Piccolo

This came as a sample with my Lupicia order. I’m not sure what to say about it. It’s a rooibos, so that’s good for an evening cup. It was neither bitter nor sour. It just didn’t seem to have any flavor at all. Probably not fair of me to say that, since I taste very little, but there wasn’t anything about this tea that makes it stand out. I would drink it again if a friend served it, but I won’t go and buy it.

You know you have too much tea when something has been in your cupboard for 6 weeks and this is the first time you’ve tried it! Finally getting around to the rest of the tea in my Lupicia Happy Bag. This one has a strong, almost syrupy sweet generic berry flavor with a touch of honey in the aftertaste. Others have compared this tea to cough syrup and I do understand the comparison. But personally, I found it quite drinkable. Not something I’ll be running out to re-purchase, but I’ll happily finish my tin.

Had only one teabag of this from my happy bag purchase. It is relatively sweet with the savory character of the rooibos present too. I can taste the berries in this one. I think I brewed it with slightly too much water as it came out slightly weak.

I brewed one teabag in approx ten ounces of boiling water for five minutes.

Sipdown (123)!

Well, this is the tea that I sort of inadvertently rang in the New Year with. Not that it wasn’t enjoyable; but I was feeling rather sick NYE and had slept through pretty well all of the afternoon and evening. I woke up just in time to make a cup of tea (not looking at the clock) only to realize, half way through the cup, that it was about ten minutes after midnight! Darn.

Last year I started the New Year by making Tea Soda with DT’s Bubbly Blend – you know, champagne tea for the new year. This year the plan was either Jingle Bells from Lupicia (which is a champagne tea) or Strawberry Champagne from RiverTea. Too late to do anything about it now, though.

Actually though, this was a lot better than the first cup I had of it. I thought the honey and graham cracker notes were both still very much present along with the strawberry flavour, but the medicinal/lozenge quality had, much to my delight, seemingly vanished. Also, the less defined currant flavour I experienced with cup number one tasted significantly more like black currants in this cup.

Thank you Cameron B. for the sample! I’m happy that I got this second cup to produce a better brew than the first, but I honestly don’t have the faintest clue what I did differently to switch up the flavour.

Hooray, more Lupicia! This one is part of the caffeine free mini-tin set that I bought partially because I wanted to try the teas and partially because the mini tins are adorable! The set also includes Rooibos Lemon and Decaf Carol, and each tin contains 5 sachets. (http://instagram.com/p/wcKGgCGgPz/) This one has a teddy bear playing a piccolo on it, adorable! Anyway… I really dislike how vague Lupicia’s descriptions are – this one says berries and honey but doesn’t tell you what berries. Dry, it smells mostly like strawberry although there’s something the reminds me of apricot as well.

Wow, I’m surprised this tea has such a low rating (I suspect because a lot of people received it with the magazine or in grab bags, and a lot of those people don’t actually like rooibos…). The flavor is mostly strawberry jam, though I do taste honey as well. There’s something very slightly cough drop-ish about this, but it’s not enough to bother me much. It’s tasty enough as a nighttime tea! :)

Tried this tea while staying at a friend’s house! I haven’t had much success with red rooibos lately, so this was a nice surprise. The dry leaf has a very sweet smell, with lots of thick honey notes. After I steeped it for three minutes, the aroma changed to mostly berries (strawberry, I think?) and apricot. The taste is somewhere in between— a touch of honey, a touch of apricot, and a splash of berry flavor, all mixed in with rooibos. The rooibos seems pretty light here, and not too medicinal—but I’m not sure whether that’s due to the short steep time or the blend itself. Either way, this was a pleasant tea to start my evening. I’m not sure that I’d purchase it, but it’s better than most rooibos blends I’ve tried.

Well, I just posted a review about my dislike of rooibos and naturally this one comes to my attention. Piccolo was great, it is a very sweet tea that reminds me a lot of their strawberry/vanilla flavored teas. The rooibos blends well with the flavoring, delivering a smooth taste that isn’t too heavy. It’s a great summer tea that’s delicious iced.

Sipdown!! (189)

So my brother has his friends over and they drank the Maple Bacon SBT (thank god!) but when they finished that, they also polished off my sangria tea which made me sad. This is life though. Maybe I could use this to my advantage and just brew up all the teas I don’t want anymore and make them drink it :P

Luckily they didn’t get into my swap packages so I have this tasty tea, courtesy of the awesome jump62359 (thank you!!), all to myself. It has a delicious honey flavor that gives way to amazing fresh berries. There is even a touch of creaminess that makes this tea reminiscent of a yummy dessert comprised of fresh berries, drizzled with honey, and topped with just a bit of whipped cream. Mmmmm…

I found this to be an enjoyable rooibos. It tastes quite strong without being too overpowering. The flavors are nice and it smells quite good. I’ll be sipping this one down tomorrow.

Sweet and perhaps a little bit too artificial in taste, but otherwise okay. Not my favorite.