Lupicia

Sipdown 6 – 2024

Finished off some teabags that I got at the Lupicia Paris store in December 2022. Lupicia does chocolate so well. The chocolate flavor is super authentic and not at all plasticky. Just a touch of vanilla to offset the bittersweet quality of the dark chocolate flavor.

Visually very pretty, with pink, yellow and blue flowers, this is a very festive-looking tea indeed.

Tastewise, it’s Lupicia’s standard black tea with a slightly zesty peach flavour. There is another fruity note (hibiscus?) and it turns somewhat ashy as it cools. It doesn’t appear to have any added sugar and the taste seems quite natural.

It’s a perfectly fine tea, but I feel I’ve had this before from various other companies. Drinkable but not something I’d care to repurchase. If you’re looking for a very pretty but generic fruity black tea with some colorful flowers, this could fit the bill.

This is one of the teas that Superanna gave me from her trip to Japan! Thank you, Superanna!

The tin is adorable. Lupicia’s tins are so pretty! This is only available at Disney Tokyo if I understand correctly.

There is a prominent berry scent and I would say it is recognizably raspberry and not generic berry. The white chocolate notes are similar to the yogurt notes in Anna’s Blend but less tangy, of course. They have the same milky richness, though.

I drank it without milk or sugar but I think it would be stellar with both. I did not find it overly sweet as another taster did. I did combine two steeps so that may have decreased the sweetness but it was certainly still very flavorful. The berry is not overpowering but decidely present.

Delicious!

So, of course, I couldn’t resist picking up the year of the dragon teas from Lupicia. They were only offered in tins, and were a whopping $17 each, but both flavors sounded so good that I had to get them anyway… XP

This one is a black tea base with peach, lychee, and citrus. The black tea itself is very light and fluffy in texture, similar to Momijigari I would say. I do really enjoy this one. It smelled quite citrusy, but the lychee actually stands out the most to me flavor-wise. It has a lovely natural sweetness and that light yet juicy, nectarous floral fruitiness that is characteristic of lychee. The peach is more of a supporting note, but I think it rounds out the flavor well and adds a bit of richness and a hint of tart. Citrus is quite subtle, but it takes a bit like there’s some grapefruit involved.

A nice one! Too bad it’s limited addition, but luckily there are many other teas I love from Lupicia. :P

I don’t know if my tastebuds are off lately, but I am not enjoying this Lupicia Apple. (It is not the Tsugaru Green Apple blend, it’s just standard Apple).

The black tea base is fine, if uninspired, but the apple taste is rather artificial and has an unpleasant ashy note. It smells pleasantly of ripe red apples, but the taste is odd- a bit metallic, almost like how pavement smells.

I like their other fruit blends but this one is just not very good. I’d almost question if it’s gone off, but I got it from the 2023 Book of Tea, so it should be quite fresh.

Perhaps it would be better with sugar? Sadly, this one is sadly a tosser for me. Hurrah for tea assortments that allow us to try loads of teas with reckless abandon.

A very strong citrus aroma upon opening the bag, sort of an earthy yuzu scent. The leaves look top notch, dark green and tightly furled, but there’s Japanese “konpeito” rock sugar candies inside. They are large enough to pick out easily but I’d rather there be none.

The citrus flavour is not nearly as strong as the aroma, just a hint on the palette that doesn’t linger. Lupicia says it’s “Amanatsu oranges,” which I am unfamilar with. It’s a nice balance of very good oolong and and complementary flavour that work well together. The oolong dominates, so if you are not a fan of Taiwan oolong the citrus note will not be covering that up.

A nice sip for a gloomy, gray Saturday. Lupicia recommends it iced, but I feel like it’d get that unpleasantly floral bitter note that some citrusy oolongs get when cooled.

Sipdown Progress Challenge
January 2024 | A CTC tea

I pulled this single teabag from the TeaTiff TTB a few months back. Lupicia still feels like such a luxury to me so I jump at the change to try anything new from them. I steeped it for a minimal amount of time and it came out just right for milk and honey. It’s not bitter or too light. There’s a nice caramel undertone. It’s really lovely.

Going back to the Book of Tea, this “Ureshino” (Field of Happiness) sencha is from Saga Prefecture in Japan and brews to a nice dark green, though I somehow expected the taste to be more robust, based on the colour.

