Lupicia

‘Disappointing’ doesn’t begin to describe this tea. I’ve rarely tried a tea that I’ve disliked quite so much as this one. It’s salty and bitter and I’m struggling to find any redeeming features. thinks Nope, there are no redeeming features. It’s just… yuck.

It’s possible that part of the bitterness comes from following the directions and steeping the leaves in boiling water. With most teas, I’d be willing to give it a second chance and try steeping it at a lower temperature next time, but I’m really not feeling inclined to go anywhere near this tea again.

I think this must be my most negative tea review ever – and it totally deserves it! I’m just about to go and pour the rest down the sink.

This tea was given to me by a friend, and I keep trying it, hoping I’ll like it more. There’s a strange note that stands out and keeps me from loving this blend (I think it’s the honey). It’s okay, but I wouldn’t re-purchase it. I don’t normally add sweetner to my tea, but maybe that would help mask the honey taste.

Just finishing off the last of this. It’s a bit more astringent than I like, because I vagued out when it was steeping and forgot to set the timer – steeping time given below is a total estimate! – but it’s still pretty damned good. I can’t really justify buying more right at the moment, but I’m really tempted!

I was in the mood to finish off the day with an oolong, and there was just a little bit of this one left, so it got the nod.

I think the alishan from teas.com.au might just pip this one at the post, but it’s still a bloody good cup of tea. I like the contradiction of the smoothness of the second steeping partnered with the hint of astringency lurking at the edges of this tea.

Still insanely busy. I seem to be staying up all night tonight, so going with the really good stuff.

I was in the mood for a good, unflavoured tea this evening. I don’t have a lot of this left, and I can’t really justify the cost on a regular basis, but it called to me…

There’s not really much to say about this tea that I haven’t said before. I love a good Taiwan oolong more than any other type of tea, and this is one of the very best I’ve tried. It’s not quite as silky as teas.com.au’s Gin Shan Creme oolong, but it has a really distinctive character of its own, with just enough astringency running through it, and draws your attention with every sip. It’s not just a tea that should be savoured; it demands that you savour it.

I’m so incredibly tired right now – jetlag has turned all my sleeping patterns inside out and upside down – but I’ve been trying to properly test-drive and review this tea for almost two days now, so here goes.

This is an excellent oolong, which is pretty much a given just from the name. There is such a lot to this tea that it’s really hard to do it justice in a description. I’m not completely sure of everything that’s going on in the taste, but it’s definitely complex. It’s got the sort of silky/full/floral sort of taste that you’d expect, and yet it’s not quite like any other Taiwan oolong I’ve tried, either. It’s not quite as milky/buttery as some others I’ve had, plus there’s also a thread of astringency in it that really keeps things interesting, and helps to make this tea both sharp and smooth at the same time. Be careful, though. This tea is very, very sensitive to steeping time. Steep it even 20-30 seconds too long and that edge of astringency will turn into a full-on bitterness that will ruin your cup of tea. I know this because I did it yesterday with the second steeping of my first attempt with this tea.

Each steeping has a very definite character of its own. The second is probably the best – assuming that you don’t accidentally sabotage it – but I’m just finishing the fourth right now, and it still has plenty of body even though the floral notes have faded a bit at this point.

Caramel and houjicha- I was very skeptical. A friend sent me a sample of this, and it is actually quite good! Probably not something I would re-order, but something interesting for a change of pace. The caramel flavor compliments the houjicha very well, and it makes for a brew that is slightly reminiscent of coffee… in a good way.

Alone, it’s bitter and tastes almost like coffee.

With milk, the milk overpowers the spices and you’re left with black tea and milk.

There’s almost no pumpkin taste at all, just some spice.

As other people have noted, the leaves smell just like Strawberry Quik! After smelling them, I brewed this tea with some trepidation, but the actual taste turned out to be a lot less in-your-face than I was expecting. It isn’t anything like as overpoweringly sweet and fruity as the scent of the leaves, but quite subtle and smooth and with a teensy bit of a tart/citrusy edge to it . I was a bit surprised to find how easy it was to keep drinking this tea and I’ll definitely be revisiting it. I might try it with some milk next time, in keeping with the Quik theme.

This is a beautiful tea. The chocolate is not sweet, but very true to its cocoa nature. I have it with milk & a little raw sugar.

I’ve had the tea bag version of this but now I’m trying it loose. I don’t remember it being this roasty dark before. It’s like lightly roasted nectar. It’s not my normal green oolong but it has the floral notes so it is a bit of a dark oolong beginner tea. I don’t think it would actually be considered a darker oolong, more straddling the line, but my green-geared taste buds are reading it that way but still enjoying it and that’s all I really ask. I could totally enjoy something like this so I’m bumping up the rating.

Second Steep: 3 minutes. The roasty taste is softer now and there is a more straight floral/nectar taste to it. It’s not overly strong but still tasty, though the second steep lacks a bit of the depth the first one had. (And I feel obnoxious typing that. Can I be more of a tea snot?)
5g/10oz

Lupicia has a lot of flavored oolongs, and they’re a really mixed bag. The super-sweet, almost cloying melon did not match well with the oolong, in my opinion. Rather than getting a unified blend I could smell a melon scent and taste the oolong tea, but I couldn’t really taste the melon flavor. Rather disappointed, but I did use one of Lupicia’s teabags – next time I’ll try to loose tea and see if it’s any better.

