Happy New Year! This is one of Lupicia’s New Year seasonal flavors, though I picked mine up as a box of tea sachets last April in a mottainai sale… yup. So, from the (rough) stats I kept in 2018, I spent waaaaaaaay too much on tea last year, tried 288 new teas, and sipped down 251 teas. And by “sipdown”, I mean teas I actually finished. Things that left my collection via gifting, teaboxes, or being trashed (for any reason, though bad coconut was the typical culprit) didn’t count toward that stat. So this will be new tea tried #1 for 2019!
I actually started my New Year’s Resolution back in December: to significantly cut down my tea spending this year, and make a huge push towards sipdowns to get the amount of tea in my tiny one room apartment back under control. It is out of hand, and really bothering me. Honestly, I’ve considered quitting Steepster for a year, because it almost feels like an alcholic trying to “get under control” but still going to the bar every night, because I’m constantly having sales, free shipping promos, group buys, tea boxes, etc. shoved in my face and feel guilty when I have to say over and over, “No, I’m serious, I’m not ordering/collecting tea right now. I mean it.” It’s like the peer pressure is everywhere. But I truly, sincerely, love sampling tea, and collecting my thoughts about it, and trying to expand my palate, and reading everyone’s tasting notes (I legitimately read every tasting note that comes through my feed if I’m Following you, even if it can sometimes take me a few days to catch up!) So I really don’t want to do that. I really hope you will join me on my journey of the Year of the Sipdown, as I try to clear space in my apartment, get my collection to a more managable size, better decide which teas I want taking up permanent cupboard real estate so the other space can be allocated to a “rotating” sampling collection, and only then I may feel up to getting some new things to try. (Plus, this will really help me recoup funds for some massive car repairs that hit at the end of the year! In the grand scheme of priorities, my transportation is a bit more important to me…)
So, onto this tea! It is apparently a mango flavored black, but the dry leaf smells like a really juicy apricot to me? I steeped the sachet for three minutes, then noticed it had a rip in it… bah! Had I noticed before I would’ve cut it open and let the leaf steep in my gravity well. I’m not against grandpa style for those of you that like it, but I’ll admit… I’m one of those weird folks that just can’t stand getting leaf in my tea, and I spent a while fishing loose peppercorns out of my cup, hahaha. The tea was a lovely dark brown color, and still smelled more of sweet apricot to me than mango (considering I have a bad run-in with many mango flavorings, this is not a bad thing to me!) The black tea had a medium astringency, but the fruit was so soft, sweet, and ripe tasting, that it actually didn’t have a very tannic quality to it, and the sweet fruitiness left on my tongue actually seemed to counter a lot of the dryness I would’ve experienced from the astrigency. It was a really nice flavor! There is a very, very subtle spice note, but mostly it’s a very smooth maltiness with a honeyed juicy apricot/peach flavor. I’m liking this one, it’s a lot less potent than some other Lupicia blacks I’ve had and the fruit flavoring in this one is really nice.
Flavors: Apricot, Astringent, Honey, Malt, Peach, Smooth, Spices, Sweet
Preparation
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Hey, I get it. My collection of tea is insane. If it weren’t for Steepster, I really don’t think my love of tea would be THIS severe. (But I do love Steepster for my love of tea anyway.) So I’ll try not ‘pushing’ any tea on you…for a year. And if I am, just tell me to stop. :D I’m TRYING not to acquire any more tea myself, after what I’m already expecting shows up (and I’m also eventually buying some teas from Cameron). I have to be more strict about it. There are just so many lovely teas and so many kind Steepsterers. haha.
Hopefully I can get this mess I’ve created under control within a year, hahaha! Then watch me go on another collecting binge because I let the floodgates open and be like, “Oh no, what have I done…” and have to have another year of purging…
Yeah, but just as long as you’re enjoying the tea as you’re drinking it. :D
Hahaha, depends on the tea. Sometimes the enjoyment comes from the sipdown itself, like it’s a great accomplishment because I didn’t really like the tea much, and just wanted it gone, and worked my way through several cups of a meh tea so it would be gone, but that last cup just feels like I won the damn Olympics because of it. Others the last cup feels like sadness because every cup before that is so freaking good and I don’t want to let it go, hahaha!
Yeah, exactly that.. you don’t have to tell me… the accomplishment or pain of the sipdown. haha.
It’s a vicious cycle we put ourselves through.
I’m in for the sipdown challenge!
Yes, I’m also trying to not buy anything else for a while! (other than maybe a Steepster cupboard sale or two) I’m constantly forcing my very patient family members to drink my…less favorite teas because having tea around that I don’t want but can’t get rid of really stresses me out. I guess I just can’t feel like I’m wasting it! Good luck to all of us!
