With all of the tea I have consumed over the years I have had very little from Lupicia believe it or not. I’m happy to say that we have some new Lupicia reviews coming up VERY SOON starting with this one…Tokio from Lupicia!
I think this was one of the first Lupicia teas I actually tried years and years ago. I thought I had already reviewed it here at Sororitea Sisters but I was mistaken. So NOW is as good as time as any, I suppose!
Tokio from Lupicia is a green tea with sweet berries. And guess what it DOESN’T have? Hibiscus! YAY! A berry flavored tea with NO Hibiscus! I could not be more excited! This tea also has marigold petals. Together they pose a very crisp tasting flavored green tea. The green tea is on the sweeter side all by itself but the berry and floral notes are a secondary flavor. They aren’t overpowering the green tea base and I LOVE that!
It’s sweet, it’s juicy, it’s berry, it’s floral, it’s refreshing, and it’s SUPER tasty! YUM! Totally terrific hot or cold! Tokio from Lupicia is a real winner!
**Edit: Lupicia’s Happy Bag Promotion is currently underway!For more details and to reserve yours today-click here!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Flavored Tea
Where to Buy: Lupicia
Description
TOKIO is a green tea delicately flavored with sweet berries. This beautiful tea with marigold petals has a very crisp taste which appeals to everyone, and is one of our best selling items. It’s delicious chilled as well. Try with a little honey when you want to perk up.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company !
Harvest Moon from Souvia Tea. . . .
I keep trying to write my review, but you guys– all I can think of is apple cinnamon instant oatmeal.
(Okay, let’s back up a sec.)
I brewed this cup of Souvia’s Harvest Moon green tea this morning looking for something calming and settling on my stomach. I wanted something sweet and tasty, but light and not overdone. The dry leaf smells strongly of apples with a hint of spice, which bodes well for what I’m in the mood for.
The literal second the hot water hits my steeper, I am immediately hit with the overwhelming scent-twin of the instant apple cinnamon oatmeal packets of my youth. Seriously, it’s spot-on. I steep for a few minutes, and the flavor matches the scent exactly, with just a hint of grassiness from the green tea. Overall, it’s a pleasant cup, no need for honey (as I often prefer my greens) but there’s the tiniest, lingering thought that I’m actually drinking my adolescent breakfast-to-go. If you’re a fan of warm, comforting scents and chilly-weather-appropriate green teas, this might just be your perfect cup.
In the meantime– I’m going to the grocery store. I’ve got an oatmeal craving to fill.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Flavored Green Tea
Where to Buy: Souvia Tea
Description
This tea is no longer available but check out the link below to see what is.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
On the 8th Day of Christmas 52Teas Sent To Me (Spoilers!)
Continuing with our 12 Days of Christmas countdown, today I was excited to scratch off the label and see a flavored green tea. So if you are following along and don’t want to be spoiled on what today’s tea is, you might want to stop reading here. You’ve been warned 🙂
The 8th Day of Christmas Tea is. . . ..Buttered Spiced Rum Green Tea.
Today was a day where I drank a lot of black teas so to see a green tea was such a great change of pace. This tea had all of the aroma of a typical chai with a soft overlaying sweet layer. Steeped up per the parameters indicated on the back of the pouch, I let the tea cool for the 5 minutes recommended and took my first sip.
As much spice as I picked up from the dry leaf, I was happy to see that the spices weren’t overpowering and the tea itself had an incredibly lovely sweet touch. I’m assuming that is the Buttered Rum part coming to play. The green tea base just adds to the sweet buttery feel that this tea really exudes.
All in all, a wonderful tea that reminds you of a chai without having those strong chai flavors. Basically a chai for non chai drinkers like myself. I love the fact that the tea base is green tea too. Just calms those spices down so they don’t smack you in the face at the beginning of every sip.
Here is the official tea description and Mad Musings. I write my review before looking at the official description.
Tea Description: Hot Buttered Rum is a traditional winter drink – something that will help warm you up when it’s cold outside. As I’ve often mentioned, I’m not much of a drinker of alcohol – tea is my drink of choice – but I still enjoy the idea of a warm, soothing cup of hot buttered rum – so I decided to create a tea that brought those flavors to life while still enjoying my favorite drink.
