Lupicia

I believe I found this on the US Lupicia website once and pounced on it, but have never seen it reappear since that time.

Like a lot of Lupicia’s fruity blacks, the base is very strong and leans on the tempermental side, where a little too much leaf or a slightly longer steep than anticipated can really bring out a metallic and bitter/tannic aftertaste. Under ideal conditions, it is still quite dark and malty, with an autumn leaf note and a bit of drying at the back of the tongue after the sip. The strawberry aroma smells lovely from the bag and the cup; it is the same sweet/candy-like strawberry flavor Lupicia uses in other teas, though the candy notes are a bit more subdued in this particular tea since it isn’t paired with a vanilla/cream flavor like many of their other strawberry teas. The most disappointing part of this tea is I bought it for the rhubarb, but I don’t taste it much at all. There is a little bit of a tart note to the cup and the strawberry isn’t as sweet, which I suppose could be the doing of the rhubarb, but it isn’t very pronounced to me… perhaps if I was drinking Lupicia’s plain Strawberry black tea side-by-side I might notice the difference more. I suppose on the plus side I won’t have to be too upset that this doesn’t seem to be a flavor they carry often, as any of Lupicia’s other strawberry teas would hit about the same for me.

Sipdown

A lovely, earthy black tea with a mild level of rose flavor, specifically darker and muskier than many. Very nice tea. Taken without additions but can handle them if you wish.

April Sipdown Prompt – Earth Day: drink an earthy tea

This tin is nearly empty, and I did not choose it for this prompt. I was going to have puerh for lunch because puerh is certainly earthy. I hadn’t had this tea in a while and when I drank it for breakfast I was sure the strainer had lingering flavor from a previous tea. It was so very earthy!

I decided to steep it again at lunch using a different pot and strainer but I get exactly the same taste. Looking back at my only other note on it, I see that I described the rose as dusky and the tea as having mostly low notes. I will now amend that to say that the base has mostly low, earthy notes. I can believe believe this is Sri Lankan tea, known to most tea drinkers as Ceylon. It certainly must be a low grown tea because it has none of the high, minty, lemon, or menthol flavors that I associate with high grown. Low grown Ceylon tea is my favorite sort from Sri Lanka. Perhaps that is because it reminds me more of the Fujian and Yunnan teas I love.

The rose is noticeable but I wouldn’t call it strong. Harney and Son’s Rose Scented is strong. It will arm wrestle you and win. (But I do like it and will be an agreeable loser in that wrestling match.) This truly is a low, dusky, darker rose scent that you catch in the aroma and that softly remains with you as you drink. If you want a black tea with some rose and nothing else going on, this is great. If you like to have “rose and” I highly recommend Yume.

A Mother’s Day gift from Superanna! Many thanks! <3

I enjoy rose in tea, and not so long ago had a lot of rose teas on shelf. Right now I just have this one and St Valentine’s Blend from Czar Nikolas II. I finished Harney’s Rose Scented and Fortnum’s Rose Pouchong. I do have a couple of blends, like Yume, that are “rose and…”.

Of my rose teas, this one was really on point today. I wanted a good plain black tea and I don’t have any with heft on shelf right now, at least not the kind of heft I was thinking of. I didn’t want a ton of flavoring this time with my lunch and this one seemed to be a good choice.

The rose is a deep, dusky one with a little peppery note. The black tea base was so wonderful and was a really solid foundation with lots of low notes. I would compare it this way – Rose Scented and St Valentine’s would be like a bottle of essential oil was spilled right by you. This one is more like drinking black tea near a bouquet of luscious, fresh roses.

It isn’t that there isn’t enough rose flavor. Rather it is an aroma you get when you sniff the tea cup, not when you walk in the room. I do like the other teas (Harney and Czar) but this one seems more refined. Ranking the rose teas I would probably go with this on top, the Fortnum Rose Pouchong, then Rose Scented by Harney, and then Czar Nikolas St Valentine’s, although the Czar is much cheaper and makes a wonderful base for black tea and rose ice cream. All are good!