It’s a good example of a quality sencha (standard everyday grade tea in Japan) with a slight floral note (Lupicia claims cherry blossom, but they have no flavour and hardly any scent) that goes to vegetal quickly with no bitterness or off-putting fishy whiff, but it’s not stunning. It’s something I’d be happy to drink on the daily but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get it. If you told me it was from the Japanese supermarket vs upscale tea shop, I’d believe it. Definitely not worth the high price of sourcing it outside Japan.

Lupicia promises a “black tea with honey-preserved fruit and golden-orange marigold petals. Rich honey aroma, a hint of flowers, and dried fruit yields a mellow and lightly sweet flavor.”

I am not a big fan of marigold, though the tea bag I got from the Book of Tea doesn’t seem to contain the petals, so that’s fine by me.

It does have the promised honey aroma, but it’s almost medicinal rather than warm and sweet. It’s sweet on its own, with a sort of generic jam taste. I cannot identify any individual fruits, it’s more like a blend of dark stonefruits. No citrus present here.

It has a nice finish and no underlying bitterness, pleasant astringency but not what I’d call potent. Very middle of the road. I feel this would be a nice tea to have on hand for guests, etc. since it’s pleasant and not too controversial. Not a bad cuppa at all, but nothing stands out about it.

Sipdown!

My recollection here was ginger (not too surprising), but not as much other spicing as I wanted. Granted, it’s old, so it gets a pass. It wasn’t bad though.

Sipdown!

Teabag from the book of tea… from many years ago. I don’t have a clear recollection of it anymore, but definitely prefer the cream versions in general.

Meh. Lupicia says this is “Japanese green tea blended with green rooibos from South Africa, flavored with luscious white peach and energizing grapefruit.”

Lupicia does a very nice green rooibos, but I’m puzzled as to why you’d mix green rooibos and green tea? I can’t taste the green tea much, it’s more rooibos-forward, a general green vegetal taste topped with a generic “fruity” citrus taste. I get more grapefruit than peach.

Overall, the taste was weak even when steeped as instructed. I let it go another minute to no noticable effect.

If you’d like a more distinct citrus-based Japanese green, try a Yuzu blend. This was just meh. Not undrinkable by any means, but I wouldn’t bother to repurchase.

This is a very finely chopped black tea with a pleasant tea aroma. The leaves didn’t expand whatsoever after brewing, which seemed interesting. Perhaps I didn’t notice it before? The Lupicia bag is made of a very fine almost gossamer material, so perhaps it’s just more visible.

The flavour is a classic Ceylon, malty and bright with no bitterness- though it was plenty strong after 90 seconds. It brews to a rich mahogany colour. I’m hoping to get another steep out of this bag .

I did add some lemon since it seemed the perfect tea for a little zestiness. It’s delightful.

This is a lovely classic Ceylon but I confess many black teas from India/Sri Lanka taste quite similar to me, so I couldn’t recommend one over another. I am sure someone with a finer palette could distinguish them properly. I can say this is an exceedingly pleasant Ceylon with a nice amount of brightness/malt and no bitterness.

I really liked this one, a black tea with fruity berry notes- I detected strawberry, blueberry and raspberry and there might be a bit of peach hiding in there. It’s very natural-tasting, not artificial.

There are a lot of fruity teas out there but this one doesn’t seem to have much, if any, hibiscus added. It’s a nice change from the typical zingy fruit teas which rely on hibiscus to bring the tartness. As usual, the black tea base nicely complements the flavouring. It’s astringent but not overly so and creates a nice base for the berry flavours to shine through.

As it cools, I do get a bit of an ashy taste, so I’d say this one is best drunk piping hot.

I think I used too small of a cup because this ended up being a bit concentrated. It has a nice berry flavor to it with sakura in the back of the sip and in the finish. It’s ever so slightly crisp. I think I need to play with this more to get an optimal cup.

A classic black breakfast tea that brews to a satisfying colour. Good for the old-school tea purist. I’d say it’s similar to an Irish Breakfast. Good quality, not bitter or astringent. But…there’s a million others like it.

To be fair, Lupicia says this is best enjoyed with lots of milk, which I don’t drink. They also say it’s “mellow,” whereas I would call it “robust.” It’s a fine blend but I wouldn’t go out of my way to purchase it. Get yourself some Twinings Irish Breakfast and save yourself the trouble.

