Lupicia

I’m not a particular fan of strong, almost-chemically induced, fruit blends. But there are exceptions that are done well. I gave Lupicia’s Sakurambo a try because it’s a black tea blend versus the green tea blend I had tried in past chez Teavana (my mouth puckers just thinking of the overly sugary-sour-bitter.)

The aroma out of the box is VERY strong. Sour cherry. I thought “oh no, here we go again.” But the cherries being used aren’t the dried, sugared type, they’re an actual type of cherry bean, so there wasn’t the “marzipan” character to it. It’s very pretty in the teapot – the black tea, the green needles, and the small cherry beans (I can see this being a nice treat at the holidays).

Brewed according to directions, steeped for 2.5 minutes. The sip isn’t bad. Definite cherry. I can still taste the qualities of the black tea. Not as disappointing as it foreshadowed. There was a stronger astringency than I’m used to, about medium if I had to put it on a scale.

I’m curious to try this again blended with milk and see if my opinion changes, being a black tea it just might be the ticket!

I’m satisfied, but I’m still on the hunt for my “best” cherry tea. Something that leans more toward creamy and slightly floral or spicy, like some of the good-smelling lotions at Bath and Body works.

Definitely a notch above a green cherry blend.

When i opened my tin and smelled this tea for the first time i didnt think it smelled very good at all. but oh my is it tasty. I only brewed mine for a very short amount of time because it went very dark surprisingly quickly. I even re-used the leaves, which i never usually do with black tea and it was still amazing.

I cant really explain the tastes of this tea. It really has an amazing aftertaste though.

next time i might brew it abit stronger and try it with a little milk…

This tea was a true experience! I haven’t tried genmaicha before, so I’m taking my own exuberance with a grain of salt, but I really enjoyed this tea.

Out of the box, the dry leaves smell of matcha and sencha – that familiar fresh, vegetal goodness. I didn’t notice the rice adding to the aroma yet, but altogether, the sencha, and matcha-covered kernels made for a pretty presentation as they sat in my kyusu waiting for the hot water.

As soon as the hot water hit the kyusu, WOW! Warm, nutty, wheaty, rice smell that was familiar – like Rice Crispies cereal without the note of sugar. Wasn’t sure how that would mesh with the matcha and sencha to sip.

In the cup, it makes for a smoky, rich, complex sencha flavor. Nutty smoke to start, then vegetal, buttery sencha as the sip completes.

I’m afraid I’ve found yet another favorite to keep in my cupboard!

This tea is awesome! It has a great balance of flavors of the chocolate/strawberry and puer. I love how this tea doesnt have that distinct puer flavor and that additional flavors can come through. I like the deep chocolate flavor and the sweet strawberry finish to it. This is a great tea :)

This is the sample that I received with my Lupicia Newsletter, and it is SO GOOD! OMG!

The chocolate and puer are perfect together, the chocolate is deep and dark and decadent, the strawberry sweet with a hint of berry tartness, and the puer is not as earthy as I’ve come to expect from Puer (and that’s a very good thing).

I love this!

i was a bit sceptical about this flavour at first. but its really really nice. Its got a nice fresh pineapple taste instead of a too sweet fake pineapple taste. its really good.

This was a pyramid sachet free sample that arrived today with my Lupicia order. I was looking for something convenient to steep, and having tried the Tropical Green from Revolution Tea this morning, my palate was ready for a comparison.

The aroma is pineapple and green tea leaf. There are blue and pink flower petals mixed in with the fruit bits. I’m particularly fond of the aesthetics of blue petals with tea, so this got my attention.

I was expecting a super sweet cup, but pleasantly suprised that the actual cup had a subdued flavor. I could still taste the fruit as a secondary note, but the tea was recognizable. Pineapple was the dominant fruit in my experience. The green in combination probably lends itself to the melon other people might pick up on.

A nice blend, an experience for nose, eye, and palate. I’d try it again if I were looking for a sweet tea, though I’m not a big fanatic of fruited teas in general. Peach and cherry are my standards, with pear being a distant third.

I really love this very unique christmas tea from lupicia.

I think one of the reasons i really like it was that it wasnt your typical christmas tea that is completely overloaded with spices. Its strawberry and coconut which is much more like christmas to me seeing as its summer here at christmas and not winter.

But onto what the tea actually tastes like: quite good really. The strawberry and coconut flavours are strong but not overpowering but come through just nicely.

This is probably my favourite christmas tea ive tried so far.

I think something must have died in mine! It cant honestly be this awful can it? its just… so bad. It tastes like a football field! Ive tried it a few times at different temperatures and its just still awful.

… It comes in such a pretty tin though….

The smell of this tea is just unreal. It also tastes great. Its not your typical fruity black tea though. The honey-preserved fruit gives it something that makes it quite unique in my opinion.