I recently finished off (and quite enjoyed) the black tea version of this tea. Now I’m working through the green tea version, and honestly, the flavoring itself is pretty spot-on to the black version: a light and subtle cherry flavor lacking of syrupy or medicinal qualities, with this really fresh pine note from the rosemary. The green tea base can be a bit biting unless I go pretty light on the leaf, but in the right amount it has a very lovely vegetal and buttery flavor, definitely my preference in a sencha over more seaweedy/oceanic sencha. The fresh green flavor of the base goes really well with the soft fruitiness and clean pine notes. I enjoyed it warm, but have really been enjoying it coldbrewed, 5g to a liter of water left in the fridge to steep overnight.

I’m getting used to a new kettle and I’m not sure how I feel about it. I had the glass Breville kettle with variable temp settings and it was on the counter with a bar of hanging ceramic mugs behind it. I’ve had that set up for years, but the other morning I managed to tap the spout of the kettle into one of the mugs when picking it up and it broke off the lip of the kettle. Those kettles are not cheap! I decided to go for some random $35 kettle off Amazon that is mostly doing the trick, but I’m still mourning the loss of my Breville and wondering what to do with the base. It seems like a waste to trash it. I’ll get over it some day!

This smells intoxicatingly fruity in the bag! It looses a little bit of that punch when steeped. I added oat milk to my cup which made it a creamy strawberry dessert tea. Strawberry is the most present and identifiable flavor. It’s a mellow strawberry as opposed to some of the really bright and bold strawberry teas they have. I’m finding this to be a comforting cup this morning!

Sipdown! (25 | 38)

Another one from Lupicia. This is nice enough, but not even close to being as tasty as Jingle Bells. I think that one has some extra sparkling wine something something flavor though. The grape here is nice – juicy and sweet, like my favorite Japanese jelly pouches. I think I just don’t love it as much with a grassy green base. Luckily, I also still have Jingle Bells around here somewhere. :)

This is a sample sipdown. I have received – and had – Ratatam before so I don’t know why there is no note on it from me. This time I had two samples sitting around so I made it for breakfast for me and the Ashman to share.

It is a decent black breakfast tea, a little brisk but not too much, and sometimes you need some briskness with food to clear the palate. But the vanilla is pretty subtle. It is so subtle that if I hadn’t read that it was there I would not have known that it was there.

Maybe drinking it as a stand alone cup or adding milk would make the vanilla more noticeable, but it made an acceptable breakfast tea. If you are looking for a good vanilla black where you really taste vanilla without searching, there are better ones out there. Expect a decent breakfast tea with faint vanilla notes and you will be happy.

This might be one of the oldest teas in my cupboard at this point! I’ve had it a few times and wasn’t impressed. It tasted flat and alkaline beneath the fruit flavors. I couldn’t get back to sleep at 3am this morning and while cleaning the kitchen decided to dump the rest of the tea in a mason jar and cold steep a concentrate overnight. This morning I’m mixing it with oat milk and it’s delightful! It’s so interesting how finding the right preparation can make an otherwise unenjoyable tea! It’s bright and fruity… I’m getting a mango apricot flavor. The oak milk is making it sweet and creamy. It’s so bright and refreshing! I’m really glad I found a way to enjoy this tea, but it isn’t one I’d buy again knowing how little I’d turn to it over a 10 year period.

This is an interesting combination, I’m not sure if if I’ve ever come across it before. The tea contains pieces of dried yuzu and the citrus note is quite strong. However, when brewed, the chocolate is more much prominent than the yuzu. It is present but certainly takes a back seat to the gourmand note. I also get a slight note of brown sugar. Overall, a nice take on a standard dessert tea. It’d go nicely with cake or fruit tarts.

The base is the typical Lupicia black tea, well-balanced and bright but can turn very astringent quickly if overbrewed.

I give it points for the uniqueness and overall drinkability but wish the yuzu were more prominent.

April Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea you have bought multiple times

The first pouch was a gift from Superanna last Mother’s Day, along with Kotobuki. I liked both well enough that I immediately ordered more since this one is seasonal and so good that I didn’t want to run out before ordering time rolled around again. I have already purchased it again this year as it is available right now and my pouch arrived, although I am drinking from a nearly empty pouch ordered last year.

