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French Lupicia have renamed a lot of the teas on their website – Momo, for example, isn’t Momo, but Pêche blanche, which is well and all, but it’s confusing even for second-language-French, third-language-English me, so I’m going to add the French names to the tea description – I hope this is okay with everyone. Thankfully, all national Lupicia branches use the same number system, so this is still trusty old 5404 all over the world.

So I guess there are three main questions here:

Black fruit tea, Anna? Also, a decaf tea, Anna? And, above all, MORE TEA, Anna?

Yes, yes, and yes.

- I’m not a black fruit tea fan at all, as you know – except that berry one that Ang shared in a swap and that still haunts me sometimes – but peach is one of this year’s projects, after all, along with pushing boundaries. Lupicia’s Momo Oolong is still one of my all-time favourites, and I’ve been eager to compare how the perfect pitch of that peach flavouring translates to a full-on black base. In addition, I don’t have a lot of experience with Lupicia’s black teas, yet my favourite blend ever is one of Lupicia’s flavoured blacks.

- Decaf, because, as you’ve been able to tell, I’m not really getting around to drinking a lot of tea right now. I’m very deep into my work and I can’t really drink tea when I’m off all over Rome visiting libraries and archives and museums – and so when I come home, if I finally do get a chance to steep something, I have to stick to rooibos, which doesn’t feel overly exciting if I only get to have one single cup in a day.

- More tea, because I’ve been really, really curious about French Lupicia and how they handle their stuff. I mean, Frenchies, I love you, but tread lightly, this is Lupicia we’re talking about. They’ve been an absolute dream, though – great service, fair tea selection which seems to be expanding at a solid pace, surprisingly modest shipping and quite adequate delivery speeds.

The tea (wow, that sure took a while to get to) smells insane in the bag, as always – more like peach candy than natural peach, but still without coming off artificial. It’s that typical Lupicia mind game that I can’t explain, but it presents all pure and perfect. The same goes for the brewed tea – light, clean and fresh both in the nose and the cup. It hits just the right peach note, because not only do I get the juicy fruitiness, but also the complex tart bite of the skin, which is baffling.

This is definitely light for a black tea, but that’s what I expected and what makes this so accessible to me. I do prefer my greens, whites and oolongs, and I love knowing there are black teas I can keep around that don’t feel like a full meal to take on.

Now I just need to figure out which Lupicia store I want to live close to, and plan my life accordingly. Priorities.

[From my Lupicia order to Rome, April 2014.]