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This is the second banana tea I have had from Lupicia recently! I’m a little crazy for banana flavoring, real bananas not so much. It smells wonderful in the bag! I steeped it for two minutes to avoid any bitterness and the flavors were lighter than I was hoping for. I got a light banana flavor, but couldn’t pick out the chocolate. Adding sugar didn’t change it much for me. Second steep was for three minutes and the flavor might be a little more intense. I might try a longer initial steep in the future. I think I get a little bit of the chocolate now, but it mingles with the sweetness of the banana and is hard to pick out right now. I get a slightly floral aftertaste. Overall it’s not bad, but I think it could be better with some steeping adjustments.

Yay, for free samples with orders! Opening the bag releases this intense gummy peach scent! It lightens up a bit once steeped and the vanilla gets a chance to come out as a creamy scent. I’m impressed with how well filled this tea bag sample seems to be! The first couple of sips were okay with a light peachy taste, but then the peaches and cream aftertaste hits and it is really quite nice! The cream slowly creeps forward into the sip, mingling with the peach.

Super strong strawberry smell when I open this bag! There is something else I’m getting too, which I guess is the rhubarb. I’m trying a slightly lower and shorter temp and steep on this since my usual four minutes for blacks seems overkill for Lupicia blacks.

Once steeped, the strawberry is lighter than the smell, but still very present. I taste something that I can’t describe as anything other than light and green which I’m pegging for rhubarb. The black base seems to hide behind the two flavors. I’m enjoying this without sweetener (rare) and it is pretty good. I do wish there was a baked crust flavor to this with a little bit of cinnamon to complete the usual straw/barb ensemble, but that desire is more appropriate for a 52teas style tea. I added a little sugar at the end and it really did nothing for the cup. So far I’m liking this ok, but I’m betting it would make a fantastically refreshing iced tea. I’ll have to remember that as the weather heats up!

Tried this for the first time this morning and I think it is going to take some tweaking to get it right. I followed the instructions, but I didn’t get any strawberry and my cup was bitter even after adding a bit of extra sugar. I used my usual powdered goat milk, which has a flavor of it’s own, but shouldn’t have been able to drown out the strawberry. The first ingredient is sugar which makes me feel like I might not be getting that much matcha for the price. I don’t know… I’m not excited about this purchase, but I’ll try it a few more times before I give up on it.

I don’t know what happened, but somewhere during the sleepless night (thanks to allergy meds) my sense of smell and taste returned to me! It has been maybe two weeks since I have been able to taste anything, so I have missed out on a lot of tea drinking opportunities and need to play catch up!

First up, a selection from my recent Lupicia order! I am already eyeing more Lupicia teas on their website now that they have Cookie restocked. I’m so weak. I’m surrounded by tea and all I can think about is more.

Anyways, this is the second chestnut tea I have had. The first was a green so it is interesting trying it as a black. Unsweetened this tea has the slightest bitterness to it that makes me think a lower temp would serve it better, but once I sweeten it a little it smooths out. The base is creamy, something I have tasted in other Lupicia teas, Sweet Potato to be exact. I can taste the chocolate and the sweetness of the chestnut. I’m picking up on the described astringency that I don’t recall the green tea having, but I don’t remember chestnuts having an astringent skin either. This tea is good, but not overly impressive at the moment. I’m guessing my newly rediscovered sense of taste might be off a bit since I keep smelling plastic, so we will see if my opinion of this tea changes in the future.

I guess I’m on an almond tea roll this morning. Now that I think about it, an almond pastry roll would be delicious right now too!

This tea is much smoother than the last almond tea I just tried and for that I am grateful! It has a nice round almond taste, but that is about it. There is no wow factor. It isn’t bad by any means, but it isn’t grabbing me either. It was good to try, won’t be a restock, but isn’t going into the “get rid of it” pile either.

Smells like any other generic almond black tea. The first sip was a bit bitter with a soapy vanilla aftertaste. A little further into it and some sips are better than others. Some are a little more smooth and some are like the first. After a while it all turns into a soapy taste. What a horrible thing to do to almonds. Not impressed.

I received a sample of this from Marcel Duchamp! After falling in love with a green chai with the name Kashmiri, the similar name of this tea is intriguing.

I’m smelling rose and cardamon when the tea is steeped. Wow, rose and cardamon go really well together! I used to work next door to this shop that sold a specific type of middle eastern food (the exact country is escaping my memory) and they would have desserts that I would get regularly. Most had rosewater in them, but one ice cream was rose and cardamon, which is why this tea is bringing back that memories.

The tea is really smooth and I’m not getting any bitterness. I’m finding I like it just as much with as without sugar. The cardamon is strong, but not overpowering which is a really impressive balance. The rose merges so well with the cardamon that it is hard to pick out on it’s own at times. The tea looses it’s smooth edge just slightly once the cup has cooled. I really like it, but I haven’t decided if it is a must have or not. Maybe I’ll know in a few more cups.

I’m remembering this tea having grown on me a bit since I first reviewed it and I was eager to try it again today as a latte, but I can’t taste a thing through this cold! I’m imagining it as creamy, carmaely and delicious. It is like trying to see in the dark. Sometimes I wonder if there was a sense I would prefer to loose over taste and smell, but I honestly can’t come up with an answer. It is one of those things you take for granted until it is gone… like indoor plumbing!

Sipping on a sample of this from Marcel Duchamp! This is the first tea I have been able to taste in a few days! Cold season has been brutal on me this year.

I do enjoy this tea. I love the earthiness of the pu erh, the sweetness of the strawberry, but I have no idea what the slender part is supposed to be about. Some magical pu erh property? I’m sure the strawberry part is a little artificial, but I don’t mind the strawberry candy taste! I sure hope Teavana keeps this one around for a while!