The package for this tea was all in Japanese. When I used a translator app it said it was apple. I was thinking this was a very gummi candy like apple flavor, but when I went online I saw it is pear and muscat. That makes so much more sense! It smells just like fruity gummi candy and tastes like it too. The sip is a little lighter on the flavor, but is strong in the finish and leaves my mouth a little puckered. It’s decaf, so it’s a fun option to have in the evening. Scratch that… it’s low caffeine. Must have been another translator fail!

Homemade Advent Calendar from Arby: Day 10

Issa grape tea! Sweet, juicy (?) grape, a bit artificial in scent but less so in taste. I like the overall flavor here… grape with a bit of zesty citrus layered atop a pleasant, smooth sencha base. It’s a tad more drying than I’d expect, but in an OK way. I bet it would be really pleasant cold-brewed.

A high quality sencha green tea from western Japan, near Mt. Ishuzuchi.
It has almost a floral initial note that moves to a grassy hay, then the classic green tea vegetal note emerges. It brews to a slightly yellowish green that reminds me of the first leaves of spring (vs the amped up algal green seen in senchas with added matcha or tea dust).

It’s a solid sencha without the off-putting fishy/seaweed notes that sometimes turn people off of Japanese green teas, which are a whole world away from Western “green teas” like Lipton, etc. Do note that authentic senchas brew quickly- some of them in under a minute, so keep an eye (mouth?) on them while steeping.

I’m not sure it’s even fair for me to review this tea, since I am not a fan whatsoever of red rooibos.

Good points: It has less of that “wet dog” note than most red rooibos, but it’s still very present.
Seems to be a nice quality- very handsome, robust rooibos leaves brewed to a gorgeous mahogany colour.

Bad points: The “rose” flavour combined with the rooibos gives it a rather unpleasant medicinal note. It even smells of cough syrup- that boozy, cherry artificial scent.

This one, sadly, is a tosser for me. Worth exploring if red rooibos with a boozy cough syrup infusion is to your personal taste. Again, I hate all those notes so take my review with a grain of salt. I tried to give objective points for the tea quality, however.

I really enjoyed this one, but I am a fan of tropical fruits. The aroma of this was quite strong, a mango/tropical fruit blend.

I don’t see any of the flower petals, but this is the teabag version, so perhaps that’s only in the looseleaf. I do see some chunks of a light yellow fruit-like object.

The green tea base is bright and slightly astringent, with little grassiness. It’s a perfect complement for the tropical flavour and doesn’t compete with it. A tea with more vegetal notes would have clashed. Overall, it’s a light and pleasant taste that evokes the tropics, so I’d say the tea checks all the boxes!

I feel if you’re looking for a tropical tea, this one is better than Lupicia’s “Hawaii Exclusive” offerings, which are mostly black-tea based.

I picked this bag at random today for my morning cuppa and didn’t realize it was rooibos, but the taste was so nice I didn’t mind the lack of caffeine.

It’s a green rooibos which I prefer to red personally, because the red often has a “wet dog” note in it. I’m not sure why this is, but it’s been consistent across brands and price ranges. It’s not 100%, but occurs often enough so I generally stay away from rooibos.

I am happy to report that Jardin Sauvage doesn’t have this issue and contains a lovely, natural-tasting fruit forward blend on top of the green rooibos. The mango is distinct (and does contain added sugar, according to Lupicia) as well as a hint of other more generic “fruit.”

On the whole, it’s well-balanced and very pleasant for an afternoon/evening sip. While I like chamomile “evening” blends, I feel it’s overused in herbals and they all begin to taste the same, so this is a nice alternative.

This is a festive black tea with apples, cranberries and spices. It’s very heavy on clove and cardamom, with some cinnamon thrown in for good measure. It feels like a classic European Christmas tea, probably due to the old-world spice combination.

The fruits are present, but take a back seat to the clove and cinnamon. The tea is standard black Lupicia that doesn’t overwhelm the flavourings but isn’t overpowered by them either. The perfect behind the scenes support.

It’s a very solid holiday tea that does a great job of invoking the festive season, but I prefer Mariage Freres Espirit de Noel if you’re looking for teas with this flavour profile. It’s not a hard one to find this time of year, but a lot of “holiday blends” overwork the cinnamon/cloves or don’t counterbalance them properly with a zesty fruit.

An overall solid choice but not best in class.