Lupicia

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92
drank Earl Grey by Lupicia
558 tasting notes

Much needed cuppa. Not long notes being typed as we just adopted a kitten and she is in an exploring phase. Having a laptop is nice, but she keeps trying to jump on the keyboard! Such a darling little thing!

AmazonV

desktop keyboard or laptops, cats like to send messages to people on your behalf :)

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92
drank Earl Grey by Lupicia
558 tasting notes

Enjoying this while watching Mad Men season 1. Also pondering when the last time I heard the Cardigans was. A clip of one of their songs was played at the end of the second episode.

I love how awake this tea makes me feel without the crash I get from coffee. Other black teas make me awake, but the bergamot in this is refreshing and fragrant and perfect. Tea Love!

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92
drank Earl Grey by Lupicia
558 tasting notes

Ahh, bliss. I haven’t had other teas in quite awhile. I’ve been so busy I wanted one I knew would relax and uplift me rather than one I would have to think alot a bout. YUM!

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92
drank Earl Grey by Lupicia
558 tasting notes

This tin is nearly half full…(half-empty). I must order more soon. Enjoying with a few pieces of rock sugar and a splash of milk. Tastes much better with half and half, but didn’t want to run to the store in the snow just for the half and half. Ahh…I love this tea. Bumped it up several notches in rating, because I have no clue why I rated it so low!

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92
drank Earl Grey by Lupicia
558 tasting notes

Glad to have this earl back in my life. The only earl I have ever craved. I could be very happy if this were the only tea in my cupboard. So very happy to have this back in my cupboard.

ashmanra

Wow! High praise indeed to say you could be happy if this were the only tea in your cupboard. It must be magnificent!

LiberTEAS

This is an awesome Earl Grey!

Kristen

Ha ha I still can not get past my Hot Cinnamon spice craving, I have been having some everyday… I will soon need to reorder!

Meghann M

Ever since Ricky(I think it was Ricky) sent me a sample of this in a swap back when I started on steepster I have been hooked. I CRAVE this tea. I drink other Earls, but this is the perfect, non floral, non cream earl. Surprisingly I haven’t sickened of it, although I am only on my second 50g bag of it. With cream or without it is my tea.

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92
drank Earl Grey by Lupicia
558 tasting notes

Sad to see this sample from Ricky go. I think I may have to order more once my 6oz stash of Teavana’s Earl Grey Creme is gone. (was my first Teavana purchase and bought way too much). I like this Earl Grey from Lupicia so much more, it is just the perfect amount of bergamot flavor, not too floral/perfumey nor too weak. I will miss this!

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92
drank Earl Grey by Lupicia
558 tasting notes

Trying 1 tsp with 8oz boiling water steeped for 4 minutes. It’s amazing I have the alertness to even type this this morning. Getting up so early for work is always a struggle, seeing my shifts vary as I work in a restaurant. 3am always comes too soon!

This Earl Grey brews up a nice strong liquor of a deep brownish orange. It smells heavenly this morning, but any black tea might get that reaction! This is a sample I received from Ricky, and I am excited to compare it to other Earls I have tried. Just not this morning…need a few more cups first!

Greatly scented of bergamot, this tea made me more alert while steeping it, it has a decent flavor without any additives, but a bit of bitterness (maybe 4 minutes was a bit too long). I added a splash of cream and a pinch of sugar and this is much smoother and really quite nice. I can taste the bergamot and the black tea. I like this, but can’t describe much more than that right now. Thanks Ricky for this generous sample. I think this may be added to my list of Lupicia teas to purchase (the list is getting rather long however!).

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
Ricky

Hmmm, didn’t even realize I sent you that. I’m getting forgetful.

~lauren.

@Ricky – I think ginkgo is good for alleviating forgetfulness (I forget now) … you must have some tea with it as an ingredient? :)

Ricky

Ahhhh! Must be those vitamin supplements I take every day. Wait? What? Sorry, I forgot again.

~lauren.

hehehe!

Meghann M

Ricky-I’m glad you sent it, it is quite bergamot-y and enjoyable! Maybe I can find some Ginkgo tea to send you. What was it I was looking for?

