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Home – 1:00 PM

This used to be one of my favorites from Lupicia, but I haven’t had a cup for a little while, so I figured I’d try it again before ordering more.

The base here is made up of small, flaky leaves. I would guess it’s at least partially Chinese in origin, as it has strong earthy notes. Otherwise it’s malty with a touch of astringency at the end of the sip. The cassis is definitely the dominant flavor here, and it overpowers the blueberry a bit too much. I’m not sure I would know the blueberry was present at all if it wasn’t in the name of the tea!

So it’s a very tasty cassis tea, but I really want more blueberry from it. And for that reason I’m okay with letting it go. :)

Sipdown! (1)

Just in case some of you don’t already know this: Lupicia is closing their California, France, and Australia stores AND the corresponding online stores! ONLY the Japanese physical & online stores and Hawaiian physical store will remain open. They have not made any public announcements yet, so the only information we have comes directly from store employees.

And now, a moment of silence… (while I sob uncontrollably in the background)

So today, I will be re-tasting a few Lupicia teas to determine whether or not I need to restock them while there’s still time. It will be possible to order from their Japanese website and have it delivered internationally, however it requires the use of a third-party forwarding service, which is both expensive and seems a bit sketchy to me. So while I’m sure I’ll resort to that route eventually, I would like to start out well-stocked at the least!

I’ve already ordered 100g each of my beloved Melon Oolong and Ripe Mango Oolong, don’t you worry! But there are a few others in my cupboard that I’m not sure about, so here we are.

I think this one intrigues me in concept rather than in execution. I’ve only rated it a 78, which I wouldn’t normally consider high enough to be a cupboard staple. But for some reason, I remembered it more fondly than I should have. I guess I’m always a sucker for an Earl Grey with nontraditional additions…

Anyway, the tea. The base is a mix of small traditional leaves and CTC pellets, which is a common occurrence for Lupicia’s black blends. I generally take about 30 seconds off my normal steep to account for the CTC, but who knows whether that’s really necessary or not… The base has a smooth malty flavor with some earth and wood notes.

This has a nice, slightly dry cocoa flavor, which is similar to their other chocolate teas, such as Thé au Chocolat and Banane Chocolat. It’s definitely an unsweetened, dark cocoa note. The bergamot here is quite floral, which is disappointing for me, as I prefer a more citrusy bergamot flavor. So for that reason, this would never be a favorite of mine.

But I suppose that’s a good thing now, one fewer Lupicia tea to worry about! XD

365 Days of Tea Challenge – Day 2/365

Continuing my daily tea challenge! I haven’t tried this one for a little while, so I figured it was a good time to refresh my memory. It’s one of the older teas in my cupboard, so it has lost a bit of flavor. I may need to place a DF order sometime soon, to restock this tea and try some new ones.

The base tea here is smooth and woody with hints of malt and earth. There’s a lovely desserty lemon flavor that reminds me of lemon pudding or pie. It goes wonderfully with the dollop of vanilla cream that is also present. There are also some yummy buttery caramel and brown sugar flavors that give a nice depth to the blend. Together, the butter and brown sugar notes remind me of a crisp butter cookie with caramelized brown edges. Nom.

Yum, yum, yum. I definitely need to keep this one around!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsJn5xkF38C/

Tea Swap Sample Sipdown of the Day! (1)

I was inspired by Mastress Alita‘s efforts to sipdown her traveling teabox samples, so I’m going to try to do something similar with my pile of swap samples. I’m going to start out trying to sip one swap sample down each day, but that’s obviously quite optimistic so I’m not going to kill myself trying to adhere to it.

This swap sample is courtesy of Arby! It comes from the Autumn 2016 harvest.

I couldn’t remember how Laoshan black teas taste, but to me it’s a similar flavor profile to Fujian blacks. It has the distinctive caraway note that I find to be characteristic of Fujian black teas. There is also a lovely light chocolaty flavor and a lot of natural sweetness to this tea. This combined with the smooth malt and bread notes makes me think of rye toast with chocolate spread. An aromatic, oaky wood flavor rounds out the bottom nicely. I can also detect a bit of dry mustiness that makes me think of white tea.

Verdant describes this one as tasty of toasted marshmallow and chocolate s’mores. I guess I can kind of see the s’mores angle, with the strong chocolate notes combined with the malty breadiness. And there is quite a lot of natural sweetness. But I don’t think I personally taste marshmallow at all. Then again, I’ve prepared this Western style, so I’m likely missing some of the subtleties. Still yummy though!

365 Days of Tea Challenge – Day 1/365

Happy New Year, everyone!

Today I’m starting my 365 Days of Tea challenge here and on Instagram. My goal will be to post a note and a photo for a different tea each day (at least until I run out of different teas!). Thank you to VariaTEA for the idea!

