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Finally back from holiday which means that I’m reunited with my tea collection. On the way back though, I stocked up on Takibi so I can enjoy it year-round. Takibi is a flavored oolong from Lupicia. Takibi is a very seasonal tea and they usually only have it in stock in the winter time. It has a very subtle fruit flavor which is very refreshing.
This is the second time I’ve tried this tea. The first time was before I joined Steepster and was in no way a success! The first time, I used an artificial sweetner and it brought out the taste of the rose petals to the point where the tea was just about undrinkable. This time, I tasted the tea unsweetener first. I still didn’t like it, but it was better. I added a few drops of liquid vanilla stevia, and decided it would do. It’s not a tea I’ll be reordering. It’s got too much rose for my tastes.
I finished this one off today making a thermos of tea to take to work. Definitely worth a try. I’ll probably reorder this one at some point, it has a nice refreshing apple flavor. I like the yuzu and the grapefruit better, but this is good when you are in the mood for some apple.
It’s beginning to look a lot like iced tea season here in sunny Florida! That’s a good thing, cause I was tired of the un-Florida like cold weather this year. (Why put up with living in Florida if it’s going to be cold???) So I’m trying this one iced today. I like it better iced than hot. It seems like drinking it cold brings out a nice fresh apple flavor, which is a nice and cooling.
I’m upping the rating just a tad to reflect my joy in discovering how good this tea is iced.
This tea didn’t work for me because there were too many flavours, all of which I didn’t seem to like so much. The tea was decent at first but a few sips later, the flavours tasted stranger. I believe I am not a fan of peppercorn as the sakurambo didn’t work out for my tastebuds either. I tried to sweeten it and still no luck. :(
Preparation
Your comment about too many flavors sounds like something my mom would say. She doesn’t like blends. The closest she’ll come is French Vanilla.
Oho. Ohoho. OhohohoHO. YES.
As noted in my last tasting note about this tea, I’d decided i was going to try it with a little milk the next time I brewed myself a cup.
I didn’t end up using milk.
What I did use, instead, was a little cream. Normal heavy cream, nothing special…of which I had only a tiny amount left due to having mixed up a batch of cream scones for breakfast this morning.
Oho. OHOHOHOHO.
That little bit of cream + the 1/2 teaspoon of sugar + this tea steeped for 3 minutes? MAGIC. This has now shot to the top of my list of the most perfect winter drinks EVER. The chestnut flavour is now exceedingly smooth, warm, invigorating, and comforting. It’s like the softest baby alpaca scarf for your throat. You just want to keep petting it and petting it, and it’s so light and delicious and yet so warm and satisfying.
In conclusion, my hat’s truly off to whomever it was on Lupicia’s site who expounded upon the virtues of this particular tea when taken with milk. IMHO, it’s now indispensable…much like my preferred method with Earl Grey. Positively delightful, and if this is a harbinger of how 2010 is going to shake out, I am ALL FOR IT. Roll on 2010 and Joyeux Noël! I’m only sorry I don’t have a lot more of the latter!
Preparation
Resteep! :)
Same amount of time, same conditions, same amount of sugar. It’s lighter, but still quite mellow and nutty. The flavor is so strong, I bet some people might even be able to get a third steep out of this, but I’m not gonna try it. Instead, I’m going to try a new bag next time with a little milk like someone reviewing this on Lupicia’s website suggests. :)
In conclusion, this tea reminds me of Kaitou Saint Tail. :)
Upon opening the package and smelling this tea, even before steeping, it’s got a slightly toffee aroma. Not overly-sweet, but sort of dark and sweet and almost like…actually, no. It’s more like marzipan than toffee. As I said, not overly-sweet.
As it steeps, it turns a pleasant reddish-brown colour, as you can see in the stock photo. Actually, as it gets closer to time (I steeped for the full 3 minutes, as I like most teas stronger rather than weaker), the reddish brown gets a little deeper…almost like the skin of a chestnut. Very nice. The smell of chestnuts gets stronger, too. I grow more apprehensive…I like roasted chestnuts well enough, but I’m not sure how I feel about warm chestnut juice. Hrrm.
First sip is pleasantly toasty and mellow, with none of even the “subtle bitterness” the description describes. A half-teaspoon of sugar gives it that tiny little bit of levity it needed, and now the chestnut flavour is bright and vibrant. It really does taste exactly like roasted chestnuts! (I’ve no clue about the Paris part, as I unfortunately have yet to go there. Though I think we may have driven past Paris, Texas once upon a time. But I digress, as usual. :) )
There’s not much tea taste underneath the chestnut, but at the same time, I wouldn’t say that the chestnut is overpowering. It’s more like they’ve melded together so well that I can’t distinguish them.
While I don’t use it as much in daily life as I’d perhaps like, I’m still awfully glad I’ve retained some of my Japanese, if only so I can read tea boxes and steep my tea at the right temperature for the right amount of time. Although this came from a new package my friend in Hawaii sent me (that arrived just yesterday, bursting with tea, eeee!), this tea was made in Tokyo…and so was the box. XD
Preparation
I used up the last of this yesterday!! Just squeaked in heating up the water before we lost power for 5 hours. Very grateful that it’s back on now, and that the tree that fell during the storm didn’t do any more than damaging a neighbor’s car and taking out some power lines.