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Thanks to Lena for the ‘krab’ tea!

3g/6oz/175/2:30 – Smelling this and thinking of sea food, I can totally see the crab comparison. Or maybe lobster tank – that sort of salt + crustacean smell? Something like that. The initial taste has that same flavor, too, but while I can see it, it’s probably not my first thought. My first thought is “oh, Chinese green”.

My description for a lot of the Chinese greens I’ve tried includes briny. This one gets it a tiny bit but as it cools but what really surprises me about this is that as it cools, instead of the brine taste getting stronger, there’s a delicate sweetness to it, especially in the tail, that shows up more. And that pretty much makes me love it because I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a Chinese green. So woo hoo!

And thanks Lena!!!

Why did the leaf smell fruity when I opened it? Seriously fruity. That’s so weird. Tastes fine though. Maybe a little sweet. I wonder if it was sitting next to a flavored tea in the pantry – this is one that I just have a small sample of so it is in a plastic bag. Weirdness.

It’s good though. Because of the weird sweetness (which maybe is aftertase from my gum? Would Extra spearmint do that?) I’m getting a bit of a chocolate taste. It’s a tiny bit flatter in flavor than when I’m at home but that’s because I either use bottled water at work or nasty nasty tap water. I’ll choose flat tea over undrinkable nasty tea any day.

In my world, rooibos = cardboard. Even flavored rooibos makes me gag. But, I’ve never had green rooibos. I’ve heard of it but never had any deisre to try it. However, this Lupicia sample came in at just the right time for me to actually try this tea instead of just letting it camp out in my pantry on my tea shelf for months and months. I needed another tea tonight because I needed a little comfort and also in my world, tea = comfort.

I wasn’t expecting to like this. Rooibos, you know. I hate it. But this? This was pretty awesome. The fruit flavor wasn’t strong mango or citrus – it was almost sweet melon or starfruit-like. Sweet, light… not knock-you-back strong but definitely the dominate flavor.

After trying this tea, I don’t know what green rooibos tastes like but I’m willing to not lump it in with normal rooibos and hate it. I’d even go out on a limb and say I’d like to try it plain.

Some flavored teas have a nasty aftertaste that make me need to chew a piece of gum afterwards. But this one, like most Lupicia flavored teas I’ve had, doesn’t have that ickiness.

So yeah, this whole babble has the bottom line of not all rooibos is evil and a prime example of that is this tea.

I needed to either take a nap or have tea. I selected tea. I normally have Keemun at work which is where I keep my tin of Rishi so I was really expecting the same taste when I took my first sip. But then I remembered why I love this one so much. Smooth, flavorful, so yummy. Just perfect.

I’m feeling uninspired by this tea today. It has a light flavor, not overwhelmingly lemon (which is good) but just seems to be missing a little something (which is bad). It needs to be treated as a more delicate black (because it is) but I keep forgetting that (because I’m not awake first thing in the morning).

Drinking this straight after brewing for 4 minutes is punishment.

Drinking this with a little milk and sugar after brewing for 4 minutes is yummy!

Does that make me a wuss? Eh, it’s good so who care!

Today started off bad. Things just weren’t clicking and every indication pointed to a bad, bad day. And bad days don’t do well with happy, fruity teas for me. So I pulled this one out as a better fit for my mood.

The morning continued to suck. Then my tea cooled enough to drink. Because of the smell, I expect a flat taste that sort of kicks me in the teeth. But it doesn’t. Yes, it’s strong and really stands up to milk. But it has a really great depth of flavor that sort of plays around in my mouth as I drink it. A definite improvement to the day.

And then I saw this and the day got even better. http://tinyurl.com/lobstercar

Must. Order. More. Tea.

I have such a small hand full of oolongs and greens now which is sad because that’s pretty much what I’m going to have in the evening. In fact, I have enough leaf to do one, maybe two more cups of this tea.

So the big question: do I order more Rishi so I can get more of this only Chinese green I love? Or do I go somewhere else to get new teas and just suck it up for a while and be Jade Cloud-less?

These are the tough choices in my life.

But on the plus side, kitty-girl is happy and drugged up and the lump wasn’t a tumor. Woo!

Holy monkeys. My first sip and the fruit just smacks me upside the head. Which is really mean first thing in the morning, especially when I’m in such a not-happy mood. I think if I were in a better mood, I might have enjoyed the overpowering fruit aspect of this (though maybe not), but as it is, I just wanted to dig through the liquid to find actual tea. I think there was some tea taste at the end but it could just be the result of my taste buds being beaten into submission.

I wasn’t sure what fruits exactly were included while I was drinking it and if pushed to guess, would have gone with peach (which is in it). Which is so incredibly NOT what I think of when I see a name like Lili’uokalani. Peach is not a tropic fruit.

The only flavored tea from SerendipiTea that has disappointing.

Iced from yesterday. Disappointingly bland. Not sure if it is the tea or me, but considering how yummy this tea is hot, I’m guessing I didn’t steep long enough before icing.

That makes me feel like I’ve put it on a cake. Which I didn’t. Though now that I think about it, I’m intrigued by the thought of tea-flavored icing.

ETA: Hmm, maybe it isn’t me because as the tea warms up a bit, more of the yummy flavor comes out. So I think this is a tea that is best hot.