Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Lupicia
Tea Description:
A distinctively fresh and tropical Thai green tea blended with pieces of freeze-dried durian fruit. Tart notes of exotic fruit balance out the rich and powerfully fragrant durian. THE KING OF FRUITS definitely prevails in this one-of-a kind tea experience.
Blended with the high quality green tea served at the Royal House of Thailand
THE KING OF FRUITS has a refreshing taste when served as an iced tea. We recommend the hot brew method to extract the outstanding aroma of the durian fruit. This is where you make a strong tea by steeping the tea leaves in hot water then quickly cooling the tea down by adding ice. The hot brew method is the traditional way of making iced tea and also the quickest.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Green? Hummm I swear it looks like an oolong. Whatever I’ll take it! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Lupicia tea? Its one of my top favorite tea brands! Brewed it is distinctly green tea in both color and flavor. Lupicia has some uniquely flavored teas and I must say this is the first durian fruit tea I have come across! Where else would a midwesterner from the USA get to try such a delight? This is my first experience with the durian fruit other than seeing the durian used as the challenge ingredient on Iron Chef once I know nothing of it!
The aroma of this tea is just mouthwatering! Its such a strong aroma that there is no way this could be anything but a pungent and flavorful brew! Yet I was surprised to find that the flavor was quite “polite” in the steeped cup! Not to say that it is light, or dull, it is nothing of the sort, it is quite present and oh so tropical flavored – it makes me think of Jimmy Buffet music and floating around in the oceans blue waters on a sail boat! But I digress, this tea is such an accomplishment for Lupicia’s blenders whoever they may be! The after taste is so lingering and I can’t wait to try this one iced! I am in-fact tempted to toss some ice in my cup right now but I will reserve myself to simply savor the cup as is and appreciate it as it deserves to be appreciated. I feel special being allowed to have this tea in my stash and it will surely be a permanent member of my cache!
The only down side is I could not find anywhere on the site to buy this tea with a tin! I love Lupicia’s hockey puck styled tins, especially when they are “collectors tins” but alas I find nothing but the bagged version in this blend. Bummer. I will have to save one of their tins from a blend I do not wish to re-order for this one – IF that ever happens as I have yet to buy a tea from Lupicia that I do not want in my perma stash!
The durian fruit is one that I find difficult to describe to those who have not had it before and I have read that durian is a love it or hate it fruit but I just can’t imagine HOW anyone could not love this! If you like tropical flavors then you should love this. Imagine if you will … a tropical punch or a tea blended to make a tea taste tropical except the durian fruit does not need accompaniment! It tastes like a delightful tropical party all on its own! It is as if someone took papaya, mango, passionfruit, pomegranate, etc and so on and mixed them into one amazing blend except this is just durian! Perhaps this is why they call it the King of Fruits!
King of Fruits from Lupicia
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Lupicia
Company Description:
A distinctively fresh and tropical Thai green tea blended with pieces of freeze-dried durian fruit. Tart notes of exotic fruit balance out the rich and powerfully fragrant durian. THE KING OF FRUITS definitely prevails in this one-of-a kind tea experience.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! This is REALLY good. It truly deserves the name “King of Fruits” because it is really that good!
I have never tasted a Durian fruit before. From what I understand (thanks to the newest issue of the Lupicia newsletter), the durian comes from Thailand, and it is a large (melon size) fruit with a thorny husk. To be completely truthful, the photos of this fruit give it a very intimidating appearance, and I found myself wondering who it was that first looked at this prickly thing and thought “hey… that might be good to eat.”
Also, according to the newsletter, the durian puts off a rather strong odor that some find quite repellent. However, when I opened the pouch of tea, I found the aroma to be intriguing and even mouth-watering. While the fragrance of the brewed tea is a little softer than that of the dry leaf, it still smells quite delicious.
The flavor is remarkable! Exotic, sweet-yet-tart, fruity… it has an exquisite taste that I’m finding difficult to describe. It is definitely tropical in taste but unlike any other tropical fruit I’ve ever tasted. It tastes a little like mango… maybe… and maybe a little bit like papaya and even a little bit like passion fruit. Maybe a little melon in there too. But, even if you somehow created a hybrid fruit with all of these fruits, it wouldn’t nail this flavor precisely.
The green tea offers a fresh, rich flavor and buttery texture that lingers on the tongue long after you finish the sip. There is a tiny bit of astringency, but mostly what I’m getting is a juicy delicious fruit taste that I don’t want to stop drinking! I’m going to be sad when I’m finished with this cup.
This tea is delicious hot and remains delicious as it cools.
I highly recommend this new tea from Lupicia. It really is the KING of Fruits!