The salted cherry leaves threw me off the very first time I ever had them in a different blend and then I began to crave them sometimes. They tasted very unique to me. This blend elevates them. The base is composed of lighter Indian teas and with the salted cherry leaves and the fruit flavors the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts. Fantastic.

September Sipdown Prompt – a tea from India

I had to ransack to fulfill this prompt. I also had to settle for something that is a blend. Tea from India can provoke my tender tummy unless prepared just exactly so, and I love so many teas from China. I found teas from Nepal and Malawi on shelf and lots of unidentified black tea blend bases but only this tea identified tea from India for sure. You don’t have to twist my arm to get me to drink it.

There is a wonderful interaction between the tongue teasing “salt” and the berry flavor. It makes a great cuppa for breakfast or afternoon. You WILL stop and notice this tea in a most surprised and pleasant way. I can not imagine picking up the cup and mindlessly sipping. It just won’t let you do that. And you wouldn’t want to.

This was a Mother’s Day gift from Superanna. Many thanks for a new “must have” tea!

On Sunday, I noticed the cherry first and there was an undercurrent of berry with a candy-like note to the berry flavor that I couldn’t pin down. I think it was the raspberry! It was so good I ordered more last night because it is a seasonal tea and I don’t to spend almost a year without it!

I made it again today to see if it was really as magical as we thought or was it the moment?
Today the salted cherry leaf was more noticeable than before, maybe because this time I know it is there and looked for it. But really, it was more prominent and it gives the tea real presence so you can drink it at breakfast even though both Nilgiri and Darjeeling are lighter black teas. This might even be Sakura Premium with flavors added.

Very good, and will probably be gone long before it comes available again.

September Sipdown Prompt – a tea from Taiwan

My mind was blown to see that I haven’t reviewed this yet on here. It was a gift from Superanna and we tried it together.

The thing is, we tried Sakura and Berry first and it had totally knocked our socks off. When we drank this one, she was super unimpressed by it but I really felt that it had a lot of merit. So much so that I immediately bought another pack of it.

It is very different in mood, type, and flavor from Sakura and Berry, but moods and cravings change. This is far more contemplative. It is a gentle tea with lovely light plum flavor. You definitely taste the green oolong and it is a somewhat floral one so those notes mix with the plum. I really love it and I consider it to be one of my “treat”teas for special occasions, like wanting to feel extra cozy while I read.

Sipdown

We finished this tonight and not only was it not in my cupboard, it was not in the database. How? I added it to database, added it to cupboard, will leave a note, and then will remove from cupboard even though I don’t get the pleasure of seeing my number go down. (Although it did briefly go up by one.)

This was okay, but there are lots of Lupicia teas I like better. This has a very strong green apple taste like Sour Apple candy and gum from my childhood. Even though it is decaf, this is a flavor profile I would prefer on a sunny afternoon, and have it with some fresh fruit. Or just an ice cold cup ln a summer day.

I doubt I would ever repurchase this. I love their green rooibos fruity blends for decaf time and would just go with one of those.

I’m sipping this one down as a cold brew. The green tea and matcha come across as rather bitter, but in a delightful way. The chestnut flavor is friendly and bright! Chestnuts are an autumn flavor, and I’m pretty sure I picked this up in autumn just before Lupicia closed their San Jose and other continental US locations, which is very sad. But I’m not one for sticking to seasons. I’ll eat soumen “summer” noodles or ice cream in the winter, and hot chili in the summer. Anyway, this is delicious, and I wish I could easily buy more.

If you are a berries-and-cream-loving little lad, this is the tea for you.

This smooth blend tastes and smells just like sugared strawberries – the tartness of the fruit is subdued in the manner of a fruity syrup without being artificial, and the coconut isn’t prominent but works to emphasize a sweet cream element that makes this cup truly dessert-like.