One of Lupicia’s newest teas, Sunny Fruits Puer is an awesome tea! I was a little skeptical of it because I seriously dislike puer. On the few occassions that i have had the pleasure of drinking it i have usually felt ill afterwards BUT NOT THE CASE WITH THIS TEA!

The aroma is fruity with the hints of citrus and an array tropical fruits! The aroma still lingers quite strong even after you brew it! The taste is a wnderful tropical fruity taste with a sweet afternot of citrus! It doesnt even taste like puer at all!

I highly recommend this tea!

This tea is aromatic and tasty with a subtle bite from the cinnamon, which doesn’t overpower the tea. I’ve had this tea both with and without milk, and I love it either way. The cinnamon is such a welcome taste in the tea, and it’s quite smooth.

Thanks to Meghann for this one!! :0)

This one is pretty good. I don’t taste much of the white chocolate but I’m def get the apricot taste. Very different taste. My first experience with Lupicia teas. Tastey!

This is a very interesting oolong. I was surprised by how sweet and fruity it was. It almost over-powered the oolong itself. Altogether not a bad tea, though the leaves steeped out fairly quickly.

Okay, I decided that it’s just not realistic enough for me to refrain from tasting my new teas while trying to drink up my older teas. I’ve been trying diligently for a couple months now to use up my opened teas but it’s getting so boring!

So today, I couldn’t take it anymore, I just had to open up this tin! I was dying to try it!

And it is yummy!! Kind of like liquified Twix! Very caramelly with a burnt cookie edge.

Love it!

It smells very sweet—do they actually put sugar in this? But the taste is more bake-y than sugary. I think this would be super with milk. This could even be a tea equivalent of Starbuck’s Caramel Machiatto!

Very satisfying if you’re craving something sweet and warm. :)

I got my newsletter and sample the other day.

The aroma of this – especially while brewing – is amazing. The peach scent is so intense. Beautifully, marvelously peachy!

A nice peach flavor. The sweet, buttery taste of the tea comes through nicely and presents itself strongly throughout the sip. A pleasant vegetative taste to it.

So, I decided to have some of this tea the other day and made a fascinating discovery. The first steep was still a bit charcoal-y on the backend. However, I used the same tea bag (mostly because I was being thrifty) and made a second cup of tea, and guess what !?

No more charcoal on the back end!

The second steep was smooth and had all of the flavor and none of what I didn’t like. I highly recommend trying a second steep of the same tea bag if you’re a bit turned off by some of the backend on the first steep.

:-) :-)

Suzi, I picked this tea up at the Santa Clara Lupicia, too, just last week. I bought the tea bags instead of the loose leaf because I was traveling. This is the first time I’ve purchased the Lupicia tea bags and I’m very impressed by them. Great tea bags.

Ok, on to the tea. This is a luscious smelling tea. The wine notes just come out of the bag and grab your nose. No, really, the fragrance of this tea is just fantastic.

Unfortunately, the taste is a bit off for me. There’s a chance I over-steeped, but this tea has a funny bite at the end of the taste that I’m not a huge fan of. I also didn’t sweeten the tea and I think I would like it much more if I added a bit of honey. Overall, I’ll drink this again, but I’ll definitely add sweetener.

This was a free sample included in the Lupicia Monthly Magazine. Upon tearing open the tea sachet foil package, my nose was hit with a scent of ripe peaches and peach blossom. The floral notes were quite strong, but the fresh, ripe peach was still there. I wasn’t exactly sure how to steep this, but learned after looking at their website that it was a green based tea, so I decided to heat my water to 175F and steep for 1:30min.

The liquor is a light olive green, almost a matcha esque color, but more transparent than matcha. The aroma steeped is still peachy floral. The taste is similar to peach candy, almost reminds me of a peach bellini or Wallaby darned at Outback steakhouse. Sweet peach liquor with a touch of floral. The green tea base is buttery and a great pair with the peach flavors in this. I really enjoy this new tea!

Holey moley! Moving is such a pain, and the weather is just terrible outside. My little car keeps slipping around… these cars are not made for snowy weather. Anyhow, I was deprived of tea for the past 2-3 days. OH THE AGONY! But as I’m unpacking, I opened my box of teas and relaxed to this one.

I miss that scent of tea. Am I addicted? … nah!! no way!!! ;) ok well maybe just a little. This one was bagged with full leaves and brown rice inside. The scent is strong and smelled like genmaicha. The liquor was a nice yellow-green. The taste was surprisingly sweet. Delicious. This was just what I needed.

Wow, this is the 2nd lupicia tea I’ve had and I can just say this… their oolongs are SUPER AWESOME. I mean, this is like top quality here. I barely even taste the tangerine – I could just drink this as a green oolong. =O! I need to buy more of their teas, me liking oolong and all…
Thanks Meghann!!