I chose a buttery Chinese Sencha as my base because I felt that the natural buttery tones of the tea would highlight the ‘buttered’ part of the buttered rum. Then I added a few spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. The spices aren’t overwhelming because I wanted a gentle, warm spice flavor but not something that would overpower the flavors of creamy butter and rum. A couple of the recipes that I found online for Hot Buttered Spiced Rum called for orange zest – instead, I added some dried orange segments. The orange flavor is delicate here, just a touch of orange to brighten the cup. As I already mentioned, my goal was to highlight the buttered rum flavor so I didn’t want those flavors overwhelmed by other profiles in this blend.
The result is a gentle, warm, soothing beverage. Something that makes me want to curl up next to a crackling fire and read a good book. This one’s really nice!
organic ingredients: green tea, oranges, cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice, nutmeg and natural flavors.
This one required a little bit of tweaking for me to get it just the way I wanted it. The first time I tested it, I wasn’t getting enough of a buttered rum flavor. Oh, I could taste them, but they seemed to be lurking somewhere in the distance. The second time I tested it, the buttered rum flavor was a little more dominant which made me happy, but I wasn’t getting enough from the spices. So I added a few more spices to the blend before I tested it for the third time.
Now that’s the stuff!
I managed to get a nice balance between butter and rum here – and it ends up tasting a lot more like the candies (you know, the popular candies with the hole in the middle?) – like, imagine if you were to liquefy the candies and add that liquid to a cup of green tea – yeah, that’s the flavor I’m getting here. I haven’t really had a hot buttered rum recently (I seem to remember being offered a sip of the drink once when I was young but it either: a) not memorable, or; b) I was either drunk or well on my way to getting there so I don’t remember what it tasted like. I was a bit more of a drinker in my youth than I am today.
The orange is delicate but it develops as I continue to sip. Now that I’m more than halfway finished with my cup, I’m picking up on just a little more orange. Still not a dominant flavor – it’s still much more there than it was at the start and I also notice a hint of tangy citrus lingering on my palate in the aftertaste.
The spices are not strong – this isn’t meant to taste like a chai – but they’re definitely there.
Overall, I think that this drink comes together really nicely. It’s warm and cozy – like something you might want to sip after coming in from the snow. Something soothing and calming and really pleasant.
To brew: Give the pouch a gentle shake to make sure that the spices are incorporated throughout the blend. I used a rounded teaspoon – with Chinese Sencha, it might be easier to use a regular teaspoon from the cutlery drawer rather than one of those ‘perfect’ teaspoons because the leaves are long and spear-like and they don’t fit very well in that perfect teaspoon measuring spoon. Steep in 12 ounces of hot water (heated to 180°F) and let steep for 2 1/2 minutes. Strain and let cool for about 5 minutes. Enjoy.
I personally think that this tea is better hot rather than cold so don’t let it cool too long! Also, a small dollop of honey will accentuate the spices in a very pleasant way so I highly recommend it!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Flavored Green Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below to see what is.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Bubblegum from The NecessiTeas. . . Let the childhood memories begin!
Before I start, I just want to say that The NecessiTeas certainly knows how to fill a tin. I have been opening up new tins of their blends all day and I have spilled tea out of almost every tin. Granted, I may not have been particularly careful and I probably should have learned after the first spill but I am so used to tins being less filled that I didn’t really think about it. Oh well, more tea for me I suppose, especially since it looks like I didn’t even use any tea yet since the tins are still that full.
This particular tin is filled with not only tea but gum as well. Not just any gum either. This blend is filled with the colorful gumballs of everyone’s childhood. The 25 cent gumballs dispensed out of the giant red gumball machines. It’s definitely a blend to bring out the nostalgia in you.
So it might be colorful and look fun but what really matters is the taste. Like all the other NecessiTeas blends I have tried, this one tastes pretty true to its namesake. Sweet and sugary but not cloying in the slightest. Add to that a bit of fruitiness and you got this tea. The green tea base remains completely hidden which is good since I doubt a vegetal flavor would go very well with the rest of what’s going on here.