Yep, I will be joining the sipdown goal too… after I try any new teas. :D
Please forgive my offerings, Mastress Alita, but it’s just a joy to share tea. You seem like the type of person to stick to your word. You can do it! Sip it all down, baby, and find some new loves in the process!
It isn’t that I don’t appreciate the offerings, I find a great joy in sharing tea too! (If only my coworkers weren’t all adamant that it is coffee or the highway and won’t try my tea! Sigh…) But I honestly don’t have the space in my tiny apartment until I make it. I simply can’t enjoy offerings until I can make space in which to store offerings. At least tea is a consumable collectable! That gives me the option to just not collect for a while and drink, drink, drink. I suppose most people that collect tangible things would have to keep moving to bigger and bigger homes to house their ever-growing collections of stuff, ugh. (I hate moving…) So there is that!
I have the opposite problem Lol I have like 900 teas on my Steepster wishlist but cannot convince myself to buy them and pay for shipping. When you have some more space and have sipped some of your stash down. Let us sSteepster’s know! (I’m going to then send you some tea as a Congratulations!) :)
Me: currently keeping tea in a box sitting on the bottom of my bed. Not the floor, the actual bed. And I’m just a newby, so I can only imagine your challenge and frustration. Courage! You will overcome!
Lol, lizwykys, you sparked my imagination with some Steepster motivational posters now running through my head. Is there a graphic designer in the house?
Hey, I get it. My collection of tea is insane. If it weren’t for Steepster, I really don’t think my love of tea would be THIS severe. (But I do love Steepster for my love of tea anyway.) So I’ll try not ‘pushing’ any tea on you…for a year. And if I am, just tell me to stop. :D I’m TRYING not to acquire any more tea myself, after what I’m already expecting shows up (and I’m also eventually buying some teas from Cameron). I have to be more strict about it. There are just so many lovely teas and so many kind Steepsterers. haha.
Hopefully I can get this mess I’ve created under control within a year, hahaha! Then watch me go on another collecting binge because I let the floodgates open and be like, “Oh no, what have I done…” and have to have another year of purging…
Yeah, but just as long as you’re enjoying the tea as you’re drinking it. :D
Hahaha, depends on the tea. Sometimes the enjoyment comes from the sipdown itself, like it’s a great accomplishment because I didn’t really like the tea much, and just wanted it gone, and worked my way through several cups of a meh tea so it would be gone, but that last cup just feels like I won the damn Olympics because of it. Others the last cup feels like sadness because every cup before that is so freaking good and I don’t want to let it go, hahaha!
Yeah, exactly that.. you don’t have to tell me… the accomplishment or pain of the sipdown. haha.
It’s a vicious cycle we put ourselves through.
I’m in for the sipdown challenge!
Yes, I’m also trying to not buy anything else for a while! (other than maybe a Steepster cupboard sale or two) I’m constantly forcing my very patient family members to drink my…less favorite teas because having tea around that I don’t want but can’t get rid of really stresses me out. I guess I just can’t feel like I’m wasting it! Good luck to all of us!
Yep, I will be joining the sipdown goal too… after I try any new teas. :D
Please forgive my offerings, Mastress Alita, but it’s just a joy to share tea. You seem like the type of person to stick to your word. You can do it! Sip it all down, baby, and find some new loves in the process!
It isn’t that I don’t appreciate the offerings, I find a great joy in sharing tea too! (If only my coworkers weren’t all adamant that it is coffee or the highway and won’t try my tea! Sigh…) But I honestly don’t have the space in my tiny apartment until I make it. I simply can’t enjoy offerings until I can make space in which to store offerings. At least tea is a consumable collectable! That gives me the option to just not collect for a while and drink, drink, drink. I suppose most people that collect tangible things would have to keep moving to bigger and bigger homes to house their ever-growing collections of stuff, ugh. (I hate moving…) So there is that!
I have the opposite problem Lol I have like 900 teas on my Steepster wishlist but cannot convince myself to buy them and pay for shipping. When you have some more space and have sipped some of your stash down. Let us sSteepster’s know! (I’m going to then send you some tea as a Congratulations!) :)
Me: currently keeping tea in a box sitting on the bottom of my bed. Not the floor, the actual bed. And I’m just a newby, so I can only imagine your challenge and frustration. Courage! You will overcome!
Lol, lizwykys, you sparked my imagination with some Steepster motivational posters now running through my head. Is there a graphic designer in the house?