Jingle Bells

So, I was working on my review of this when my phone decided to refresh the page for me. It’s not at all easy to type on here, especially when the touch screen refuses to cooperate. I was thinking about the other teas that I tried from Lupicia that were also grape flavored.

The three teas all smell like Kasugai gummies, which I like. It’s slighly artificial in that it reminds me more of the candy than the fruit. The black tea base makes it more subtle, but it isn’t a very bitter tea. The grape is more of a hint than a full flavor.

Summer. Ugh.
My significant other and myself have a merry little argument about which is worse, excessive heat or excessive cold. He maintains that winter is the worst, and that he hates to be cold more than anything. But his level of whining when its hot gives lie to that.
I maintain that summer is the worst, especially around here. The sky is painful, and there is nothing you can do, when you are outside, to make things cooler for yourself. Its all suffering all the time. In the winter there are sweaters, and scarves, and tea. Warming up is easier than cooling down.
This is my round about way of saying its going to be 105 today, and so I’m drinking this fruity cup of tea, and then resigning myself to a fate of no tea for most of the rest of the day.
Bleh.

Pretty sure this one was from kittenna this one is potent – super grape smell. brewed up, this is grapey but there’s a floral scent under it. it tastes like a floral sort of champagne like tea. I LOVE the smell but the taste of this one is better in the after taste than in the actual sip. lol Not a fan but i’m glad to have tried it.

Holy grape. I can see why this managed to contaminate VariaTEA’s other Lupicia teas, because it is POTENT. However, it’s also pretty good (though won’t make it into my top teas… just not that big of a fan of grape). Anyhow, I found it to be quite a juice tea – the black base was pretty tame, so the grape was all that I really perceived. And it was a pretty nice, true version of grape, not that bubblegum clone that sometimes is passed off as grape. Overall, happy enough with this, but I’m glad I only have 25g :)

Grapes and….bitter astringency. Another failed experiment. I think I may just stop trying to brew black teas here.

Sadly this was the last of the sample from Cameron B. but I’ve still got all of VariaTEA’s sample left to go through. And, I was going to save this for New Years because of the champagne aspect, but I wound up forgetting and didn’t have any champagne themed tea on NYE! Darn it! Instead I rang in the New Year with a totally random tea (which I’ll write about later).

Similarly to last time, this tasted very sweet and candy like. It kept bringing up images of Grape Crush but less artificial/chemical tasting. Same sweetness, though. I found the champagne was maybe a little less present in this cup than in that first one; though I suppose the “bubble” aspect of Champagne may have been part of what was pulling my mind towards soda. Subconsciously, anyway.

Still loved this one; but having had it twice now I can say with some confidence that I want a little more base to be present; it just feels so covered up by the very lush grape flavouring. That’s part of why I could probably keep some of this one and Niagara Ice Wine on hand though; both are very “purple” grape teas but the latter has a more even ratio of flavouring and base.

Sipdown! (23 | 432)

Yay, another oldest tea down! This tin was from November of 2017. I think I only have two more 2017 teas left! Granted, that’s not saying much, but still a nice milestone to see.

This is one of Lupicia’s lovely grape teas. It reminds me of a combination of grape Hi-Chew and Welch’s sparkling red grape juice. I love those sparkling juices at holiday meals, and will definitely be partaking at Thanksgiving time! So to me, this has a rich, almost slightly winey grape flavor with a sweet candy edge to it. I adore Japanese grape candy flavoring, so the somewhat artificial quality of it doesn’t bother me. The base is rather earthy, which I actually like as it cuts the sweetness a bit. Not a hint of bitterness here either, even though the leaf is somewhat fine.

A lovely tea! Happily, I still have a couple of other grape creations from Lupicia in my cupboard. :3

I love the grape flavor of this tea, and the champagne gives in a brightness that’s really refreshing. I usually buy a few bags when it’s available for a limited time around Christmas.

In addition to Devilish’s review, “a black tea scented with refreshing grapes and fruity champagne” is the description that Lupicia had on the sampler tin that I purchased as part of their holiday teas pack. It’s a great citrusy black tea — not too aciditic at all. The grape notes in this tea do wonders to lift the darkness of the tea. I could’ve done with a little less sweetness.

I didn’t know that they put some ‘yogurt’ in this tea! lol BTW this winter holiday tea taste like a ‘winter holiday tea’. Very sweet. I usually prefer straight tea so I don’t drink this tea that much, but I sometimes drink this for milk tea. Quiet lovely tea I guess.