99 Tasting Notes

90
drank Vanilla by Lupicia
99 tasting notes

I was wanting more of this after having it this weekend, so I decided to start the day with it! I’ve got some black teas that are rather disappointing with less-than-boiling water, so I was hoping this wouldn’t be one of them. It’s not! :) I do feel like the vanilla comes across a bit more at this lower temperature, which is nice. But it’s delicious both ways! :)

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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85

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Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 8 min or more

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90
drank Fantasy by Lupicia
99 tasting notes

I am the first to review this tea. Whoa.

But anyway, the dry leaves of this smell like yummy, yummy noms. Fresh fruit salad, to be more specific.

Brewed, the scent of caramel comes across a bit more, but still mainly fruity.

I have to say that the description led me to believe this would be along the lines of Kusmi’s St Petersburg, which is also fruits and caramel (though that has bergamot and this does not). But this really doesn’t smell anything like that. This smells more like caramel apple. Hoooomg. The yumminess of a caramel apple!

My conclusion upon tasting it is that more people should be drinking this tea. For serious. It is delectable and fruity and sweet, but not caramel-appley as the scent would imply. The tea in this isn’t too obvious, but it isn’t completely lost, either. It definitely blends well with the flavors, and everything is in a wonderful, delicious balance. It isn’t too fruity, and it isn’t too caramely, it’s just fresh and yummy with a slight sweetness, and it feels right to be enjoying this on a glorious spring day like today. This would probably be good iced, too!

I may be the first Steepsterite to say, “This is yummy; you should buy it!” But hopefully I won’t be the last!

This is the last of the 6 teas I ordered, and I’m so happy with all of them that I wish there were more! But I still have two samples left to taste. Mwahaha! >:D

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
JacquelineM

My list is getting a mile long after reading these great reviews!! Caramel apple!

the quiet life

It only smells like caramel apple. It doesn’t taste like it. But it’s still YUM! :D

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90
drank Vanilla by Lupicia
99 tasting notes

This tea smells much like the other vanilla teas I’ve had do: black tea with a hint of vanilla. The dry leaf smells a bit more flavored, but it’s basically what you’d expect from a vanilla tea.

The problem I’ve had with other vanilla teas is that the vanilla flavor and the black base don’t complement each other well. While this does improve as the tea cools, I wanted something that was perfect the whole way through, and this tea is!

This tea is smooth and delicious, what I’ve come to expect from Lupicia over the past couple days. The flavoring in this tea is pretty subtle, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I do like my flavors loud, but there is such a thing as too-much-flavoring. This tea doesn’t have that. What this tea does have is a smooth black base with a hint of vanilla, and the flavors blend wonderfully. The vanilla even adds a bit of thickness to the tea, it seems. This is what I’ve been expecting from the other vanilla teas I’ve tried, only to be disappointed.

So this tea? This tea is YUM.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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85

Out of all the chocolate teas I’ve tried, this one smells the most chocolatey by far! Based on my success with the other Lupicia teas I’ve tried thus far, I’m really excited to see how much of that comes across when brewed.

Brewed, it rather smells like hot chocolate with a background of tea. It actually kind of reminds me of the scent of Marco Polo, if Marco Polo didn’t have that fruitiness to it. YUM.

This is certainly a tasty tea! It’s more hinting-at-chocolate than it is tasting-like-chocolate, but I like that. I find that the taste of the chocolate is more spot-on than with the other chocolate teas I’ve had. It’s a bit more cocoa-y. But the flavor doesn’t overpower the black base; it blends with it. Like the other Lupicia teas, this one is very smooth and very well flavored. It’s a winner!! :)

Being the chocolate-lover that I am, I will never stop going for chocolate teas. But, so far, out of the ones I’ve tried thus far, I’m liking this one the best. :)

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
Auggy

I with you on enjoying Lupicia’s flavored teas – they more often than not make me happy (the one exception so far being anything strawberry which reminds me of strawberry Quik). Yay for Lupicia!

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87
drank Cookie by Lupicia
99 tasting notes

This tea genuinely smells like a cookie! Imagine what a caramel-flavored shortbread cookie might smell like, and that’s what this tea smells like. Yum!

Brewed, it smells bakey and slightly sweet. The scent kiiiind of reminds me of hazelnut coffee, actually. The nuttiness probably comes from the almond that’s in it. But overall, it smells much like the dry leaf.