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71
drank Ceremony by Lupicia
911 tasting notes

Dude, I don’t know what it is, but this tea has made me so caffeinated this morning. I don’t remember this one being all that powerful caffeine-wise so maybe something else is at play? Or maybe just the fact that I had 12oz instead of a smaller cup? Or perhaps because I didn’t have enough tea to finish out my cup so I did a 50/50 blend with A+D’s Nepal? (Though I don’t recall Nepal being a big caffeine rush either.) Regardless, my hands are all shaky and I’m feeling obnoxiously bouncy. And I might have been singing something about caffeine in my bloodstream when I came in to work today. Maybe.

Anyway, yeah, decupboarding this one which is kind of sad. It’s a Darjeeling-flavor that I can totally get behind, I think because the Keemun smooths it out some and keeps that tannic, sometimes super-bright, citrusy end taste at the end of most Darjeelings from being jarring or unpleasant for me. Today’s version of this was interesting though because I did have to do a 50/50 blend with Nepal. I added a little sugar (because I’m forever scared of being stuck with a bitter tea in my travel tumbler) and ended up with the overwhelming taste of honeyed green beans.

Seriously. Ceremony + Nepal + 1tsp sugar + travel tumbler = honeyed green beans.

It was weird and I had some flashbacks of bad Silver Needle experiences with a flat soybean water taste, but this had a nice sweetness and distinct honey taste, so it wasn’t a one note green bean wonder. Instead, it was really quite pleasant. Still a little weird for black teas to make me think of a white tea, but whatever.

A different sendoff for this tea, but a fun one. And a caffeinated one. WHEE!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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71
drank Ceremony by Lupicia
911 tasting notes

My mom gave me this tea yesterday. She’s had it for a while but never opened it and figured I might actually use it. So I decided to try it out today as my after-lunch-pick-me-up tea.

There’s no telling how old this tea is. The packaging is in Japanese so it is from Lupicia Japan which makes me think that my mom got this, at the earliest, last year when friends from Japan came to visit or, at the latest, two years ago when those same friends got married in Hawaii. But hey, it’s a black tea so it can take it!

The leaves look like a Darjeeling (which makes sense) but smell like chocolate syrup (which makes no sense). I let the water cool a bit before brewing. It brews up into a pretty light amber tea that smells sweet, musty, smoky. It smells like some of the milder Yunnans I’ve had but with an edge of smoke. A little chocolaty, bright but a little cuddly. Actually, there is a tea I have that this smells exactly like but I can’t figure out which one but I know I’ve smelled pretty much this before.

OMG at the chocolate. The initial part of the sip is full on chocolate – not cocoa, chocolate. As I sip, the chocolate taste gets a little earthy but it is still there. And the aftertaste is a bit of Darjeeling brightness but none of the tartness. In fact, there isn’t even a hint of tartness or bitterness. There’s a little astringent tingle in the middle/back of my tongue that slowly builds but it isn’t unpleasant.

The chocolate taste keeps surprising me with each sip. It’s pretty strong and almost tastes like it has been flavored. It is weirdly off-putting though I can’t peg exactly why. It’s not fake tasting or nasty. I think it’s just not what I was anticipating and each time I look at the wet leaves and the tea in the cup, I reset my expectations to something more Darjeeling-y than bright and earthy chocolate. Which makes me feel a little like I have the memory of a goldfish.

Ooh, look! A castle!
3.5g/9oz

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 30 sec
fcmonroe

It sounds very nice.

Ricky

Castle!?! You lost me. Goldfishie and a castle?

Stephanie

@Ricky: Usually, fish tanks or bowls have miniature castles in them. It’s common decor, I think.

It’s a cute image, Auggy! :)

Ricky

Woaps, yeah, that’s what I was getting out of it. Hence the second part, which was a bit confusing. Sorry!

Auggy

Stephanie got it right with the castle in fish tank – and a comedian did a bit about a goldfish’s 3 second memory. Ooh look, a castle! … Ooh look, a castle!

Ricky

Doug: SQUIRREL! =]

Stephanie

lol! :) That was a cute movie.

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89

This is a pretty green oolong. I like dark roasted oolong, so this tastes very green to me. Fresh and good quality tea though, and the peach flavor is fatanstic. Very fragrant and goes well with the oolong. It is very different than my usual oolong drinking experience but I did enjoy this tea quite a lot.