This is one of the few teas I have unpacked right now, as I just received a Bird & Blend order a few days ago. I did unpack and arrange all of my teaware in my new tea nook – a short section of counter with a cupboard above and below it that’s opposite the walk-in pantry door. I’m thinking today I may start unpacking some of my tea, which is destined to fill the lower cupboard.

I ordered a 50g packet of this from B&B, as it’s probably my favorite of the banana teas I’ve tried so far. The base tea is mellow and smooth, but still has a nice malty presence. The banana seems fairly authentic to me, it’s not too artificial or candy-like. Banana flavoring in general does have a tendency to taste at least a little bit Runt-y, but I’m okay with that. The combination of the base tea and flavoring does remind me a bit of banana bread, maybe even with some walnuts in it. Yummy!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsGjOwClhVN/

New Home! – 9:15 AM

First tea in our new home! We closed yesterday and spent the night last night so we could be here for early morning fiber installation and appliance delivery appointments. Today we’ll begin moving our stuff! Yay!

This was one of the tea “ghosts” that B&B only offered for one day. This one is a ghost of Christmas past, meaning it’s a blend they used to carry that they brought back to sell for one day only this year. I ended up with a 150g pouch because by the time I woke up, those rascally Brits had bought up all of the 50g ones! No biggie though, I’m sure I can find other Steepsters to share it with.

I’m very happy with their decision to use peppermint flavoring instead of leaves for this tea. There are a few dried mint leaf pieces mixed in, but they’re actually spearmint, yay!

This is less intense than I expected it to me. It’s a somewhat soft peppermint flavor, and there’s a lovely big dollop of cream and vanilla in there with it. It reminds me quite a bit of their Peppermint Cream oolong tea, with a slightly different peppermint flavor. It’s very yummy – like peppermint white chocolate! The stevia must be very minimal, I don’t think I would know it was there if I hadn’t read the ingredients before drinking this.

So not at all disappointed in my 150g pouch! But I’ll still be willing to share the wealth, don’t worry!

Home – 6:30 PM

Merry Christmas, my fellow Steepsters! ❤

I have been doing absolutely nothing all day. The boyfriend and I didn’t do anything for Christmas this year, as we’re moving into our new house in a couple of days. We’re not the type to buy each other presents either, as generally we buy things that we want throughout the year and don’t really have “wished for” items for Christmas. So we’ve been spending the day playing games, lounging, watching various things on the Fire TV, and doing some laundry. Yay for lazy days!

Anyway, the tea. This is from my second August Uncommon sample order, which was made specifically for this tea and Dark Iris. Obviously I threw in several other samples as well, because duh… My small sample had a giant slice of dried orange in it (just like the photo), which I promptly chopped up since I didn’t want the entire piece in one mug of tea.

This is very yummy… It’s super creamsicle-y, with sweet orange and lovely creamy vanilla flavors. I can see how the jatoba wood does give it a slight sort of sandalwood-ish flavor, but mostly it’s dreamy ice cream bar goodness. There’s maybe a slight floral note here, and it reminds me of orange blossom.

The base tea is very mild, though I do get a slightly grassy sencha flavor from it, with a hint of vegetal spinach. I would argue that the stronger flavoring could take a bit stronger of a base tea, and it would also be delicious with a black tea.

But I do love it. This might be my favorite from August Uncommon so far!

Palais des Thés Advent Calendar – Day 23

So this is the companion to the “Paris for Her” blend, which was very rosey and definitely not for me. This one sounds much more interesting – vanilla, citrus, coriander? Definitely an unusual combination.

Unfortunately, this one is not for me either. It’s like drinking perfume… I think it’s the orange blossom that’s overpowering and is tasting so floral in a chemical perfume sense. I can taste some vanilla and possibly the sage.

Nope, this is vile. Down the drain it goes.

Simpson & Vail Advent Calendar – Day 24

(originally written November 24th)

The very last one from my November tea advent calendars! Hopefully this is a decent one to end on – I have enjoyed S&V’s green rooibos blends thus far, so that bodes well.

This is reminding me a bit of snickerdoodles. It has a nice buttery cookie flavor going on, maybe with a bit of white chocolate in there as well. The spicing is light and sweet, just a touch of warming cinnamon. There’s also some rich nuttiness that reminds me of macadamias or cashews.

This is a tasty dessert-y option for the evening. I may consider this one when I order some other green rooibos blends from Simpson & Vail…

Bird & Blend Tea Advent Calendar – Day 23

Catching up on a couple of missed advent calendar teas today since I’ve been sick for the past few days. I’m still not completely better, but at least I can taste again (mostly). This is described as B&B’s strongest breakfast tea, plus I could see that it was all CTC leaf, so I only steeped it for 2 minutes instead of my usual 3.

For me, this doesn’t have enough character. It mostly tastes tannic, with some malt and dry leaf notes. There’s perhaps a little bit of dark pumpernickel bread flavor.

I think this one is likely meant to be taken with milk and sugar, which is not something I’m in the habit of doing. So it’s really not my sort of tea. But that’s okay!