Tokio

I got a few samples from Lupicia that I’m working through today. Got a little congestion going on. I’m in that familiar stage “I think it’s an allergy… Or is it a cold?”. Whatever the case, my sense of taste/smell is probably off so why not try all the teabag samples during this time?

Clean finish, crisp flavor notes of berries. That’s what I got from this one. Honey sweetness. Not intense flavors, subtle but well-defined taste of berries. Strawberries, the tartness of raspberries, and some grassy notes due to the green tea base. The aroma in the beginning was somewhat candy-like, but the flavor was more realistic berries.

I have a bag of this from Ost, I think. The smell and taste are rather like bubblegum. That’s not a flavor I usually like, but it works here. Hot, I did not enjoy this, but it tastes pretty good cold. I still wouldn’t want more, but it was nice to try.

To me, this tastes like a sweet tangerine green tea with some floral notes. I can see how people taste strawberries/berries, but I couldn’t pick that out distinctly when I was drinking it. I did get strong clemintine/tangerine flavours, but with sweetness and flavour without the bitter rind or tart hibiscus that will often accompany it.

Sampler Sipdown September! When I woke up this morning (day three of the migraine attack… yaaay), I thought that perhaps I should just sip down that packet of Lapsang Souchang I received in my T2 black tea sampler pack that I didn’t really want; I’ve tried that tea all of once and discovered the heady smoke scent is a migraine trigger for me (smoke of any kind will do this for me; the scent of cigarette smoke off someone’s clothes, lingering burnt incense in the air, the natural forest fire smoke that plagues this area all summer…) Like, if I already have a migraine, may as well just drink it, right? But I have such negative associations with it, and didn’t particularly like the taste either, why drink a tea I don’t even like when I feel like crap already? So instead I set it aside to go into the Discovery Teabox. It’s very small so it shouldn’t take up much weight or space and maybe someone else actually enjoys lapsang souchong, and that solves my problem of being stuck with a tea I’ll never drink.

Then I shifted to what I wanted to accompany my Crunch Berries on coconut milk and realized, that would be a light fruity green tea. So I went through my samplers and found this one. The dry leaf had a strong strawberry scent… yes.

It steeps up a deep yellow color, and I’m surprised how much the tea smells like ripe, juicy strawberries. The dry leaf smelled more soft, like strawberry fluff or marshmallow, but this is full on, off the vine strawberry aroma wafting off my cup. It’s very pleasant! I think what is even more nice, is that when I take a sip of the tea, there is actually green tea present in the taste, and most fruity green teas I try are so overwhelmed by their flavors I don’t even taste the base anymore. This one is not so. The base is very present, and the green leafy taste somehow gives the strawberry note a very “fresh” feel. The base green tea has a very fresh, clean sort of grassy taste, and this is a sampler I got from Lupicia during a Mottainai sale in April… they were clearing out old Christmas samplers! So I’m surprised this tea is tasting so fresh to me. The strawberry comes in midsip, adds a touch of sweetness, and closes out the sip with the subtlest touch of berry tang right at the back of the tongue. The two flavors of the grassy green tea and strawberry compliment each other beautifully and really create this sort of “fresh grown berry” appeal.

I found Tea Chai Te’s Strawberry Sencha a little too mild (though I did really love the sencha in it, and sipped it down easily making iced tea over the summer), and as much as I absolutely adore Tea Chai Te, with this particular blend, I think Lupicia has it beat; they amped up the strawberry just a bit, but not too much, and it seems to be Goldilocks-just-right.

Sample from Lupicia. As far as scented teas go, this is pretty lovely. Subtle berry flavours, not artificial candy-tasting, on a smooth green base. Nice for a sweeter change from my jasmine green. I would consider trying this or some other Lupicia tea bags for the office when I can’t brew loose-leaf.

Meh. I was disappointed by this one. Standard, vaguely fruity, dusty green tea. Not memorable in the least, quite boring actually and that was after I added a bit of sugar to amp up the notes.
This is the sort of quality I expect from grocery store bagged ctc. Tsk.

What a lovely tea! It smells great. The flavors are a perfect blend. Great addition to these cinnamon rolls. The flavors blend so well it’s almost hard to pick them apart. You can get a feeling for the base on first impact but it’s quickly taken over by fruity sensations.

This tea tastes strongly of berries. This one was quite good cold brewed as an iced tea. It’s better iced than hot. It is good, there is just a slight note I don’t like, not quite bitterness, just a flavor note I don’t quite like.

I brewed this one time in a 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and 175 degree water for 2 min.

This came in my holiday gift sampler from Lupicia (which came in this year’s Happy Bag).

The green tea base is very light and delicate, I’m not sure about the flavoring though. It’s fruity, and reminds me of bubblegum like others have suggested. I got a mixture of berry and orange from mine. It’s not altogether unpleasant but not one of my favorites from them. I’d like to try this as a cold brew if I have another sample teabag, I’ve a feeling this would be really good iced.

I don’t know what I can do to actually wake up and get motivated, but it’s time to get off Steepster for a while and stop procrastinating!!! ;)

Perhaps noshing on a gingerbread star while trying this tea wasn’t the best idea. :)

Thank you for the sample, MissB!

It smells fruity. Intensely candy fruity. Mmm. I didn’t look up the steeping instructions, and chose to steep this low and short due to the sencha base – I don’t want seaweed, thank you.

Brewed this way, it’s pretty much FRUIT. There’s a hint of fresh grass and some marine breeze in the background, but mostly fruit. It’s quite lovely.

And (bonus!) it was in a tea bag which made it super easy.

It’s pretty good, but for someone who doesn’t love green teas, it’s a touch lost on me. I guess… really lovely to try, but I wouldn’t purchase it.