drank Kunko Wakocha Whisky by Lupicia
53 tasting notes

This is my place-saver note until I am brave enough to try this tea! I ordered this from Lupicia France, which seems to be the only place it’s offered? I couldn’t find much online. My idea of this was something very lightly smoked, with a bit of whisky flavor, which (in my apparently deluded mind) seemed potentially nice as a late-night after-meal “relaxing in the study by the fireplace with a good book” kind of tea. I have neither study nor fireplace, but still.

However, upon opening it, my head nearly blew up. WHOAH. SO STRONG AARGH THE SMELL THE WORLD IS BURNING OMG CLOSE IT CLOSE IT GET IT AWAY. I immediately wrapped it up to within an inch of its life and put if far far far away from any of my other teas. I will screw up the courage to try this eventually, but wow. What a shocking introduction.

(I have tried lapsang souchong before, so not entirely unacquainted with smoked teas, but this was bam pow bang!)

Lupicia’s French Facebook page describes it thusly (translated from French): “Black tea from Japan smoked with chips of whiskey barrels by Mr. Hiroki Matsumoto. Available in store and on the Internet. http://www.lupicia.fr/s/29785_263606_the-noir-fume-japon-i-… This black tea without astringency is relatively soft in the mouth and contrasts with the smoky and deep side that emerges from it. It is never aggressive, whether on the nose or in the mouth, and the balance between black tea and smoked aromas is perfectly controlled. Mr. Matsumoto at his own gardens in Shizuoka Prefecture. Thanks to this smoking technique, we find from the first sip a deep fragrance evoking Single Malt Whiskey.”

Well. I can testify that “It is never aggressive, whether on the nose or in the mouth” is not quite accurate. It was waaay aggressive on this nose. Like “felony charges” aggressive. Will be back to report more once I’ve recovered and brave enough to actually brew a cup.

shiver. It may be a little while.

Sil

if you brew a cup and it’s too smokey for you, try adding a tiny bit of maple syrup to your cup if you have some :)

lizwykys

I do! And I will! Thanks for the tip! :)

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Comments

Sil

if you brew a cup and it’s too smokey for you, try adding a tiny bit of maple syrup to your cup if you have some :)

lizwykys

I do! And I will! Thanks for the tip! :)

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Bio

Relatively new tea convert who discovered Mariage Frères online shop somehow (I wish I could remember!), and swooned over Wedding Imperial, particularly; I didn’t know tea could be like that! Now I’m testing my wings a bit, and eager to try as much as possible of various tea world treasures.

#waitingbythemailbox
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My avatar here doesn’t read well visually (because small), but it’s based on the neato story of the origins of Canis Major and Canis Minor: https://goo.gl/ajFm4T (image: https://imgur.com/a/ZTHyz3c)
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Here’s where I’m going to keep track of interesting online tea sellers shipping (mostly with at least semi-reasonable rates) to Europe (or Greece, specifically):

Bird & Blend will ship orders from UK to EU up to €15 for €4.60, so no need to pad an order out just bc the min shipping rate is so high, and now also offer free EU shipping on orders of €65 and up.
https://birdandblendtea.com/eu_en

Mariage Frères is expensive, full stop. Min €15.40 shipping from France to Greece, NO free shipping option for large orders. (Fast delivery, though) https://www.mariagefreres.com/UK

T2 ships from UK to EU for £10, w/ free shipping from £60. https://www.t2tea.com/en/uk

Teatower says they ship to EU for €3, w/ free shipping from €39. Will definitely check this out. https://www.teatower.com/en. UPDATE: though Gr is in EU, it doesn’t show up on dropdown for ordering; I’ve emailed to see if it’s an error, but no response.

Vadham has $10.00 shipping from India to Greece for orders up to $29.99; $5.00 for orders $30.00 – $48.99; free shipping above $49.00. https://www.vahdam.com

Dammann Frères ships to Greece for €8,40, quite a bit less than Mariage Frères. No free shipping option for larger orders. https://www.dammann.fr

What-Cha ships international orders from UK for a reasonable £4.40, with free shipping above £36. https://what-cha.com

Mountain Stream Teas offers free shipping from Taiwan with purchase over $25, and shipping to Greece for $7 for quantities under$25. https://mountainstreamteas.com

Tealyra UK ships to Greece for just €4.31, with free delivery above €48. https://www.tealyra.co.uk

White2Tea ships from China for $10. https://white2tea.com

Lupicia ships from France to Greece for €13. http://en.lupicia.fr

Tee Gschwendner ships from Germany to Greece for a minimum of €13.74. https://www.teegschwendner.de

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Greece

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