I’ve made this tea a couple of ways, once following the directions, and then again in an infuser stuffed with fresh cilantro. This is probably a product of lunacy on my part, but I swear it works and would probably feel the same with a sprig of mint or some basil leaves – the citrusy, herby note is the perfect garnish to balance an otherwise quite indulgent sip.

The weather was so favorable this morning that I had no choice but to agree with its prediction for the tone of the day, which calls for a very special tea indeed and can only mean one of a few from the selection in my cupboard. I have had this tea for two or three years and have quite simply been too excited about the prospect of drinking it to dare crack it open, but sitting down to an episode of ‘Murder, She Wrote’ after a leisurely drive through sunny and verdant scenery, I could hear this tea crying out in indignation demanding to be tasted.

First impression unsealing the bag: delight. The scent wafting to greet me is nothing short of a summer day spent over a pitcher of sugary-sweet grape Kool-Aid, but the complexity of the flavors really blossom in the cup, where the artificial grape candy flavor assumes a muscatel character and the rich depth of warm jelly that takes me back to a delectable Polish blueberry jagodzianka. Even a pervasive effervescence seems to emulate the crackle of a delicate pastry glaze, but it pulls me in a few different directions: on one hand, it’s giving the crispy candy shell of grape Nerds candy and the scintillating spark of sourness that follows it, but on the other hand, the intermingled strawberry notes point me toward a bubbly rosé. A little astringency cuts the sweetness to perfection. I have no choice but to be obsessed.

I love this tea. It has a great flavor and mouthfeel. I wish it did better on the second brew though.

March Sipdown challenge Prompt – a flavored oolong

Ashman and I had this at breakfast today, and as I look back at the last time I made a tasting note for it, it was a year ago and the kids and grandkids came to visit. Well, guess what? That’s what happened today, except this time it was expected and not a surprise.

This is a top seller for a reason. The oolong base really is lovely and silky, so smooth and fresh. This is a greener oolong rather than a roasted one. The peach is fresh and light. I love Lupicia’s white peach flavor.

I need to try this iced soon. It seems like it would be amazing to flash chill in hot weather.

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day, although we did have a few spells of clouds. Mostly it was warm and lightly breezy. Ashman and I had a little pre-lunch rest in the backyard beach chairs and lo and behold, we were descended upon by grandkids and kids! They had decided to surprise by coming for my birthday and brought food and all sorts of goodies.

This tea was one of Superanna’s birthday gifts to me and this was my first time trying it. The other two teas that she gave me at the same time (I had received one other tea earlier) were two beloved favorites that I had run out of but this one is new to me.

I have found another Lupicia favorite. The oolong base is pure silky green oolong, not at all roasty or toasty like Dong Ding or Da Hong Pao, but on the green side and so, so smooth. The white peach flavor, which is light rather than KAPOW, blends almost seamlessly with the gentle fruit notes of the tea so that they are perfectly intertwined. I am in love.

Edit to add: my package was fully in Japanese because it was purchased in Tokyo. I could tell the amount and time but not temp and made it at 190F instead of the recommended 212F which I just saw on the Lupicia Hawaii site. Didn’t matter. It was fabulous. It is also on sale right now and I am so tempted….

Thank you, Superanna!

March Sipdown Challenge Prompt – Pi Day and Einstein’s Birthday

Superanna gave me this tea and said I could go ahead and unwrap it, but I decided to save it for my birthday and have it be my breakfast tea. This was purchased in Tokyo, I believe, so I had to add it to the data base. The Hawaii store doesn’t sell it.

Pi Day is my actual birthday, but I tip my cup to all of the March babies here, and there are so many of us!

As for the tea, the dry leaves unfurl to quite an impressive size on steeping. The steeped tea has a rich aroma, a lot of body, and a thick, creamy mouthfeel. Lightly steamed asparagus is the leading flavor note to me, and I love asparagus. This has a richness that I associate with the word umami, but I don’t know if I am using that correctly as this has none of the seaweed or briny notes you might find in some teas that carry that description.

Many thanks, Superanna, for a rare and delightful tea treat that I might never have been able to try without your trip to Japan!