Lupicia

This is a strawberry and vanilla rooibos with a nice red rooibos base. It benefits from a splash of milk to bring out the vanilla notes. It is also great cold. The strawberry is very natural and somewhat subtle.

I received this tea from my friend in France. So if you looking for this, it’s “Châtaigne” in French. Today, I deceided to drink this tea to relax and because it’s inspire me (yes, it’s Fall!). And… Wow! It’s a big surprise! I really like the “sweet/salt” combination. It’s taste caramel and chesnut at first and after, the aspect of the japanese green tea (salty and herbal).

Been sheltering in place for two weeks now and I’ve had just about enough of my little roommates. They are also bored out of their minds and have found recent joy in tea. My tea. I know I should be proud, but I’m not. I’m frustrated. Little hands digging through the sanctuary that is my tea cupboard, getting in my way of my kettle, holding my glass kettle in ways that spawn visions of it slipping out of their grasp and shattering on the floor, leaving spots of tea to dry on the counter and leaving steeping baskets out on the counter cluttering the space around my kettle.

So today I turned to a cup of Hatsune. It’s really good. The cinnamon apricot combo over the toasted tea is so nice and comforting. If I could jump into this cup and soak for a while I’m sure I’d come out in a much better mood. I know there is bathtub gin, but is there bathtub tea? Wish I had a tub worthy of this experiment.

The scent of this tea was intriguing, which is what caught my attention in the store. It smelled woody, like cinnamon with that hojicha scent. Steeped, it smells fruity with the cinnamon and there is almost a barley tea flavor in it. I made it hot and then poured it over ice which made for a really nice cup.

Thanks to tea-sipper for allowing me to continue my Earl grey obsession. I must be really used to the weak decaf versions I usually drink because this was quite brisk. I had to add more sugar and milk than I’m used to. Hot, I tasted mostly the brisk tea flavor with the bergamot following in the aftertaste. Cold, the bergamot shows up a lot more, and the black tea smooths out. I suppose I’ll drink my next cup cold! Not one of my favorite earls, but it was solid. Nice bergamot.

This was a free teabag from my Lupicia order a while ago. And I have it in my Steepster cupboard, so I’m counting it as a sipdown. Hopefully I haven’t added too many single teabags on my Steepster cupboard. Crikey. First flushes are always tough for me to describe. I don’t know why because they have such a unique flavor. It’s not like I’m drinking Darj all the time. This one is tasty enough, but nothing I really want to seek out and stock up on. But that is generally all first flushes for me. I’m more of second flush fan. I hope everyone is doing well… I haven’t read tasting notes in a while.
Steep #1 // 30 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 28 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
2019 Sipdowns: 65

So this is old. Judging by the ziploc baggie it’s in, and the amount I had, it was likely a shared purchase (possibly a happy bag?) from years ago. Doesn’t look like I previously wrote a note, though. Oh well. I iced a large pitcher of this the other day, and was pleasantly surprised – the dry tea doesn’t smell fantastic (vaguely fruity, not really cherry), nor did the brewed tea, but with a bit of sweetener, it was actually fairly tasty. However – I strongly picked up mango, not cherry. It’s possible it picked up some flavour from another Lupicia tea, but I think it might be more related to age. Regardless, not giving it a rating – the bit I had of it unsweetened was pretty mediocre, and I like teas to stand alone without sweetener. Due to age, this one didn’t even have a fair chance!

Sipdown.
Slightly overleafed today, but there wasn’t enough left for another cup. Chocolate and malt, a little bit of sweetness. And a bit of unpleasant taste – metallic and off at the very tail end. Aftertaste is creamy, unpleasant taste doesn’t stick around – so kind of a plus? I’ve had better keemuns than this tea.

I really like Keemums. This example is fair to good but not great. I get chocolate and malt and some caramel but none of the flavors are very strong. There’s also a off astringent or metallic flavor towards the end.
This tea reminded me how much I missed having straight blacks at work. And that I should buy a better quality Keemum to drink, but that I wouldn’t buy this particular tea again.

Cold Brew!

Had most of this brew last night, and the rest early this morning. It was my sipping companion while watching the first episode of Canada’s Drag Race – which I thought was pretty well done. It seemed a bit forced at times, in terms of the judging panel/format, but the queens were very impressive for a first episode. Since there’s no one from Saskatchewan, I guess I’m rooting for the Quebec queens – Rita Baga in particular was impressive; I love the small touches on her runway like the frost bitten ears! My other favourites, based on snap impression, are BOA and Jimbo – what can I say, I love a weird queen!

