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Last free sample. It smells very fruity, mainly of peaches, stonefruit, then mango. Although the aroma has a strong peach, the taste is not. It definitely has the peach flavor, other stonefruits, but the mango and pineapple notes are about the same. It comes out kind of weird though like the flavors are muted. It also has a strange aftertaste that lingers in my nose. Of all of the Lupicia I’ve tried so far, this one tastes more artificial, not in artificial sweetness but in fruit taste, Maybe all those fruits do not go great with the base… Not sure what it is. It is astringent, not bitter and that’s not the problem.

The aroma is very nice, but the flavors do not rise to that level. Maybe it’d be better iced…

Sachet in 130 ml, boiling water for 2 steeps: 2.5m, 3m.

Another free Lupicia sample. Really cool they send 3 free samples with orders.

The sachet had little specks of coconut in it, some pink rose. It had a strong strawberry aroma with a little coconut, sweetness, maybe some vanilla. I couldn’t really smell the rose from the sachet. It smells good. Overall, Lupicia teas sure smell good. I had thought “If the aroma holds up, I will like it but if it takes a vicious turn and brings in strong rose…” Well, you know. lol

The aroma held up concerning the rose. A nice taste of strawberry (not artificial) and a slight tartness like real strawberries have. I think Lupicia has strawberry down pretty well. The coconut and vanilla notes were light but were there, same with cream notes. Although not a favorite of those I tried so far, I’m glad I was able to sample it as I saw they were sold out of it on their site.

Sachet in 130 ml, boiling water for 3 steeps 2.5m, 3m, 3.5m.

One of 3 free Lupicia samples. Sounded interesting “Black tea blend scented with strawberries and sparkling wine.” This one had more body than the other Lupicia I’ve tried, more flavor. The tea bag smelled really good, I can smell the fruit, not too much of the rose at this point. The liquor was a medium-dark amber and it was a little astringent (pleasantly), and very smooth and warm mouth and throat feel. It has a lasting finish.
I liked the base, the muscatel and strawberry notes, but there was a quite a bit of rose in it for my tastes. Did it knock it out of balance? I don’t think so. I think it is more just my aversion to a strong rose flavor. I can handle a little, but not a lot.
One thing though, the aroma of the rose was pleasant and quite “perfumey” but in a fresh rose garden kind of way… And in no way, shape or form did it smell like the cheap rose perfume some people wear (if you wear that type, sorry lol). Other than the strong rose, it was a very nice cup of tea and good 2nd and 3rd steep.

Recommended for those who don’t mind rose.

Sachet in 130 ml, boiling water for 3 steeps 2.5m, 3m, 3.5m.

Dark fine black tea with chestnut bits in it (according to site, these chestnuts were simmered in brandy first). I broke the nut bits so I could have them with all my servings as there was one or two huge chunks in the bag. It smells good like a nutty dark chocolate bar, bittersweet aroma. The medium dark liquor smelled of cocoa, chestnuts, caramel type sweetness. It had mild flavors of the dark cocoa, bittersweet, sweet but not sugary, chestnuts, hazelnuts, caramel, vanilla. Moderately astringent. As usual, I drank it without milk or sugar. Their site says it goes great with milk. I can totally see that. I will try it next time with a splash of cream. There was one other that I wanted to try it with a little cream, their Chocolate and Strawberry Puer, which I had again this morning, and again, there was very little, if any, typical pu erh qualities. This time I had it gongfu style.

The Marron Chocolat, to me anyway, is similar to the Chocolate and Strawberry Puer but without the strawberries. I prefer that one over this one because of the strawberries but this one is good just nothing tart about it.

4g, 200ml, 212°F, 3 steeps, 2.5m., 3m, 3.5m

I am a fresh fruit nut. My trip to the grocery store is mainly whatever fresh fruit that arrived. Green guavas, green mangos, sour tamarind… Etc. I literally like every fruit but cantaloupe, ripe papaya (green is good) and honey melon. So as I was sipping it, I wonder why I got this lol. It really tastes like cantaloupe so a cantaloupe lover will love this. I have the melon white tea on the way. Now I’m thinking “Why oh why?” hehe

The tightly rolled green balls had cute light green crystals in it and it had the wonderful aroma of watermelon jolly ranchers. I had my hopes up for watermelon but the light amber liquor had, without a doubt, the distinctive taste of canteloupe with honeydew melon hints. It’s a mild flavor, like many of the Lupicia I’ve tried. I don’t think I should rate this because the way I feel about cantaloupe. I’m going to guess it would be rated highly to those who do.

4g, 200ml, 200°F, 2 steeps, 2 min., 2.5min.

More tea packages rolling in. Free sample from TeaVivre. Happy days hehe.

I love their sample packaging, the tiny bags with detailed instructions, even recommended storage instructions. When I opened it, it was a single dark green tightly hand-rolled ball, wrapped with cotton paper with ribbon. Cute :D. The ball weighed 7 grams.