Preparation
4 min, 30 sec

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71
drank Grapefruit Green by Lupicia
911 tasting notes

Based on the smell, I anticipate an obnoxiously sweet grapefruit taste. But it’s much milder than that. A green tea taste with a light, enveloping, faintly grapefruit taste. Quite tasty but I kind of want the obnoxiousness.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 15 sec
Jenny

Oh I like this tea for the same reason (kinda). I’m not the biggest grapefruit fan — but the grapefruit-ness of this tea is so subtle that I actually brew some of my roomie’s stash of it from time to time.

Auggy

The smell on this one reminds me of a grapefruit gum I love and I just end up a little sad that it tastes more like tea instead of gum. But I will say that I think Lupicia does a really good job of making their flavored teas not be obnoxious and it’s one of the reasons I tend to like their flavored teas so.

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71
drank Grapefruit Green by Lupicia
911 tasting notes

Ah! Nice weather! Finally! Today was so gorgeous, after I got home from work I took a book outside to read in the sun. LOVELY! So I’m in a pretty happy, fresh, springy mood and I needed a tea to match. While I was digging around to find a tea to match my mood, I caught a whiff of my super-obnoxious smelling Trident Layers gum (the strawberry citrus one) that lives on the shelf above my tea. It smelled nummy and suddenly I was in the mood for a springy, obnoxious tea. I thought it was a good time to try this one.

So there is this Lotte grapefruit flavored gum that is tart and tangy and bright and easily as obnoxious as Trident Layers. This tea? Smells like that. Which I think is awesome because that is my favorite Japanese gum. Ever.

But the taste is a bit of a letdown. Oh, it’s not the tea’s fault. It tastes like a sort of an okay green tea base that has had a piece of my beloved gum dipped into it briefly. It’s actually not bad but it’s not what I was hoping for because the flavoring isn’t very strong. I know, I know. Normally I give Lupicia two very enthusiastic thumbs up for their light and natural flavorings so I really shouldn’t anticipate anything different. But that smell! I just couldn’t help it.

Perhaps if I hadn’t had a yearlong addiction to Sweetie gum, I would have had different (or no) expectations of this tea and would have been able to enjoy it on its own merits. After all, it is sweet, light, a little tangy and very pretty.

I just wanted obnoxious.
6.6g/12oz

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec
mattscinto

Today was such a nice day! agreeed

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70
drank Red Pepper Oolong by Lupicia
865 tasting notes

I bought this because it looked weird. I love weird teas. Unfortunately I was a little disappointed when I got it. It says on the packaging, but not the website, that this is red chili pepper- not the red bell pepper I assumed it to be. Yeah, yeah. I know what happens when I assume. Speaking of the packaging… I bought the bag, not the tin. When sealed, it’s definitely protected from the elements buuut… once opened (it needs to be cut) it is not protected at all. I’m sorry, but a company that expects me to pay more for the same amount of tea to be protected from the elements for the entire time it stays in my cupboard is quite underhanded. That annoys me.

Anyway, back to the tea. Steeped as suggested except that I didn’t bring the water quite to a boil to preserve the health benefits. The liquor is a dark brown w/ reddish tones and the aroma is earthy and toasty.

Now if you freaked out as soon as I said chili pepper, don’t. This is not as spicy as 52teas Mayan Chocolate Chai. The chili leaves plenty of room for the depth of the oolong to come out. It would; however, pair wonderfully w/ a chai spice mix to make an oolong chai.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 30 sec
Cofftea

2nd infusion, 3 min 20 sec. Liquor is quite a bit lighter and orangy. Flavor is lighter as well, both the oolong and the chili. Roastyness is very light making a sweeter cuppa.

Cofftea

3rd infusion, 4 min 20 sec. Slightly lighter liquor, but same flavor as the 2nd infusion.

gmathis

A lot of the peppery chais also have licorice in them, which I don’t like, so this might be pretty tasty.

Cofftea

This one has no licorice:) and neither does Mayan Chocolate Chai.

Shanti

“…a company that expects me to pay more for the same amount of tea to be protected from the elements for the entire time it stays in my cupboard is quite underhanded.”

Interesting that you’d understand it that way. I really appreciate it when companies offer non-tin tea refills cheaper….it saves money. The idea is that you only need to buy a tin the first time, and afterward you can save money and space by buying the cheaper refill.

Ricky

Or you can empty it into another container, say Adagios?

FYI, the Lupicia tins aren’t really tight. So I wouldn’t even use them to hold the loose leaves in the first place. You need to use a rubber band or something to keep it sealed.