This was WAY MORE floral than I remember it being – but I did enjoy it. I think I did ultimately drink it over two days though because that floral oolong character was building so much and lingering in the palate so much that it was verging on perfumey and I didn’t want to cross into that territory. Aside from the floral qualities, the mango is so juicy and spot on – one of the best mango flavours that I’ve seen in a tea for sure.

Current cuppa!

Boiling water and a two minute flash steep and the resulting cup is very sweet and juicy, like mango candy with a floral undertone – both in the sense of the fruit, and in the sense of the oolong base. This summer I enjoyed eating a lot of imported mini mangoes from Columbia; they were easily the best mangoes of my life and tonight’s cup is really making me think of them.

Can’t wait until I can get more of them again this summer!

Hot with a little smidge of coconut agave – not because I think the tea needs the added sweetness necessarily but more because I wanted to see what introducing a coconut flavour would do for the flavour, mango and coconut go together so well after all. It was delicious; very juicy/sweet mango and creamy coconut with the floral undertone of the oolong tea base. I did find it a little bit too sweet though – I just don’t think this tea needs any added sweetener at all. I wish I had a way to introduce that coconut flavour without doing it through agave…

Cold Brew!

From last weekend – this was a cold brew that I had prepped in advance for after an hour at the gym, because I knew I was going to need something cold and refreshing to cool down with. It was so hydrating and thirst quenching – but also delicious! Sweet, juicy and ripe mango notes – like eating a slice of tender, ripe mango and having the juices dribble down your chin or having to lick them off your fingers. Also a strong flavour contribution from the oolong – fresh florals, a hint of greener melon rind, and a butteriness.

I adore that the Lupicia oolong blends pack such a flavour punch but don’t lose their base tea note qualities either. It’s one of their strongest qualities and success points, imo.

Thank you for the samples, Cameron B! I think I have one Lupicia sample remaining, as this is now a sipdown. I’m going to miss these barley teas. I really love having a different flavor profile choice at night, with that rich barley flavor with a hint of fruit. I was certainly tasting the apricot this time, as well as the scent of apricots drifting through the room, which for some reason took me a while to realize was the tea. I really like these Lupicia barleys — I love the various fruits paired with the earthy barley. I really need to find other tea shops who sell barley teas like these…. It’s great to see Lupicia’s USA shop up and running, but I see a ton of teas currently missing… including all the barley teas. If anyone has any barley and doesn’t like it, we can swap some teas?
2019 Sipdowns: 46

Cold Brew!

I’ve been having a daily cold brew (sometimes multiple a day) for the last week or so, typically right in the morning on my commute to work. This is one of those brews, and selected because I was so deeply and specifically craving Lupicia’s melon flavour in particular. This sweet, candied and slightly floral green melon is so unique among melon flavours and I love it paired with the equally floral oolong base they’ve chosen. It’s really appropriate for this time of year, and it was polished off long before I transferred lines for the commute in that day. So, basically just chugged down…

This hot cuppa tasted like honeydew bubblegum with floral oolong undertones; but I was down with it! I think it’s still better chilled, but hard to go wrong with this blend…

Cold Brew!

Very, very sweet candied green melon/honeydew kind of profile with a thick, syrupy mouthfeel and coating sensation – balanced out by the fresh, lighter/greener florals of the oolong base. Ultra hydrating – near perfect tea when cold brewed!

Better review of this to come at a later date, because I’m hitting that wall right now where I’ve been writing tasting notes for ages and am feeling exhausted by it – but I quite enjoyed this tea! I didn’t think the melon was as intense as it is in Golden Honeydew, from Lupicia also, but it’s pretty comparable. Definitely more of the floral notes coming through because of the greener oolong base – but I think it’s a smart pairing. Happy to have stocked up for the summer!

Sipdown (618)!

This was a free sample from my Lupicia order – in sachet format.

I swear I’ve had this tea before or, at least, I thought that I had – but I’ve not reviewed it here on Steepster so I’m probably confusing it for one of their other blends. I wonder which one though…!?

I thought this was ok; like a lot of Lupicia teas the fruit notes are very strong, present and sweet – I definitely get a candy red cherry flavour. There’s some other stuff going on though; it’s a little peppery and I’m getting some briskness from the black tea and a hint of astringency in the finish. It’s ok overall; definitely more interesting than just a plain cherry flavour. I don’t think I’m personally in love with the profile though – even if I have no major complaints on the flavours themselves.

Just not my thing.