I followed TeaVivre’s suggestion, and glad I did. That odd decrease in time in the 4th steep, probably helped with controlling the bitterness in the 4th and 5th steep. I used a porcelain gaiwan, 110ml, ~203℉, 1 pc, 10 steeps: 5s rinse, 80s, 70s, 60s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 110s. The bright yellow liquor with green tints had an aroma of pekoe and hay. It was smooth, good mouthfeel, very little astringency throughout the steeps. The 1st and 2nd steep was nice, extremely mellow, hints of stonefruit notes, similar to their moonlight raw pu-erh… Then the 3rd steep was strong bitter with very little sweetness, but then as I journeyed on, the 4th was less bitter and by the 5th steep it was very pleasant because the sweetness entered, bitterness really subdued and balanced, the 6th-10th was enjoyable. Recommended if you don’t mind a bitter phase, otherwise, hard pass.

It was complex because I felt like the tea was leading me on a journey to find that perfect balance between the honey sweetness, stonefruits, light floral and the bitterness. The sweetness would linger on my tongue after the bitterness enters and leaves quickly. Interesting tea.

It is totally different than their Aged Chenpi Ripened Tangerine Pu-erh which I highly recommended earlier. I just really don’t taste the orange but get the bitterness of the rind instead. On the 4th infusion, I did peel the orange to see if it improved but unfortunately, it did not. I’m on the 6th infusion and it’s supposed to be good to 15 steeps so I’m trying. :P It’s doable though and definitely not “bad” per se. If anything changes, I’ll add it here.

Tea-sipper’s review on this is pretty much spot on so I won’t go on any further. I’m sure there are those that love it (decent reviews on their site) but this one isn’t for me. The tangerine one is another thing altogether. I really loved that one.

Gaiwan, 110ml, 212℉, 1 pc, 15 steeps: rinse 5s, 10s, 10s, 10s, 10s, 20s, 20s, 20s, 35s, 35s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 100s, 110s, 120s

Had this earlier but didn’t take notes. I loved it. At first, I didn’t know how to prepare it. lol No way that huge tangerine would fit into anything I own. I just sprinkled the Pu-erh out from the inside of the tangerine (the whole thing weighs about 32g), then I broke off the tangerine skin to weigh 2 grams. It had that tangy tangerine flavor that I adore, and the Pu-erh was very smooth. No fishy taste, no strong leather taste. This may be a good one for someone who likes tangerine, wants to drink Pu-erh for health benefits but doesn’t like the usual strong earthy taste. Surprisingly it was only slightly earthy, barely any leather (zero fishy, zero dirt) but it was rich, full-bodied. I couldn’t select “tangerine” in the flavors so I selected “orange” but it’s definitely tangerine.

I’ll have to revisit this one soon to get a better flavor profile. My power went out in the middle for about an hour and well, that wasn’t fun lol. I wasn’t quite sure where I left off when it went out.

Yixing gaiwan, 110ml, 5g Tea leaves+ 2g dried orange peel
8 steeps: rinse,10s,10s,20s,30s,50s,70s,90s,120s (I think? Power outage hehe)

Dark black tea leaves with chopped almonds. Has a wonderful almond aroma, like those almond cookies or almond biscuits. Light almond-cookie flavor. Sweet but definitely not oversweet. It was more almond than anything which can never really be a bad thing. They suggested having it with milk but I usually never add anything to my tea. Luckily I have more of it, and maybe I will try it with a splash of heavy cream next time. :D The sweetness was more like brown sugar, caramel not honey or artificial flavoring. Had a pretty strong buttery aftertaste (which I liked), and a long finish. I wouldn’t call it thick feel though, nor a buttery slickness but more just the nice taste of butter. I think that’s what makes it cookie-like. No astringency, no bitterness (not even the dark chocolate bitterness), malty, nutty, smooth. I look forward to trying it with a splash of cream next time. I think this would make a great cup of tea after a salty meal in place of a dessert.^^

Still happily working through my first Lupicia order.

Long dark strips of Taiwanese pouchong with bright bits of pink rose petals in it. Smells delicious, a strong aroma of fresh white peach, couldn’t smell the rose which is a good thing for me. Sat by too many people in my lifetime who wore heavy cheap rose perfume. That’s an instant headache. I digress lol.

The wet leaves were the same aroma with an added mild vegetal aroma of the pouchong. The light yellow liquor aroma was a faint peach. Taste profile was a delicate, light yummy white peach with very very faint good rose hints (good as in faint lol). The 2nd & 3rd infusions, there was a little astringent effect going on, pleasant physical sensation, that very slight drying out my tongue. I didn’t taste the coconut, meringue nor was it perfumey that I saw in some of the other reviews.

4g, 200ml, 212°F, 4 steeps, 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m, 3m