90
drank Jingle Bells by Lupicia
2036 tasting notes

Sipdown no. 2 of 2019 (no. 490 total). A sample teabag.

Lupicia sent me this in one of their love letters, and since I’m rather desperate to keep up with the sipdown challenge I looked around for something I could claim to have sipped down. This is definitely the only Jingle Bells in the house, so I say it counts!

The smell out of the packet is strong — and amazing! Very, very fruity. I smell grapefruits and berries, regardless of what Lupicia says. But there’s also definitely champagne.

After steeping, a malty, earthy tea joins the party. The tea is medium-dark amber and clear. I expected it to be darker as a black tea. Hmm.

Maybe I’m just black tea deprived, but this is yum. As I sip, I get more of the grape — which is rather a candy type of grape than a fruity type of grape. But that’s ok, right? I mean, shouldn’t there be a place in the world for a candy grape tea?

I see that Roswell and I are somewhat in the minority here, but I loved this one. I’d definitely drink it again. I’m a little sad I chose it to sip down now.

But when I think of one less tea, I am happy again!

Flavors: Berries, Champagne, Earth, Grapefruit, Malt

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec 12 OZ / 354 ML
Mastress Alita

R.I.P. Lupicia. It was a good run. * is currently going through the five stages of grief over their closure *

__Morgana__

Wow, I missed that. They’re closed? I knew that they had closed some stores a few years back — but I can’t find anything about a complete closure on the internet? I don’t see anything on their web site or Facebook page that indicates they’re closing and I just got a mailing from them in the last week, though admittedly I tossed it and just kept the teabag. So I’m a little freaked.

Mastress Alita

Check the forums, there is news on the group order thread. All stores but the Japanese and Hawaii branch are closing down. The US online store will be closed by the end of February this year. There may be different close dates for the different stores, but I know the San Jose location will be closed by January 28th (my friend is local there).

Maddy Barone

Whaaaat? But Golden Honeydew!!! wails

__Morgana__

Wonder why they are keeping Hawaii open but not the web site? I can understand retail space costs in the Bay Area (but Hawaii is expensive too), but there’s so much less overhead to do business online.

Mastress Alita

The website was run from the Hayward, CA location. They are closing all US locations, Australia, France… I’m assuming they don’t want to ship from Hawaii to the main states, since that is their only US location staying open.

__Morgana__

Oh for heaven’s sake. I just went and spent a ton of money ordering all my favorites. On the one hand, I am grateful to you for letting me know. I wish I’d known before American Tea Room went under. On the other, well, there goes my cupboard organizational effort and sipdown effort. Ugh.

Lexie Aleah

The Lupicia group order topic in the Discussion forms goes into more detail about Lupicia closing.

Rosehips

I really like this one too, but they’re closing?! Aww man!

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Comments

Mastress Alita

R.I.P. Lupicia. It was a good run. * is currently going through the five stages of grief over their closure *

__Morgana__

Wow, I missed that. They’re closed? I knew that they had closed some stores a few years back — but I can’t find anything about a complete closure on the internet? I don’t see anything on their web site or Facebook page that indicates they’re closing and I just got a mailing from them in the last week, though admittedly I tossed it and just kept the teabag. So I’m a little freaked.

Mastress Alita

Check the forums, there is news on the group order thread. All stores but the Japanese and Hawaii branch are closing down. The US online store will be closed by the end of February this year. There may be different close dates for the different stores, but I know the San Jose location will be closed by January 28th (my friend is local there).

Maddy Barone

Whaaaat? But Golden Honeydew!!! wails

__Morgana__

Wonder why they are keeping Hawaii open but not the web site? I can understand retail space costs in the Bay Area (but Hawaii is expensive too), but there’s so much less overhead to do business online.

Mastress Alita

The website was run from the Hayward, CA location. They are closing all US locations, Australia, France… I’m assuming they don’t want to ship from Hawaii to the main states, since that is their only US location staying open.

__Morgana__

Oh for heaven’s sake. I just went and spent a ton of money ordering all my favorites. On the one hand, I am grateful to you for letting me know. I wish I’d known before American Tea Room went under. On the other, well, there goes my cupboard organizational effort and sipdown effort. Ugh.

Lexie Aleah

The Lupicia group order topic in the Discussion forms goes into more detail about Lupicia closing.

Rosehips

I really like this one too, but they’re closing?! Aww man!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

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Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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