Strawberry & Vanilla

Oh, these were the saddest leftovers – just tea dust, really, enough for one cup, barely. And forgotten in a plastic bag since some time in October, no less. Insanely, it smells great, and tastes quite acceptable. Still my favourite strawberry.

Thankfully, I restocked when I was in Santa Clara, but I clearly don’t need to open that one for a while.

[Purchased at Lupicia in Honolulu, December 2012.]
[Polished off in Rome, January 2014.]

My interest in flavored green teas has definitely been waning, but when it comes to flavored teas, Lupicia is one of my preferred vendors. This came as a free sample in their monthly newsletter and it’s a nylon mesh pyramid teabag.

The aroma of this is very enticing – I agree it smells like strawberry quik! The tea is also very pretty with rose petals blended in.

The taste though, is somewhat lacking in the flavor department. I like the green tea base (a matcha/bancha blend) and I can definitely taste the tea underneath. The vanilla is certainly present but I am only getting a faint hint of strawberry. I suppose this could be a blessing or a curse depending on how flavored you like your teas. I was hoping for more strawberries in mine. Definitely not terrible but it’s not going on my list of things to pick up when I’m near the Lupicia store.

Hey Steepsters. Changed my name. See below for the reason. 

Yesterday was a very stressful day. I had a job interview that lasted a full day. 5 different people interviewed me, and then at the end of the day I had to give a 1 hr presentation. I think it went well, but now the waiting game begins. I treated myself to a massage today since yesterday was quite the challenge. 

Since yesterday was so stressful (and devoid of tea) I thought I would brew up some tea I got in a trade. This is very yummy and flavorful. Not bitter at all and was quite enjoyable hot. I’ll have to try cold brewing too. 

Since I’m applying for a few jobs, but I like my tealog to be able to speak freely, I thought I would change my name(s). If you forgot who I am, just send me a message. 

(Thanks to Crystal and Lady 0f Spaydes for a sample of this)

After two missed deliveries due to Sandy, my Lupicia order is finally here! I was planning on trying a different tea first, but this one stuck out because it came with a recipe for an iced latte. It’s funny, this isn’t a tea I ever would have ordered without Steepster. I tend to stay away from strawberry teas since they can be so easily artificial-tasting, but this has so many reviews and seems to be a really popular blend. I needed one more tea to hit the $60 for free shipping and the one I wanted was out of stock, so into my cart Strawberry & Vanilla went!

The latte is pretty simple: simmer the tea with water and sugar, add milk & matcha, heat to a boil, then strain over ice. Voila, latte is done! First off, it smells amaaazing. Super bright strawberry scent, and very smooth and creamy. I did try this before adding all the extra stuff, and the cream/vanilla is really strong even before the milk & matcha step. There’s matcha in the leaves, just a bit, which adds a nice grassy/smooth taste. And of course, the sencha base is as fresh and bright as you’d expect from them!

I think Lupicia is one of the few companies to always nail fruity flavors, at least in my mind. The strawberry is pure, sweet, delicate and so on-point. However, it doesn’t overwhelm the tea—it manages to be strong but also complements it. It doesn’t taste heavily flavored, though the strawberry and also the vanilla are super-present. And as a latte, god almighty it’s perfect. Uhnf, creamy sweet grassy fruity perfection. I really didn’t even think I’d like this tea that much, but I LOVE it! I’m looking forward to digging into the rest of my order even more now.

This is Lupicia’s free sample of the month! Yay!! The dry leaf aroma is yummy! I can detect strawberry and green tea, but no vanilla scent. I can’t bring myself to follow the instructions and use boiling water, so I settled for 190 degrees. I’m also not sure about that “goes well with milk” description. I can’t imagine adding milk to green tea!

One and a half minutes later…it almost smells like baked goods. Yes, that’s it; it smells exactly like those vanilla bean scones from Starbucks, mmmm!! Wow, really really mouthwatering, fresh out of the oven, vanilla bean scones!

The taste is underwhelming, but that’s because the aroma is so magnificent that I want it to taste exactly how it smells. If I ignore how much I love the aroma, then it tastes pretty good. Maybe even great.

The vanilla blends very nicely with the green tea. The two flavors really complement each other. I think I may have to investigate other teas with this combo. As for the strawberry? Hmmm, I’m not sure I can detect it. If it’s there, it blends so well with the other flavors that I can’t isolate it.

Time for a second steep at 190 degrees for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. Yum, still very delicious. Even the third steep for 4 minutes is tasty! I’m raising the rating from 71 to 80.

AAHHHHHH!!!!!!! And this was my 200th tasting note!!!!!

I drank this last night then didn’t feel like writing a note about it, so now I am.
This smells so good, although it has just a hint of chapstick to it for some reason.

It’s in the taste too, something with the strawberry I guess. It’s still pretty enjoyable. I didn’t get much vanilla from it, though it did seem creamier than your average flavored green. I think I’d like to try just a vanilla green.

This was just one sachet, but I think I would try it again.

Such a supremely lovely tea.
Delicate and mellow – that perfect wind down relaxing cup for late afternoon early evening.
I think I shall have another!

Mmm… yummy! I’ve been wanting to try this tea since foreeeever and I finally got to thanks to MadelineAlyce!

The dry leaves smell so good. I can totally smell the rose petals. They remind me of the little baskets of dried roses petals my mom used to put in my room when I came home to visit. Roses grown by my dad! Alas, the rose bush is gone now, due to a barbeque fire last summer.
But anyway, it also smelled a bit like tart strawberries topped with cream. Mmm…strawberries and cream…with rose petals! This is summer. It is not summer without dad’s roses and a strawberry short cake. Not necessarily together. So hopefully, dad has a new rosebush for this year!

After brewing, I was a bit surprised at the color of the tea. So green and powdery on the bottom. Seemed like it was matcha-ed. And now that I read the description, I see that my suspicions were correct. Brewed tea smells amazing. Just a tad of vegetal flavor coming through to freshen up the strawberry flavor. And it’s all smoothed over with vanilla. Not as decadent as strawberry shortcake, but refreshing and a bit naughty, like a strawberry and coconut milk smoothie with a pinch of vanilla sugar.

I’m enjoying this quite a bit. I really need to get an order in to Lupicia cause everything I’ve ever tried from there has been super tasty.

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

The dry tea in the sachet smells like strawberry milk (i.e. strong strawberry, but a bit artificial), but once brewed it smells more like cut berries. The flavors of vanilla, strawberry, and green tea seems to be melded perfectly. No one overpowers, but I can pick each out if I try. I can see how this may be good with a drop of milk, because it does taste like the green tea equivalent of strawberry milk (seems to be a theme for me today, as I had Strawberry Sensation Carnation Instant Breakfast with some added matcha this morning!).

I really like this tea, and wish I had more of it (it was a Lupicia free sample — with my order).