Cofftea

True, but my current storage isn’t condusive to tins. And I don’t prefer tins either.

Cofftea

Ricky, that’s exactly why I don’t prefer tins. I could, yes- (If I had one, which I don’t) but I shouldn’t have to. The option of the bag or the tin is nice- I’m just asking that the bag option keep the tea safe from the elements.

Cofftea

Oh and rubber bands won’t work- I’m allergic to latex:(

Shanti

I don’t get it—you don’t have to buy the bag! You’re supposed to buy the tin, and the bag is a refill and is discounted as an added perk for repeat customers. It’s kind of strange to bash a company for providing you a discount!

Cofftea

Cuz I didn’t want the tin. I’m not bashing them for providing a discount. I’m saying I wish the bag would close after being opened. That’s it. End of story.

Ricky

Hair ties, scrunchies? Whatever feminine products you guys have? =] But it’s a shame that you’re allergic to latex. I had a teacher once that wanted to be a doctor, but she was allergic to it, poor her.

I thought you were suppose to buy whatever is cheapest. You get what you pay for =] I think the pouches aren’t resealable because it’s the same ones they put into the tin. It wouldn’t make sense to have zip lock pouches and a tin that’s seal-able.

I too wish the bag was resealable, but since I have the tins I didn’t really think that, but I’m sure I would if I didn’t.

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76
drank Cache-Cache by Lupicia
865 tasting notes

Couldn’t resist getting this because they don’t tell you what it is. Steeped as suggested 5oz water/3min. The bag weighs 3.22g so I’m expecting a nice strong cup. The smell increases my expectation of that. It looks like it’s black in base and smells heavily of orange and passionfruit or mango.

Yep. It’s a black. The liquor is a very dark translucent brown w/ reddish tints and the aroma is still very fruity.

The flavor is much like the aroma. A smooth, heavily fruity flavored black tea (although now much more passionfruity/mangoy than orangey). A little like unset jello.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
__Morgana__

Oooh, a mystery tea! How interesting. They should offer a prize for whoever guesses what is in it.

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60
drank Chai Bag Cinnamon by Lupicia
865 tasting notes

Drank this w/ dark chocolate peanut butter on graham crackers.

Even though the weight (3.5g) is on the bag, which is really nice, I decided to weigh it and was surprised that mine is actually 3.74g! Yay!

6oz just shy of boiling water. The liquor is very dark and it definitely smells of strong cinnamon. To my relief, it does not taste of cinnamon red hots though. While strong, the cinnamon is smooth and blends w/ the strong tea base. There’s even almost a sweetness to it. This; however, is not what I think of or want when I drink chai. It’s simply a cinnamon flavored black tea.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec

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70
drank Earl Grey by Lupicia
47 tasting notes

Just okay. I like some more depth on my earl grey, but this just has light citrus. Not bad, just not my favorite.

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72
drank Assam Calcutta Auction by Lupicia
47 tasting notes

Another one from my Lupicia tea latte sampler. Solid choice.

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74
drank Strawberry & Vanilla by Lupicia
865 tasting notes

My 1st Lupica order! I needed a matcha sifter so I picked up their tea strainer and decided to make my order free shipping and magazine qualifying. 1st some notes on Lupica: Pretty quick shipping/delivery time. Ordered late last Fri afternoon, was shipped on Monday, and got here at 9am this morning. On a side note, boy is my FedEx person precise! Both times I’ve had something delivered via FedEx s/he’s gotten here at almost exactly 8:50am. Free shipping on orders $35 and up. Each order at this price also qualifies you for a 1 year subscription to their monthly magazine that comes w/ a free sample. If you place a 2nd order at this level before your subscription is up, your new subscription expiration date is a year from your latest $35 purchase. Free sample w/ purchase (which unfortunately is listed on your shipping confirmation so it isn’t a surprise. I got 2 though (this one was a surprise), is that because I also qualified for the magazine? Tracking number provided.

I was thrilled to get this! This is what I call a psuedo flavored matcha- tea that’s meant to be decanted, but also contains matcha. Another surprise- the description mentions nothing about rose petals, but there are several gorgeous rose petals in this pyramid bag. When I weighed the bag I was pleasantly surprised at the weight- 3.3g!

