Grapefruit Green

Leaves didn’t really smell like grapefruit. Cold steeped over night, result still didn’t smell like grapefruit. Was pleasantly surprised that it did taste like grapefruit. Really tart, acidic tasting. Not bad, but not quite what I was looking for.

So I went to LA to visit the college my son will go to and to visit my best friend. Went on a mad tea shopping spree at Lupicia and at American Tea Room! Oh, I can’t buy any more tea for a while until my inventory whittles down, or I go to another tea shop. haha

I was so excited to visit my second Lupicia store! In my tea shopping excitement, I remembered that I wanted this grapefruit one after reading TeaEqualsBliss’s review. I also bought four others. Yes, lots of reviews coming down the line!

I LOVE this one! Smells like fresh grapefruit, tastes like grapefruit in green tea (duh). Grassy grapefruity goodness! Yes, there is a little tartness from the grapefruit, but it’s a mild tartness and it’s delish. Had it hot tonight, can’t wait to have it iced tomorrow! Such a good flavor for the summer!

My mom had a bunch of Lupicia samples just lying around, so I rescued them and brought them with me to Boston! I’m not going to give this a number rating quite yet because I have no idea how old the sample is, but I’m loving it! I have a grapefruit scented shampoo that I absolutely love and always am tempted to taste a little even though I know it will be bad. This tea is kind of how I imagined the shampoo would taste, haha. Anyway, the grapefruit flavor does not taste very artificial, but also not as sour as eating just a straight-up grapefruit, which I like. The green tea is not as prominent in this one as other flavored green teas except maybe a little at the end. Definitely adding this tea to my shopping list for later purchase!

Edit: Just wanted to add that it did start getting quite bitter toward the end of my cup, but I’m still liking it!

My first taste of the Lupicia teas. Really pleased with it. Great taste. Love the citrus note. It’s really light in the green tea. I could have this one anytime, anyday.

So far, I am really loving this company’s flavoring techniques. I opened the bag, stuck my nose in, and WHAM! was hit in the face with grapefruit-y goodness. The base tea seems to be some sort of Dragonwell-like grade of tea, and smells very grassy, like matcha. In fact, when it steeped, it had some minimal green froth at the top, which also made me think matcha, because that’s the only green tea I know of that does that. The label doesn’t say there’s any in there, but I am wondering…

Anyway, the grassy green tea scent took over when I steeped it, which was to be expected. Generally speaking, green tea tends to take over any flavoring it’s blended with, unless it’s a particularly potent flavoring (which you would think grapefruit would be, but somehow, it didn’t surprise me). I could detect a TEENSY bit of the grapefruit in the smell, but only if I stuck my nose right up on it and hunted for it.

Anyway, it also didn’t surprise me that I had to sweeten this one to make the grapefruit flavor shine. That’s okay with me—when I eat grapefruit, I sweeten the mess out of it. This was a thoroughly enjoying cup, from beginning to end. The cooler it got, the more the grapefruit came out. The hubby came in the room and wanted some, so I made myself a second cup with him, and I sweetened it even more. I didn’t like it as much with MORE sugar, believe it or not (we really like our tea sweet)—it threw the balance off. I’m very impressed, and I will drink this one with enthusiasm!

I got the teabag version of this tea. It has a subtle fruity scent. The flavor is a little sour with a slight bitterness in it. I think the sour and bitter flavor came from the grapefruit. The tea inside the teabag looks like real tea again. I think it was an ok tea.

My free Lupicia sample this month… This is nice and citrusy. I don’t really like real grapefruit, it has a weird aftertaste and is kind of bitter tasting to me. But this is good, it has the grapefruit taste without the bitter weird aftertaste. It steeped pretty dark green for a short minute half steep but wasn’t too strong at all. I like the aftertaste. I think it’d be good cold, too bad I don’t live near my Lupicia. I got a flyer in my newsletter too for a couple free sample bags if you bring in the flyer to the Ala Moana location, I wonder if you could pick what kind? I guess I could send my flyer to my buddy and get her to pick it up if she’s going… Why do we not have a road between islands? It’d improve the economy, I’d shop a lot. :P

I got this as a sample. I liked the uplifting citrus zest of grapefruit. I might grow to like this flavored green despite the slight bitter after-taste. A good balance of green tea and grapefruit flavor. I think citrus fruits go well with green tea.

This is one of my favorite iced teas. I use 1 tbsp + lucky extra bit per 14oz steeper, let steep no more than one minute, then let it cool so it comes through undiluted.

It’s not strong tasting, but the lightness of it is really appealing for everyday iced tea. A hint of grapefruit’s brightness and pleasant grassy notes.

However, this tea is finicky. I literally stand by the steeper and smell, pouring it out as soon as it gets grassy. Steeping this one even a little too long makes it a bitter no-go. I also think this tea is terrible hot, but I think that’s just me.

Ehh nothing really special. Not really grapefruity, but not a GREAT green tea either.