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This tea has been my morning cuppa on those mornings cool enough for hot tea. It has that same strong CTC base that most of Lupicia’s black teas have, which is malty and tends toward astringency even with a shorter steep. The flavoring surprisingly holds up pretty well given Lupicia tends to be a bit lighter-handed and their black base is really strong; the chocolate is similar to that from the “Chocolate and Strawberry Pu’erh” I just finished off, lacking that “liquor” taste and instead adding a sort of fudgy quality to the black tea without tasting particularly chocolately. The orange stands out a lot more; I like it a lot more than I usually find orange flavorings, but my main issue is it has a sort of bitter quality to it that really makes the astringency of the base stand out. I get a sort of coating, drying sensation on my tongue. It’s not bad (at least prepared hot, but I found the tea downright unpleasant once the cup had gone cold), but I definitely prefer Lupicia’s chocolate+strawberry or chocolate+raspberry to this.

I’m jealous of all of you that are already getting fall weather… it is still decidedly summer here, though it has finally cooled down a bit first thing in the morning, at least enough so that I’ve been craving a hot cuppa tea to start the day, before then switching to whatever I have coldbrewing in the fridge (lately that has been Lupicia’s “Happiness” and “Kotobuki”).

I’m not a big pu’erh fan, but I do tend to like most flavored offerings, and this is no exception. The pu’erh base is quite earthy but tastes a lot “cleaner” than I tend to find pu’erh, which often tastes a bit dirt/mud-like to me. Steeped strongly, the black tea in the blend comes out more and smooths the flavor a bit more by adding some subtle smokiness, but that also gives the tea a slight astringency. As far as the flavor, it isn’t really strong in typical Lupicia fashion, but it is present; the chocolate doesn’t have that weird liquor note and is more of a fudgy/nutty flavor that blends nicely with the base notes, and the strawberry is that light candy-esque strawberry flavor found in Lupicia’s other strawberry teas. It’s really satisfying (especially during a rare summer rainstorm) and gives me a lot more alert energy than I typically get from caffeinated teas.

I’ve been enjoying this orange-flavored oolong mostly as a coldbrew due to the blazing temperatures, but have tried a stray warm cup here and there as well. I often find orange-flavored teas either a very artificial sort of flavor, or super pithy due to orange peel, but this tea manages to be neither. It’s a more subtle sort of citrus, but still has a noticable tang at the end of the sip. The oolong base is very green and smooth, with a touch of florality which, mixed with the orange, gives an “orange blossom” sort of vibe. It’s a nice choice for someone looking for a citrus tea that isn’t overbearing, and very refreshing as an iced tea.

With the unending triple-digit heat here, I’ve mostly been exclusively drinking cold brew or iced tea, but I wanted to try at least one hot cup of this tea before the leaf is out.

I love green apple, and never seem to find enough things with that flavor for my liking. This tea has a really lovely green apple flavor, and the sencha Lupicia uses as a base always appeals to me, falling on the grassy and buttery side rather than the oceanic side, which blends well with the apple flavor. My biggest complaint is that the soft, pillowy approach to fruit flavoring Lupicia uses is just not strong enough for me in this case… I just want moar green apple! I want to be slapped across the face with it, rather than a soft and subtle background note.

Makes a very nice coldbrew! I’ve tried preparing it cold a few different ways but didn’t find any noteworthy differences when brewing it hot and then icing over just coldbrewing the leaf, nor with adding sweetener (it tastes nice with a bit of honey, but is fine without). Makes a good guzzle-tea.

I believe I found this on the US Lupicia website once and pounced on it, but have never seen it reappear since that time.

