor with some mild fruity flavors. It isn’t tart or overly sweet. This has a nice balance. Good tea overall, but not my favorite.

Tea of the morning…… (SRP #2…Sample Reduction Plan )

And this is I think the last tea from my Lucky Bag from Lupicia from New Years. I do have to say that the Lucky Bag (actually called a Fukubukro Bag) was a fun introduction to Lupicia, but I am not sure I would do it again. The fact that it is a good introduction kind of defeats the marketing of this bag….You have to be intending to purchase it in order to get one before they sell out. It takes a little planning ahead on a holiday, but then some of us, like me, are tea obsessed. As a result, it did work for me.

This is a very fluffy black. The leaves are pretty big (hence the FOP designation without a B in there!) It kind of reminds me of a ceylon, but not as bready. Kind of like a Chinese congou, but not as chocolatey. There are no hints of smoke, and I would probably just call it a simple black tea. The front does have a slight hint of malt, and the end is very smooth. Yes, simple. I do have just under 50 grams of this, and it might be sorted into the Franken Breakfast Blending Lab (really, just a plastic shoe box sized bin.) It will make a great base tea.

Usual teapot method.

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 good tea. Not as much strawberry flavor as I thought it would have (from the smell), but very good none the less.

This tea is freaking awesome, It made my friends and I wanna sing Outkast “Sorry Miss Jackson” (Thanks Pandora) I digress. It’s mild and sweetish but not too sweet. It is so easy to drink i can totally see overdoing with this lovely lady. I love the orange hints and how they do not overpower the Jasmine as citrus notes sometimes can.

I highly recommend this blend to lovers of Green and Fuijan Oolongs. Please meet my new girlfrield “Miss Jasmine”

Thank you Steepsters for being such wonderful uplifting Tea Friends

Dessert! It’s all about Dessert! Tonight I celebrate you all!

Don’t you love our shared little secret…the sweet lovely tea secret that we can pour in our cups and drink down without guilt! Cake tea, honey tea, cookies, strawberries and cream, spice and CHOCOLATE! There’s that almond biscotti flavor that lifted me up and carried me all the way to Italy…to Lake Como. The Russian Tea with cherry jam, and the Pineapple Oolongs and Coconut cream pie…making me get my hula on. Mercy!
Lupicia had this sweet little Puer…Cinnamon Cookie…laced with black tea, elderberry and cinnamon…perfect for a dessert treat tonight.
It tastes like a cookie. No kidding! I love the earthy flavor of puer…but in this case, I’m not missing it at all. (I really wouldn’t like an earthy cinnamon cookie. No, no, no.)

If something is this good… I think of ways to take it further.

I had a Blackberry Cabernet Matinee Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Bar in the freezer.
Uh oh! I went and got it out, unwrapped the silky bar and broke off a chunk.
I ate a little bit of chocolate,took a sip of cookie tea…another bit of chocolate, another sip of tea. Uh! Don’t interupt me! A little bit of chocolate, a sip of cookie tea. (flavor blending silky and rich.Sinfully wonderful…superb!) Remember, I’m only doing this for all of you! ;)

Truthfully, you all bring me such joy. Applaud yourselves! Thank you for all the uplifting comments lately during the fires in Colorado!

First Review. Flavored Puer’s are intriguing to me. Some sound downright aweful! I don’t think I will ever try a fig puer! Chocolate and orange make sense, chocolate and strawberry worked better than I expected and toffee was a good choice. When I saw the Cinnamon Cookie, I would have passed it by if it had not been from Lupicia. Their reputation is pretty good for flavors and since I was ordering Cookie Tea, which is very tasty, as a Pascha gift for my daughter, why not give it a whirl! Puer junkie r me!

For this pot of tea: I used 1TB in stainless mesh basket for 24 oz. boiling water and steeped 3min. (just over the Lupicia recommended time). (Yes I drunk oops drank it all up by myself!)

