Carol

Don’t know what’s happening with my Habs but it’s sickening.

It was a funny thing waking up to SNOW this morning. So today ended up being an ultra lazy day where I’m moping around the house trying to warm up and adjust. Can this warm me up? Not really, but I’d like to think it’s helping just a little bit.

I agree with others that the dry leaf smells like strawberry candy. A little artificial but in a nice way. The kind of artificial strawberry that I enjoy. The shreds of coconut were a pleasant surprise, as well. Maybe it’ll bring out some creaminess.

But alas, it does not. No coconut, just a touch of strawberry candy buried underneath an ultra strong, astringent base. I even let the water cool a little more than suggested but it didn’t seem to save it at all. Perhaps next time I’ll add a little less leaf and steep in even cooler water, maybe for a shorter time too. Clearly the suggested parameters don’t work.

I bought the small christmas sampler when I placed my first order, so this is my first time drinking the Christmas blends. It came in a cute bag with lovely pictures for the three blends. They don’t really sound like Christmas blends, which is nice. I tried this first, though I was unable to use boiling water to brew it. it smells and tastes like strawberry candy, and was rather mild, but in a good way. I would consider buying it though I hope it brews stronger than my first cup.
I’ve moved onto Jingle Bells, which also smells lovely, and I look forward to trying white Christmas.

I’ve realized that this tea is more like the tea I would imagine Sarah Crewe or Anne Shirley would drink with Alice and Wendy Darling if they had tea together.

Hi friends! Hope you are all well.

I’m fine, but haven’t been drinking any tea for the past few months. But for some reason I got a hankering for a pot a couple of days ago, so here I am! I figured since I’d been away I’d do a preemptive check on any teas with coconut in them, which is surprisingly few. This package was actually still unopened from my purchase last winter. Historically this hasn’t been a tea that I’ve ordered much, but I think it was ashmanra who decided this was her favorite strawberry tea from Lupicia, so I figured it was time to give it another try.

Happily, the coconut is still perfectly fine (though a weird and extraneous addition to this tea that doesn’t seem to add any flavor). The dry scent was extremely heavy on the candy strawberry, so I find myself surprised by how mellow the flavoring is in the steeped cup. The strawberry is there, but it’s a bit overpowered by the earthy black base, and so comes off more subtle than I would expect. Vanilla is also quite light, adding a suggestion of sweet creaminess that, combined with the candy strawberry, reminds me a bit of those swirled Creamsavers candies that I used to buy. The base is earthy, mineral, woody, and extremely smooth.

Not a favorite for me, I remember liking their Tochiotome strawberry teas best (I actually even ordered some when they were available earlier in the year, even though I wasn’t drinking tea at the time). I’ll have to taste them and Fraisier again to jog my memory!

Anyway, a pleasant tea from Lupicia but not one I’ll reorder. More importantly, happy to be here among my fellow tea nerds once more! ❤

Such a pleasant tea. Mellow strawberry and subtle vanilla cream flavors – fun yet refined. Although as a Westerner, these flavors evoke more of a springtime mood, I understand that for the Japanese, these flavors are associated with special occasions and holidays so it makes sense as a seasonal tea. I’d enjoy this tea any time of year.

Thanks for the sample Cameron B!

This is pleasing to me today. I learned I enjoy Lupicia black teas brewed at 200 degrees instead of boiling. Tastes like strawberry candy in a good way :)

The fruity flavors seem to come out more in the first few minutes of steeping. Once you’ve past the 2 minute threshold the black tea starts taking over. I think ive got a good blend at 2:15. It has a slight woodsy taste, the black tea that it. I’m not tasting much vanilla though so the tea bag is going back in.

Ah 30 seconds in and I’m tasting it a bit more but still not as much as I’d like. It’s also starting to lose it’s fruityness and becoming more woodsy. So out it comes again. Fir good this time.

I’ll be honest though…. I bought it for the tin… so cute.

My hubby bought me the Lupicia holiday sampler as a super early birth-mas present and this was the first tea I went straight for (after playing with the music box of course) since I have an all day work meeting and I need a tasty pick me up to keep me both awake and engaged . Although I can taste the vanilla I’m really not getting much strawberry… But maybe I should blame my coffee cup instead of the tea… Ok, I can’t rate this tea based upon potential coffee contaminants… Guess I’m going to have to wait til I get home for a real fix.

Huh, strawberry! I thought I was smelling cherry. The first few sips seemed a little bitter. I can smell the similarity with their other strawberry teas and it has that particular base flavor like their Cookies and Sweet Potato. I think I get a little rose in the aftertaste. When I add sugar, the strawberry really comes out. The creaminess is really nice on the end with the strawberry. I like this, but not enough to run out and buy when I have so much else.

I do appreciate the sample in the Lupicia newsletter!

I got this as a free sample with the magazine, which seems like a common occurrence. Unlike some of the samples I’ve gotten this way, this tea sounded right up my ally so I made it immediately.

Carol doesn’t taste like Christmas to me beyond that I think it would make a good crowd pleaser at a party. The strawberry and cream notes are mellow and inoffensive, but definitely present in the background; nothing about it blows me away, but nothing stands out as particularly bad either. I like it just fine.

Well, It’s a good thing I didn’t have high hopes for this tea, because this totally reminds me of Momoko. They can do Strawberry flavors…but vanilla…I don’t know, it just tastes incredibly fake to me. xD I’m really not a fan of this one. ><
It smells so sweet and like candy…and it would be a lot better if it was only a Strawberry tea.
Glad this was just a sample-haha!