Napa Blanc

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!

Courtesy of Sare – thank you! :) This is my first tea from Lupicia but won’t be my last. I love the blend of jasmine with a hint of grape, just enough so that it’s not artificial. It really is like wine in a cup, and it’s definitely making me feel more mellow. (Placebo effect?) My only hesitation is the smell, as it really does smell like hot wine. I’m not sure I care for that, but I can’t complain too much since it’s true to its name!

It’s also not sweet at all. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I feel like if it was wine, it should be sweet. But since it’s a tea, I appreciate the lack of sweetness. This is one I’ll have to try again in order to properly sort out my feelings.

I did enjoy it, just not sure if I’m in love yet.

EDIT/ADD: I dropped the rating considerably because I ended up dumping it out. I just couldn’t get past the smell. :(

I had a sachet of this yesterday at tea time. I am not the biggest fan of grape-flavored stuff, but this had an intense muscat/white grape flavor that was pretty distinct from most grape flavor. Still, I thought it might be overwhelming. But it turned out to be pretty good! Very muscat grapey, but definitely with a hint of wine grape as well. I didn’t really detect jasmine as a distinct flavor or scent. A decent cup that I had no problem drinking, but not one I will probably go back for often (still not huge on grapey things that aren’t actually wine).

Another tea that came from the Lupicia grab bag…

I’m afraid I’m not such a big fan of this. The muscat is way too sweet and artificial and the jasmine is yucky. It does smell exactly like Juicy fruit gum. Maybe this would be better as an iced tea but I don’t really like it hot.

I still have 9 bags left if anyone wants to swap for it. If you read the reviews a lot of people seemed to like it. :)

Somehow I didn’t even realize this was a green tea until I was making it. I had to make a quick temperature switch on the kettle! Like apparently I never even looked at it and assumed it was a black tea.

The jasmine overtakes everything else in here, and not in a good way. When it’s hot, it does not smell good at all. Cold, it smells like just your usual jasmine green which is not really what I expected from something that should have white wine grape notes too.

But jasmine just overpowers everything about it and it wasn’t even a good type of jasmine tea. I couldn’t finish it. I may try having it iced, maybe try steeping for a minute instead too, but it isn’t working for me hot!

Thanks Azzrian for the sample!

Ok so this was my day 3 of new tea for the year! I was afraid of this tea cues of the grapes… I don’t know since grape dimatab as a kid I’m afraid of drinking grape but I bought this anyways lol . So the smell is of green warm grapes in the summer. So that throws me off a bit my first few sips were a little odd . Defiantly sweet wine which I love without the drink affect. My mother in law every year makes Anises cut out cookies and let me tell you dipping that cookie into this tea was wonderful!!
My only thing for next time is to take the tea bag out! I left it in and I got very bitter at the end of the tea and I had to stop but otherwise very nice tea:)

We’ve been remodeling our kitchen, and most of my tea things are packed up, so I’ve been relying on tea bags and pre-bottled drinks to get me through the renovation period. (Oh, the horror!) The pyramid-shaped Lupicia bagged teas have been some of the best for flavor.

Napa Blanc’s a great summer tea with a bright, strong aroma. The muscat grape is very sweet, but the addition of a slight floral note (jasmine according to the company’s description) tempers it nicely.

The Napa Blanc flavor is one of limited edition ‘California’ flavors, available only at Lupicia’s stores in Santa Clara and San Francisco. I’m not clear on whether these are available for a limited time only, or the limitation is only on the locations where Napa Blanc can be purchased.

Ok, after a long time, I finally tried steeping this again. This time I think it was a success. It’s not overly sweet and disgusting like I last remembered it. It tastes more like your usual jasmine green tea but with a little bit of grape sweetness. It’s a lot better than before because back then it tasted like a jolly rancher to me. I’m not completely sold on this tea however because it tastes a lot like Davids jasmine green tea.

Backlogged from yesterday.
Why am I so timid of green tea? I can never quite wrap my brain around it. But, with the temps yesterday being in the 100s, I thought it “felt” right to have.
For starts, this smells wonderful. Jasmine and a sparkiling grape note. Beautiful and pleasant. Why had I ignored this tin so long?
Well, brewed up the smell is not quite as impressive, and I found a bitter note lurking around in the back. This is, quite possibly, all my fault. I’m used to brewing robust black teas, and I might be applying that heavy handedness to this pot. Well, next time I’ll steep lighter, or with cooler water, and see what I think of it then.
Hurrah to drinking teas that have been languishing in the back of cupboards! Drink tea 2014!

Got a little free packet of this with my purchase of a Handy Cooler. I cold-brewed it overnight, and it turned into a light, slightly sweet (from the little sugar crystals), green tea with a muscat grape aftertaste. I can see how this flavor might be weird to taste hot. I’m not running to buy a whole bag of this, but it was a nice few cups.