Daruma

Woah. This is an interesting cup.
Its a savory tea, with a little aftertaste of spicy pepper. The downside to this is that there is a little bitter undercurrent, but its not overwhelming.
This is going to be an interesting tea to have.

Whoa, I was not expecting to like this as much as I do. Had for afternoon tea with R over king cake. I was a bit wary because of its description as a fruity black tea, but it’s delicious. I don’t know exactly what fruit(s) they allude to, but I get kind of a peach (or is it apricot?) and pineapple vibe, very aromatic. And the peppercorn tinge is perfect, giving the dizzying fruity fragrance and juiciness a little sharpened, edgy zip to adhere to. It reminds me slightly of the sweet-savory-fresh peach, tomato, fresh herb, and pepper salads I like to make on summer’s hottest evenings. I have a feeling this would make fantastic coldsteeped tea once the weather warms up. As is, it’s wonderfully refreshing, interesting, and balanced uniquely between juicy sweet and tart and spicy, a little like some Indian pickles and salads (as others mention, the peppercorn gives the fruit a uniquely yummy savory edge). I really dig it and am glad I gave it a chance. Would restock!

Firstly, the description of this tea is just gross. Also, since when are eyelids generally discarded?

anyway, as gross as this sounds…. ITS AMAZING! I dont know what kind of fruit is in it, and i dont care as long as i can keep drinking it. I cant even describe the fruit because its not like any fruit im familiar with. I originally got it as a sample and bought it straight away. and when its gone i will buy it again.

First sip without sweetener – blea. Bitter, annoying, harsh.

Then, I added sweetener.

And the birds did sing, the rabbits did romp, and all creatures great and small stopped to celebrate the goodness of this tea.

Fruity, slightly spicy, and sweet, with a hint of bitter on the back-end. I think I’ll need to steep this with more leaf for less time next time (which is a little scary, I used quite a bit this time). Maybe the same amount of leaf with less time. That may kill the bitter and allow for less sweetener, but wow. Very nice once sweetened.

The tea description here seems so weird and wrong! The Japanese description on the official website is a lot more appetizing: it’s an Indian black tea with pink pepper and the sweetness of mango.

Don’t be put off by the problematic English description… this is a nice, sweet tea! The fragrant fruity flavours completely steal the show – nothing tastes really like mango, but instead it’s like apricot + sakurambo. The addition of pink pepper leads me to expect spiciness, but there’s only a hint of pepper which adds an interesting twist to the tea. I love this blend!

Another fruity Lupicia black from the Book of Tea. It has small pink peppercorns which Lupicia says look like the namesake Daruma dolls, as well as sweetened mango pieces (my bag had a minimal amount of these.) The peppercorns do not impart any peppery sensation or flavour.

It’s a very familiar Lupicia tea, a standard tannic black tea blend with a zingy vaguely “tropical” fruit flavour. It reminds me a lot of Sakurambo as they both share the pink peppercorns and a vague sort of tropical black tea suggestion. Daruma is much milder, though, so if you like Sakurambo but thought it was a little too powerful, this might be a nice choice. I would not be unhappy to get this in a tea house, but I personally prefer a little more flavour in tea that’s supposed to have it.

All together, a nice cuppa of classic Lupicia.

Thanks again Cameron B for a sample of this one, from the Lupicia sample package! I also received your awesome package of teas today!! Thanks so much for sharing! I went with a teaspoon and a half of this one, which was a risky move, since there are CTC black tea leaves in this blend. But the result is delicious. I’d prefer it this way. The brew is very dark but isn’t too brisk. This is probably my preferred strength of a black tea: malty yet sweet and smooth. There is plenty of fruit flavor that lingers. I love mango and that’s what this tastes like, with possible undertones of peach. The second steep is just as fruity! This would be a fantastic tea in summer. It’s so thirst quenching. The description says the peppercorns look like daruma, so I HAD to look that one up. Turns out daruma is a doll head. The google picture does show a red doll head that could look like a big peppercorn. Wouldn’t have guessed that one! This is a tasty tea anyway, though I would have liked it to be more strictly mango than remind me of peach.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 16 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 6 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
2019 sipdowns: 2

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.

Sipdown! (4)

This is one of those blends from Lupicia that has a hilariously vague description. The ingredients do list dried mango though, so I’m assuming it’s meant to be mango-flavored black tea with peppercorns…

The base tea has a nice malty flavor with a pleasant tannic bite. There’s a hint of astringency as well, even with my conservative steeping parameters. The flavor is fruity and tropical in nature. I do taste mango, but it’s a softer version than usual, and it’s accompanied by peach and banana notes. There’s also a nice creaminess that makes it taste like a smoothie.

Very tasty! But not one that I felt the need to restock since I already have some lovely mango and peach teas from Lupicia that I prefer to this one.

boring. another teabag from variaTEA no spicey note to be found..no peppery taste. just a kinda of weird fruity like black. meh