All in all, like the gumballs for which it is named, this is a sweet treat to have every now and then. It’s got just enough flavor to keep things interesting without being over-the-top. Plus, it is certainly a fun blend for those who want a little bit of novelTEA in their lives.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Flavored Green Tea
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
Description
We all remember that sweet pink bubblegum flavor as a kid. Contests with your best friend to see who could blow the biggest bubble and then having it pop and stick to your entire face. Chewing it for hours until our jaws ached or falling asleep with it in our mouth which meant waking up with a big sticky mess in our hair! This blend takes me back to all those childhood memories and will be loved by adults and children of all ages. Feel free to steep the actual gumballs or pop one in your mouth and work on your bubble blowing skills while your tea is steeping!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
On the 1st Day of Christmas my 52Teas delivered to me. . . .
If you are a fan of 52Teas, you are probably aware of their amazing Christmas promotion. For the last few years, 52Teas has offered a 12 Teas of Christmas set. Included in each set are 12 different teas to enjoy while getting into the holiday spirit. Now what is unique about this is that the flavors are a mystery. Each label has a foil sticker that you scratch off to find out what the tea is. Such a fun, inventive and unique way to enjoy the holidays.
And the presentation couldn’t have been better! The teas were lovingly addressed to me and in a fun gift box, with a note on when to start drinking the teas. So very festive indeed!
So for the next 12 days, I’ll be reviewing the 12 Teas of Christmas. Without further ado. . . .The 1st Day of Christmas tea is. . . {insert drumroll}
Partidgeberry in a Pear Tea
This is a green tea with huge chunks of berries and what I can only assume are huge pear chunks. You really can’t get more festive looking than this tea. Simply gorgeous looking. Brewed up and allowed to steep per the package instructions. (The official description is below)
After drinking this tea and finishing off the package, I can honestly say I can’t imagine a better way to kick off this fun promotion. The green tea was rich and buttery while the pear gave the tea this unique sweetness and the berries complimented the brew with a tang. Very well done and well balanced. This is for sure a tea that can easily go wrong but it really works well.
Like I said, I drank this tea down and am still impressed by how many infusions I was able to get out of each serving. I know typically you are lucky to get 2-3 infusions out of each tea but this tea I was able to infuse 5 times. Sure the flavor wasn’t as strong but those notes were still there being as festive and merry as possible.
If all of the teas are like this one, we are in for an awesome holiday treat!
Tea Description: This was one of my favorite Christmas teas from Frank’s era, and to be honest, I’m not sure if I loved it so much for the tea (although the tea is really delightful!) or the name because – seriously – so clever! Right?
So what is a partridgeberry? Well, my research on Wikipedia tells me a partridgeberry can be a creeping herbaceous shrub native to North America (scientific name: mitchella repens) or it can be a lingonberry (scientific name: vaccinium vitis-idaea). Since I have neither mitchella repens nor vaccinium vitis-idaea at my easy disposal, I decided to choose the easiest/most accessible of these two to include in this blend: the lingonberry.
Prior to blending this tea, my experience with the lingonberry was limited to trips to IKEA and seeing lingonberry jam on the shelves (and at one point, I purchased some of that jam to make a sauce for meatballs. No, I didn’t get the meatballs from IKEA.) I also purchased some lingonberry glogg last year. That was pretty tasty.
Official description of this tea below. Click here for the Mad Tea Musings.
Frank’s description of this tea went like this:
Yes, okay, I am a very silly man. I just couldn’t resist.
Back when I was planning to create all new blends for the 12 teas of Christmas sampler, I was trying to figure out how to go along with the 12 Days of Christmas song. I figured out this one and some sort of Turtle® chocolate treat blend. Three French Hens might have been some kind of French vanilla, but four calling birds completely stumped me.
Well, anyway, here’s our buttery-sweet Chinese sencha blended with wild-harvested Partidgeberry (Mitchella repens), dried pears and natural pear flavors. Silly or not, it is delicious if you like pears.
Yes, I love pears! And I’m much more familiar with pears than I am partridgeberries. And this is technically not supposed to be a partridgeberry tea but a pear tea.
I started with organic Chinese Sencha (just like the original recipe!) and added dried pears and instead of using wild-harvested Partridgeberry, I used internet-purchased lingonberries. And they look pretty in this blend, like little red crystals amidst the long spears of green tea and the chunks of pear. It looks very Christmas-y, this tea.
organic ingredients: green tea, pears and natural flavors
ingredients: lingonberries
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Flavored Green Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
This tea will be available in very limited quantities beginning December 28th at 52Teas!