The raw leaf is exactly what you’d expect. The matcha, strawberry, vanilla, and rose are all evident. It’s definitely sweet and doesn’t smell jammy like I expected- probably because strawberry is only one of 4 aromas and flavors here.

I knocked the temperature down just a couple degrees from the suggested boiling temp, but otherwise steeped it as suggested: 5oz water for 2min.

Odd… the liquor is quit translucent except for the matcha that settled at the bottom. Not like mecha or herb green. The translucent liquor is a lovely golden color.

It smells exactly like the raw leaf. The vanilla added to the strawberry kinda makes it smell like strawberry milk.

Served clean. Lupicia says it pairs well w/ milk (it’s even in their tea latte sampler), but I don’t like strawberry milk, so I’ll pass.

It also tastes like it smells… well pretty much. The strawberry, vanilla, and rose are the dominant flavors w/ the rose being the weakest of the 3. The decanted green tea is also in the back ground, but unfortunately my suspicions looking at the liquor were confirmed. I didn’t tasted the matcha til the last half of the cup, and even then it was weak. Maybe I should have stirred it? All in all a good tea, but I wish the matcha was stronger. 52teas should definitely come up w/ a strawberry, rose, vanilla matcha!=D

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec
fcmonroe

This is one of the teas I’ve had from Lupicia that I really miss now that I’ve used it all up. I really enjoyed it quite a bit. I bought the loose version instead of teabags, so I’m glad to know that the teabags are enjoyable as well. It’s so much easier to carry teabags when I go out to eat.

Cofftea

What did you think about the amount of matcha in the loose?

Janefan

I just looked at my order to track it, and saw that I’m getting a sample of this too.

Cofftea

Me too. I love that I’m getting this again, but I hate that the suprise is spoiled.

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73
drank Jasmin Mandarin by Lupicia
123 tasting notes

Very basic jasmine tea. It’s like the ‘default’ version. The jasmine tea you get served in Chinese restaurants. It’s light and floral, fragrant and flavorful, but the brew doesn’t blow me away with awesome.

Of course, maybe the only reason I’m thinking of Chinese restaurants is because I’m using a metal teapot today that I found in the back of a cupboard at work.

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60
drank Sencha "Matsuri" by Lupicia
265 tasting notes

I’m finally feeling well enough to be adventurous with tea again, so this is the first new tea I’ve tried for a while.

The liquor is a typical sort of sencha colour, maybe a little more yellowish than usual. The aroma of the dry leaves is strongly vegetal, and really put me in the mood for that distinctive sencha taste. Sadly, the brewed tea really didn’t quite deliver. I’m used to delicate teas, but this one wasn’t just delicate; it was dull. While the taste wasn’t at all astringent it also didn’t have a lot of sweetness or personality. Once it had cooled, there was a little more sharpness to it. All in all, really not a memorable tea. I liked the last sencha I tried – Ariake, also from Lupicia – a lot more.

Damn. I really wanted to like this more. I might go and dig out something else to drink to finish the evening on a less disappointed note.

Preparation
155 °F / 68 °C 0 min, 45 sec

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82
drank Afternoon Tea by Lupicia
251 tasting notes

I’m almost sure that I drank this a couple of times without logging it. This is the kind of tea that you’ll drink if it’s in your cupboard, but you won’t necessarily go out of your way to purchase. It went pretty fast, and it reminded me a lot of Twinnings Prince of Wales tea.

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82
drank Afternoon Tea by Lupicia
251 tasting notes

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82
drank Afternoon Tea by Lupicia
251 tasting notes

I’ve gotten a bit behind due to work and such, so I’m playing catch up with some reviewing today. This is a good standard tea. It reminds me some of the Prince Wales blend from Twinnings. It is a blend of several different kinds of teas, so the leaves are pretty non-homogeneous. The tea steeps up to a nice dark brown. To me, this tsates like a classic tea, and I enjoy it with a dash of soy creamer and sweetener.

This is the kind of tea I might order along with other teas to get free shipping. I like it, but if it wasn’t in the cabinet, I wouldn’t miss it. I’ll probably use it up pretty quickly, since it’s something you can reach for when you’re not in the mood for flavored teas, and I seem a little bit overwhelmed by the flavored black teas I have in the cabinet right now. I like them, but not everyday.

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70
drank Silonibari, BPS (CTC) by Lupicia
47 tasting notes

Standard CTC black tea good for tea latte, but nothing special.

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