Like a lot of Lupicia’s fruity blacks, the base is very strong and leans on the tempermental side, where a little too much leaf or a slightly longer steep than anticipated can really bring out a metallic and bitter/tannic aftertaste. Under ideal conditions, it is still quite dark and malty, with an autumn leaf note and a bit of drying at the back of the tongue after the sip. The strawberry aroma smells lovely from the bag and the cup; it is the same sweet/candy-like strawberry flavor Lupicia uses in other teas, though the candy notes are a bit more subdued in this particular tea since it isn’t paired with a vanilla/cream flavor like many of their other strawberry teas. The most disappointing part of this tea is I bought it for the rhubarb, but I don’t taste it much at all. There is a little bit of a tart note to the cup and the strawberry isn’t as sweet, which I suppose could be the doing of the rhubarb, but it isn’t very pronounced to me… perhaps if I was drinking Lupicia’s plain Strawberry black tea side-by-side I might notice the difference more. I suppose on the plus side I won’t have to be too upset that this doesn’t seem to be a flavor they carry often, as any of Lupicia’s other strawberry teas would hit about the same for me.

The last tin! And it’s actually really pleasant. It’s a lemon herbal tea, and not one paired with ginger, which I don’t see very often. It has a pretty clean taste, and the lemon is nicely tangy but not abrasive due to the sweet blackberry leaf and apple. I’m enjoying it coldbrewed; we are in the middle of a pretty awful heat wave here, and it’s very refreshing.

The penultimate mini tin of the “ultimate tea sampler” from Solstice Tea Traders. I figured it would taste pretty much identical to the “Red Fruit Cocktail” hibiscus fruit tea sampler, since often hibiscus fruit teas just sort of taste all the same (I mean, I love them, but they do tend to be pretty samey to me). This one actually does taste quite a bit different, though. “Red Fruit Cocktail” was a strong hibi tea, with a thick syrupy mouthfeel and a strong red berry/fruit punch flavor. This tea isn’t as strong on the hibi notes, leaving it a bit more thin in mouthfeel and not as tart (personally I prefer my hibi strong because I like that thick and syrupy feel and the tartness, but I imagine this would be more approachable to others). The apple in the blend is also a pretty strong flavor and adds a lot more sweetness. The rhubarb flavoring is pretty nice, and does leave a little tartness in the aftertaste. I personally prefer the “Red Fruit Cocktail” of the two hibi fruit blends because I like the added oomph, but this is nice too.

I’m down to the last three mini tins from the “ultimate tea sampler,” two of which are hibiscus fruit teas (which I knew I’d like) and a lemon herbal. This is one of the two hibiscus fruit teas.

There is nothing special about it, it tastes like a hibiscus fruit tea, hibi and a generic fruity berry flavor. I know most people hate these kind of teas, but I love them and gulp them down so fast. The few liters I made from the mini tin did not last me long! This is also one of the few teas from this set I didn’t have to add sweetener to in order to make it palatable.

Almost finished with all the tins from this sampler! This was a very underwhelming chai… I felt like I just didn’t see a lot of the spices in the mini tin? And the flavor is very bland… I can taste the anise, so it has a strong black licorice flavor (I’m one of the few people that actually loves black licorice so this was fine for me) but I really didn’t taste anything else. Occassionally there was sort of a musty cinnamon aftertaste? Maybe age did this one particularly dirty, or the tin just did not get a good distribution of spices in it. It definitely didn’t have a strong enough flavor that I would ever imagine drinking this as a latte. Since all I could taste was the anise, I added some sugar syrup to my iced tea to really boost the black licorice flavor which was pretty pleasant, but judging this as a masala chai, it was really lacking.

Okay, this time I definitely pulled the Earl Grey mini tin from the Solstice Tea Traders “ultimate tea sampler.” My first batch was brewed hot and then chilled in the fridge overnight, and… oof. The natural bergamot flavoring used in this tasted like bug spray smells, and left this really weird and coating aftertaste on my tongue. Yuck. I coldbrewed the next batch which actually helped tame down the flavor a lot… tastes more like a lemony-lime bergamot rather than having that really weird off-taste, though it does still leave a bit of an aftertaste. I don’t think this would be anywhere close to making my Top 10 Earl Greys, but it’s drinkable coldbrewed, like a somewhat fancier lemon water, and pretty thirst-quenching in this awful summer heat.