Rum Raisin

Oh my goodness. I have been waiting forever for this to come back into stock.

They don’t carry this particular flavor in my local Lupicia store and rum raisin was always one of my favorite ice creams. Everything is better with rum, isn’t it? I used to make lots of rum balls during Christmas time and they are so festive!

I ended up ordering it from their site with a few other things and paid too much money in shipping because I didn’t want to spend $60 on tea. :(

The smell when you open the bag is yummy! I steeped this via regular method for around 3 minutes.

I suppose I should be grateful but I felt this came up a little light on the flavor. My cup, after steeping was a dark orange. Not sure about the base of this tea, I am thinking a ceylon perhaps. The aroma is sufficiently boozy with a bit of fruit but it might have needed a touch of sugar, I will try that next time along with using more leaf.

So far I am finding it a decent dessert tea, especially with soymilk added, but it did not quite live up to my hopeful expectations.

Steepster is misbehaving for me tonight. Locking up, kettle page, not logging me in. Uggg very frustrating.

Thanks ifjuly for sending some of this my way.
I don’t think it really tastes like much, maybe a hint of rum and some sweet, but not really. This is my least favorite Lupicia tea I’ve tried.

This is a really delicious tea and the “rum raisin” comes through in a nice strong yet sweet brew. I believe this tea is very close to Bread Pudding from The NecessiTeas and will try to figure out some direct comparisons. Indeed, the teas might be identical.

I love these flavored blacks that go strong on the flavor and don’t wimp out. This flavor is one that I am predisposed to like a lot (have you ever had a really great rum raisin ice cream??) and Lupicia brings it!

At the request of another Steepster, I am trying this blend for the first time. I ordered it a while ago, but, haven’t gotten around to trying it until now.

I tried it first without any milk but I think maybe I used a little too much leaf when I steeped it because it was quite strong and needed the milk addition. With the milk, it is delicious. Creamy and smooth.

But before I rate it numerically, I’ll try it with a little less leaf and without addition to see how it fairs.

Thank you Will Work For Tea for this Sample!

My very first experience in a tea store that sold loose leaf tea was Lupicia, in the Valley Fair Mall (HUGE) in San Jose,CA. probabably 4 years ago. The truth is that I never would have entered if my daughter wasn’t into tea. The set-up was cool. There was a very long angled table with round containers inserted in cutout grooves with tins of tea samples all labeled so that you could pick them up, open and sniff them. There must have been hundreds of tea tins.
They smelled so delicious that even I couldn’t resist and bought a Muscat, Cookie and Strawberry Rose Champagne tea with no idea whatsoever on how to brew what I had purchased. (I gave most of the tea to my daughter because brewing tea was a mystery to me). The memory of the shop was my Disneylandish tea introduction.

Every time I see the name Lupicia, I think of the shop at Valley Fair.
When I received this tea sample, I opened the packet (as I had the little tins) and inhaled the scent. The rum wasn’t too strong and I couldn’t make out the raisin smell. I looked at the tea which was very dark chocolate brown (smelled cocoaish to me) and there were golden plump raisins mixed in. Aha! This should be good!

I used a small glass teapot to brew western style about 16oz of tea.

The scent and the flavor of rum was not super strong when I raised my much and took a big sip.(I think DAVIDsTEA Buttered Rum is a lot stronger…which some people like and some don’t)
The raisin flavor was harder to pick out. Unless this was Raisin tea (which is like saying dried grape tea) the flavor was an added enhancer. It was an enhancer but the flavor showed up in a way that I didn’t expect and transformed the tea into something else.

I added sweetening and cream. This was a good hot tea but not awesome.

I got distracted and my cup of tea cooled down.
When I went back to to my cup, I noticed the flavor was different than before and tasted just like a Chocolate Chip Cookie!
And it was even like Melting Chocolate Chip Ice Cream when you’re munching on the bits of chocolate!

BUT THIS IS RUM RAISIN! I didn’t get it!

I’m sure I lost my marbles. Someone else has to try this and tell me what they think! Let it cool down and tell me please!

Rum Raisin was better cool! I’m making a Chilled Rum Raisin Latte!

Oh Rum Raisin, how I’ve missed you! You have been out of stock for many, many months – how could Lupicia let this happen?

I have greatly missed your raisin and vanilla bean flecked tea base. Post steep, you greet me with a sweet rumminess that cries out for a little cream and sugar. I willingly oblige. In return, my cup wafts with the sinful smell that has others wondering if this tea drinker has spiked her cup. Giddy, she eats the lone raisin from her steeped leaves.

You have found your way home, back into my cupboard where your four bags have been properly tined – always at attention, waiting to be enjoyed. To many, many cups of happiness, may my tin never be empty.

Thank you Dexter3657 for the sample!

This is a decent tea, but I think it would be more enjoyable with milk and sugar (neither of which I have at work anymore) So I will save the rest of my sample to try another day when I am at home and can sweeten and whatnot. The black base is pretty bold, and there is a little (but not much) rum and pruney plummy flavor from the raisins…

Today may not be the best day for tea-tasting because I haven’t recovered from my bad cold yet. My nose is less sensitive than usual, and I wonder if this has anything to do with the subtle fragrance of this tea. Nevertheless it is unmistakably the scent of rum raisin – REAL RUM RAISIN! Yummy. Not too sweet but good enough as a dessert tea. It will be like liquid rum raisin ice cream with some milk I think. Seriously, will Lupicia consider creating such blend by adding vanilla or milk powder? ;)

Thanks again for the Lupicia samples, Cameron B! This is another one that looks like it is partially CTC and a raisin was able to finagle its way into the infuser. I haven’t drank much rum, so I’m not sure how accurate the flavor is. It isn’t plain black tea though. There is a boozy type of flavor and lingers. However, the flavor quality it most seems like is a Ceylon type of flavor that I’m not a huge fan of. If this was a blind taste test I might just call it a ‘more flavorful Ceylon’. I’m not sure what the base is, as the website doesn’t say. I feel like anything that is flavored with alcohol I can never taste, bourbon especially. So this might just taste mostly like Ceylon to me, but the best cup of Ceylon. The second cup lost a bit of that flavor though.
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for not quite full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

Work – 2:00 PM

The Great Cupboard Excavation
Untasted teas remaining: 46

Wow, I’d completely forgotten about this flavor from Lupicia. I’ve never actually had rum raisin ice cream, but I think I’d thoroughly enjoy it since I do love raisins. Plus, you know, ice cream… ❤

I shortened the steep a bit (2.5 minutes instead of 3) because this is almost entirely CTC leaves and I was afraid of it getting bitter. Happily, it’s not bitter at all. The raisin and rum go beautifully with the base tea, so I can’t easily tell which notes are inherent and which are added. There’s a lovely combination of malt, wood, and tobacco flavors, which are complemented well by the dried fruit and rum notes. The dried fruit could easily be a combination of raisin and fig, perhaps with some prune added in. The rum flavor reminds me a bit of butterscotch, which is one of my favorite flavors, and I think the woody notes help to accentuate it a bit too.

I can imagine this would make an excellent latte to really bring out the rum raisin ice cream idea, I may have to try that later…