Sakura & Berry/Lupicia -Stephenia-

Each year Lupicia Tea, a Japanese tea company, comes out with a Sakura collection to celebrate cherry blossom season. The collection changes each year and for 2021 the theme is traditional Japanese culture that has been handed down through the generations, such as crafts and traditional Japanese patterns. The collection is well balanced and features a green tea, a decaf tea, black tea, rooibos, even a sakura matcha! The tins this year are beautiful and feature a lovely floral motive. I have wanted to try teas from Lupicia’s Sakura collection for some time so I decided this year that I would order a few.

The first one I am reviewing is Sakura & Berry. This has a black tea base with salted cherry leaf, rose petal and flavoring. The description says that this has a “sweet strawberry flavor.” The dry leaf smells amazing and actually made me think of when my mom would make me strawberries and cream oatmeal as a kid. I steeped the tea up at 212 degrees for 3 minutes.

I really love this one. The first taste is a nice fruity strawberry flavor, nothing too strong. It actually has the same strawberry flavor as strawberries and cream oatmeal but without the cream aspect. On the second taste I get a hit of the black tea base, it is smooth and mellow. I had hoped that I would get taste of the salted cherry leaf however that didn’t come through in the flavor.

Overall this is a tasty strawberry tea in a beautiful tin and certainly worth trying if you love strawberry-flavored teas. I really enjoy Lupicia tea, in fact their rooibos-based honeydew melon tea is in my top 5 favorite teas of all time! If you are interested in the Sakura collection I would not wait as fulfillment for the US comes from the online Hawaii Lupicia store and they get very limited amounts of inventory on these special edition collections.


Want to Know More About This Tea?

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Lupicia

Description

We are happy to announce the arrival of our seasonal SAKURA & BERRY tea: A blend of Darjeeling and Nilgiri black teas with salted cherry blossom leaves, mixed with sweet strawberry flavor and aroma. Popular as a hot or iced tea, try it with a bit of milk! A LUPICIA Hawaii staff favorite. (Only available in limited quantity)

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Wildberry Black Tea from Simpson and Vail . . . .

BERRIES BERRIES BERRIES. Berries near! Berries far! Berries drank from a jar!

Berries sipped in a car!

Berries berries on your tongue; berries are for everyone!

This berry blend is so berry-licious that I had to slip into a rhyme trance. I’m back now, though, to let you know that wow, this is a lot of berries.

It’s a blend of wildberries, blackberries, and raspberries. They ooze into one thick (slightly NyQuil-like) mix.

Iced, the berries are more sweet and less medicinal, but they’re still pretty strong.

I definitely prefer this iced. It’s got a lot of a perky kick that works better cold than hot. If you’re a berry fanatic, you’ll love this BERRY MUCH. But if you’re on the fence, this might be a little much.

You need to reach in your heart. To thine own self be true. Berries here, berries there, berries are everywhere! Berries are pals I love the most! Berries have taken over this post!

 


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy:  Simpson and Vail
Description

This outstanding berry blend is a combination of strawberry, blueberry and blackberry flavors. It brews to a deep amber cup with a fresh picked berry aroma and a taste that explodes on your taste buds. Delicious hot or iced, it’s the perfect cup for a relaxing summer day!

Ingredients: black teas, wildberry flavor, blackberry leaves, raspberry pieces, and malva (mallow) blossoms.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!