China Lychee

Breakfast this morning is a fruit salad and I was looking for a tea to drink with it, this seemed like a likely culprit. Got the sample a while ago from Upton for $1.

I like the black tea base here, not sure what it is, maybe a congou? It seems very smooth to me but the lychee flavor is quite strong. I’ve had a few lychees in my lifetime, but can’t say they fall into the category of my favorite fruit. This is a lot sweeter than I thought it would be with a bit of muskiness. It’s a little too much for the morning, I think this would be a much better dessert tea. Overall not bad. It seems I liked this more than some of the other tasters did but probably won’t need any more. I do like the rose congou from Upton quite a lot.

Someone else mentioned trying it as a cold brewed iced tea so I think I will have to do that with the rest of mine. :)

Not bad, not all that good. I picked up a bit of this since I was a fan of lychee and the sample size was sooooo cheap. It would have been a crime not to try it! The lychee smell and flavor isn’t much like the fresh fruit. Seems more like lychee syrup. The black base is pretty good quality. I think I oversteeped and it was not astringent at all. Not the bestest taste but okay. I’ll enjoy the rest of my sample. :)

This one has been languishing unopened (that’s so wrong. Not opening new tea?) because my luck with Upton flavored teas has not been very good to date.

In this case, the advantage goes to Upton because I wouldn’t know a lychee if you bounced one off my forehead.

The unpleasant sticking point with the flavored Upton stuff is that it tastes very artificial and syrupy. This tastes floral, not artificial and not perfumey. Decent black tea base. Whether they’ve nailed lychee flavor, another expert will have to decide.

Could have good iced tea potential.

this one is from CHAroma and she sent me a lot and even though i have had great luck with upton overall I do think this one is weird. maybe after more tastes it’ll grow on me. that is definitely a thing that has been known to happen. definitely.

Sipdown #33

I’ve had this in my cupboard for over 2 years and never written a note about it. Shame on me! Well, it’s time to turn this poor overlooked tea into a sipdown! I originally received this from Camiah who was my first swap partner on Steepster. Thank you, Camiah!!!

The brewed tea aroma is very strong! The base is Chinese, but that’s all I could find about it. It reminds me of a cross between Assam and Keemun. That is to say, this has an odd, pungent, almost smokey aroma that calms as the cup cools.

Upon sipping it, the initial flavor is the base. Again, it’s a bit strange. I can’t figure out what it is. I guess that’s because I just haven’t had it before! The aftertaste is a lovely, sweet lychee flavor. It’s a tad astringent but tolerably so. No bitterness. The lychee here is delicious! It’s not the best I’ve had but that could easily be attributable to age.

Overall, this is a lovely tea. I’m sorry I neglected it for so long. But I am happy to move on to new tea adventures! I never tire of trying new things. After all, isn’t that what life’s about? And now that my husband enjoys tea too, we can share in the exploration and discovery together. :D

Oddly…hot…I wasn’t sure about this one…it had an ‘odd’ overly filling flavor that somewhat tasted of Lychee but also tasted artificial and chewy but not in a good way.

BUT…cold…this one I prefer cold over hot. It seem tolerable cold and more fruity and less ‘odd’ tasting for some reason.

This is alright cold.

Thanks for send my way LiberTEAs!

This tea mostly had a non-distinct sweet flavor that was pleasing….

The lychee flavor is quite strong—as a hot tea, I would only want it once in a great while. However, it makes a wonderful iced tea, cold brewing method recommended.

Odd. I’m not sure about this one.

I tend to really enjoy lychee black teas, but this one kind of fell flat. The lychee is overpowering almost too sweet to drink at a hot beverage. Dissapointed in this tea I headed to Steepster to see if maybe I had been brewing it wrong, so I tried it iced and it was MUCH better. Something about this tea hot isn’t quite right, however it makes a delicious iced tea.