This is smooth with a side of bakey and sweet. However, it doesn’t taste quite as much like a cookie as it smells. This doesn’t mean it’s not yummy. It’s REALLY yummy. :)

You know what? To me, it tastes kind of like a sweeter Thomas Sampson. Mmmmm.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
JacquelineM

!!!!!!!! Yum!!

Auggy

Okay, you totally sold me on the “sweeter Thomas Sampson” bit. Adding this one to my shopping list!

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92
drank Milk Caramel by Lupicia
99 tasting notes

Out of the 6 teas I ordered, this one smelled the best. Veeeeery sweet and caramely! And I like that it’s a green tea. I love my blacks, but I like to mix it up sometimes. :P

When brewed, the toastiness of the houjicha comes out, but there’s definitely still some sweet caramel in there.

It tastes toasty right up front. It’s an interesting flavor, the toasty green tea combined with caramel. But not in a bad way, just in a unique way. I’m really liking it! Lupicia knows how to do caramel, that’s for sure! But I think between this one and Caramele, I like Caramele a bit more. But only a tiny bit more. :P The caramel flavor comes through a bit more in Caramele, and it’s more of a hint in this one.

I would say that, if you aren’t a fan of toasty, this probably isn’t for you. But if you like toasty, and you like your flavors to be less in-your-face, you should definitely try this one!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec

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95
drank Caramele by Lupicia
99 tasting notes

My Lupicia order came yesterday! I finally caved and bought a bunch of teas I’d been eyeing for a while, and ordered enough for free shipping and a catalog. :D

This was the one I was most excited to try. It’s got caramel and almond flavoring, two of my favorite things!

The dry leaf smells very sweet, to the point where I was a little bit cautious about it. However, brewed, it doesn’t smell quite as sweet. The scent of caramel is the most obvious, but there’s black tea behind that. It smells YUM. I can hardly resist drinking it as it’s cooling. But I must resist, or my tongue will burn. :P

It doesn’t taste nearly as sweet as it smells, but it’s got such a wonderful balance of flavors, and a lingering sweetness on the tongue. YUM.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
JacquelineM

YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What else did you get? I have my eye on the barley one, the Cookie, more Breakfast Earl Grey and those ridiculous and adorable sugar charms!!! I have to add this one too!

the quiet life

I got Cookie, The Au Chocolat, Fantasy, Milk Caramel, and Vanilla besides this one. They all smell SOOOO good! And I would definitely recommend this one. It’s soo smooth and yummy! :D

JacquelineM

I will be looking for your reviews so I can adjust my list :) I plan to order some time in April!!

the quiet life

You must have excellent self control! :P Whenever I want something, I can’t resist getting it right away, lol. Patience and I aren’t very good friends. :P

But just to forewarn you (if you don’t already know), the bags their tea comes in aren’t resealable, so if you don’t have extra tins lying around, you might want to consider buying the in-a-tin-already version, or stocking up on tins first!

JacquelineM

Thank you – I didn’t know that about the bags and it would have really put me out!! I don’t have any extra tins at the moment.

I try to keep to a tea budget – I have X amount to spend in a month and once that is spent – gotta wait til next month (unless something spectacular and time sensitive comes along like the Samovar Steepster Select – went totally over budget for that)!

the quiet life

I tried to have a tea budget. It didn’t work. :( But I really should try again. I just have to stay strong and keep reminding myself that I have a ton of tea and don’t need more, lol.

My Lupicia order came about because I was really searching for flavored teas with caramel, chocolate, and vanilla! This one really hit the spot with the caramel, so hopefully the others are just as good! :) Now I just have to keep resisting the temptation of Samovar. It’s hard, though, when people keep giving it fantastic reviews! (Steepster Select really doesn’t help my case either! :P)

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93

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Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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80

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Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 6 min, 0 sec

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Bio

I blame half of my tea obsession on Japan and the time I spent there in a study abroad program. Tea is everywhere in Japan, and I drank it daily while staying with my host family. When I came back home, I found myself craving it!

The other half of my tea obsession I blame on my job as a barista at Borders, where we serve Tazo loose leaf teas. I hadn’t even considered loose leaf teas a possibility until I started working there! The freshness and the difference in quality really turned me on to loose leaf teas.

So bit by bit, I’ve been increasing my tea self-education, and I drink tea at least once a day. I love trying new kinds, and unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the more I learn, the more I want to try!

In addition to tea, I also enjoy books and music. If you would like, look for me on last.fm (user: giragirataiyou) or Goodreads (user: thexquietxlife). :)

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Illinois

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