An old favorite. Very good for the cold weather, and I brewed this tonight for the first time in months. A bit of milk, a few spoonfuls of sugar, and this tea tastes like a gourmet hot chocolate. I recommend over-steeping it a little, to get the right amount of bitterness, and a good complexity.

Brewed this in my tetsubin-style tea press, in celebration of the cold weather. It wasn’t until I was taking my first sip that I realized I was missing an ingredient – sugar. Of course, there’s none of that in the dorm at all. Maybe I’ll buy some later.

I know I’ve mixed this with Lupicia’s vanilla black tea in the past, but I’ve forgotten how that tasted. I think I also mixed it with Teavana’s Matevana… could be wrong though. It’s been a while. Maybe when I go home, I’ll get some matevana (they still sell it, right?) to mix with this.

Another random question for the night: Are there any known tea allergies? Like, anything about the liquor or spent leaves that becomes airborne? My roommate is having sinus problems, and he’s trying to figure out what’s causing it. He says they usually come when he goes in the kitchen, which is where I brew my tea, and where I trash my used leaves.

The flavor of Jardin Sauvage is very zesty and energizing. There was a familiarity to each sip that tantalized my curiosity. I recognized the taste; it was a flavor I’ve encountered before. But what it was, I am not sure. When I asked my brother, he tasted and declared the tea tasted of white/clear gummy bears. He tasted again, and said maybe a lime jello.

I don’t know that either of those is quite what I’m tasting, but it’s definitely a sweeter citrus-like flavor.

I’ve never had green rooibos before, but I really liked this blend and I’m normally not especially fond of red tea. Jardin is extremely refreshing and fun – I love it!

One of my favorite teas. It’s very green and fresh tasting. I don’t get an overpowering blast of heavy cherries, more like a light fruity breeze. Perfect for iced tea.

As with many products that are more obscure against the American mainstream for tea, I jump into a description of this with an ignorance to the culture and taste. Though I lack any means of comparison, I will give Lupicia the benefit of the doubt – they’re more reputable than Teavana, and the company IS based in Japan, after all, and this is a Japanese tea. So, judging this tea blindly…

A nice bulk tea, for casual absent-minded sipping. I don’t bother brewing it in my tetsubin, I just throw a few leaves in a cup, and add the water. The leaves are broad, so the these and the stems make a good filter from the smaller broken leaves that sink to the bottom. Good for sitting around and watching TV, using the computer, reading, etc.
While the leaves are fragile, the flavor isn’t so delicate. Unlike most greens, this tea isn’t finicky in the least. Water temp and steep time are of minimal importance, which is why there’s really no problem with leaving the leaves in the cup.
It’s a bold flavor, with a bit of a two-dimensional character. You’re not going to get elegance in a cup with this one, but it’s not very expensive. While it’s a rather flat flavor, and you can forget a resteep, it’s a nice taste.
In my opinion, this would be a good tea to keep around for someone who just wants to substitute unhealthy beverages, and needs something easy to brew or wants something a bit weaker than black tea in the morning. It might go good with meals, but I haven’t tried so I wouldn’t be able to say. All in all, it’s a nice, smooth drink to have on hand while I’m on my laptop, especially when I don’t want to get the sugary-discomfort of soda.

If you’re buying this tea from Lupicia, or probably any other tea store that sells by weight, expect a large package – these leaves are much less dense than most. On that note, if you want to keep it fresh, make sure you have a large tin or two. Seriously. It’s a VERY large volume for the weight.
On that note, I just finished out my tin, so now I have a space for one of the nice teas I picked up before I came to college :). Maybe next time I get this (which wouldn’t be before I go home for thanksgiving) I’ll look into the history and customs for this tea.

To sum it up, Kyobancha is nothing special, but it has its place in the world of tea.

This is the tea that made me realize that there was more out there in the world of rooibos than typical red rooibos. There was green rooibos and it was pretty darn good!

Fruity fruity fruity! Just let the scent beat you with mango for a moment, okay? You know you like it. Sweet, super-ripe, almost musky mango that turns into sweet, perfectly ripe mango as the cup cools. Come on, take another sniff. :smack: Mmm, mango.

Sipping though? Ah, that’s a whole different fruit. Sure, sure, there’s some mango in there. But the citrus, yeah, it’s gonna get in a few hits. Sweet, gentle, sweet, fresh and oh yeah, did I mention sweet? Not bergamot or tangerine. Maybe sweet kumquat skin or the mild but sweet Barnfield orange. And not a single hint of nasty, sour wood to be found.

Basically, this is like a ripe tropical fruit salad in a cup. And not even a wooden cup.

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 can’t get enough of this stuff. Cherry tea with blue tights today.

Had to have more! Great for this cold sunny Monday. Oishii.

I think the thing with getting the most out of this Sakurambo is not steeping it for too long… I did about 3 minutes, and it tastes like how the new Kozyndan piece looks.

Received this as a gift. I have been spoiled! Smells heavenly, and the taste is just right. I made it strong (1.5 tsp) and it’s wonderful. With the light sweetness of the peach it’s a liquid dessert.