I poured a sublimely rich dark coffee colored liquor with a bold, sweet cinnabon cinnamon cookie fragrance. Could not wait to drink this! Sipping! Boy this was good! The cinnamon is sweet, a very good quality cinnamon, and the cookie is like the sweet Danish butter cookies at Christmas. The puer gives body to the brew like coffee, but there is no coffee flavor…just a hint of mocha…but not much. You are missing everything if you don’t add sweetening and milk or cream. This is THE morning cuppa or THE dessert tea if you are looking for RICH and CREAMY and SWEET! I am loving this tea!

This was a surprise tea for me. I was not expecting to like these flavors with my beloved puer as much as I do. Granted this is not fine puer tasting. But this is rich and I love richness. Puer is healthy and I love that also. This is delicious, what’s not to love…heh…whatsa wrong with that?!

This is a really delicious flavored oolong. I really like the plum flavor. It’s not the average fruit of choice for fruity tea blends. I let my husband sip it. It’s his first oolong experience, I think.

He said, “Mmm, I really like it. It tastes buttery or creamy.”

“YES!” I replied. “That’s exactly right! Green oolongs do taste buttery.” :)

I love introducing my hubby to tea. It’s so much fun! And now that I know he likes green oolongs, I have soooo much more to share with him! :D

I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while. Of course, it’s also been chilling in my cupboard for a while. Today is the day to break the cycle and finally try it out!

Part of the reason I wanted to try this is because it sounds good. But the larger reason is because Lupicia sells this tea and one called Wedding in individual packets for wedding favors. Since I love tea so much, I thought it might be fun to give out tea as favors! So I bought one favor as a test run to see how nice the packaging is and to see if I even like the tea I’d give to other people.

The packaging is nice and very appropriate for a wedding. It’s a white mesh, drawstring bag with one tea bag each of the Kotobuki and Wedding, individually sealed in opaque, cream plastic with gold lettering. So far so good.

The Kotobuki dry leaves smell very plum-y. The brewed tea aroma is still plum-y but with the added scent of green oolong. Wow! This tastes very wine-like. It reminds me of a sweet red wine I had at Olive Garden. It also has lovely floral notes that I don’t think I’ve tasted before. Maybe it’s the rose. I know rose teas are common, but I haven’t tried any yet.

This is sweet and delicious and possesses no astringent qualities! I’m confident that this would make a good favor because I think it would appeal to people with varying tastes. It’s also unique enough that most people probably haven’t experienced anything like it.

I’ll keep this in my mind as a possibility. But now I have to try the Wedding tea that comes with it. And before I try that one, I think I’m going to re-steep this. It’s just too yummy to throw the bag away after one cup!

I decided to try this one from my samples box! I received this from Lady 0f Spaydes. Thank you :)

This one smells like a strawberry milkshake on the dry leaf. It smells a little artificial. The chocolate makes this taste malty like a strawberry malt milkshake. Delicious! This is definitely a good dessert tea. The puer is very mild, but makes this tea a little more interesting. At the end of a sip, there is mild astringency. I imagine this would taste great with milk, but I don’t have any in my fridge. Good tea overall!

When I saw the packaging, I saw C&S Puerh and I was confused. What was C&S? It smelled fruity in the bag, and it tasted fruity in my mug! It definitely needed milk and sugar. There was a hint of berries as well as bitterness. It was nice and sweet with the slight cocoa notes coming from the puerh. Delicious blend!

I agree with the notion of cough syrup, much like Pediacare or Robitussin, thought the taste wasn’t quite the same, a little less strong. I had this hot, and I think it got better as it cooled little bit. I’m using this in tea bag form.

This is actually I really good flavored black tea. I wasn’t sure I would like it, but the cherry flavor, in my opinion, is strong enough to complement the tea. I like it iced especially, but it’s good hot too. It’s quite a tangy cherry, almost like candy, but not the same sweetness… a little spicy too. And it smells wonderful. Lupicia’s teas always smell wonderful though. I put 2 minutes, but I usually go 2-3 minutes, as I rarely get an exact time. I don’t get exact temperatures either, but I try to at least get the water to boil, then quickly add the tea. I bought this in bag form from Mitsuwa; it’s the easiest and cheapest way for me to get Lupicia’s tea, although the selection is nowhere near as expansive.