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When I was little I used to eat those Japanese jelly gel-cup candies. You know, the kind that they have warnings on them now, that you can choke on them if you swallow it whole. Luckily I didn’t choke on any of them. lol The two types I liked were the grape flavored ones and the other the ever-popular mango ones. This tea kind of sort of reminds me of the grape ones.

It doesn’t taste nearly as artificial as the Muscat which tasted a lot like grape soda. This one has a good sencha base, and it doesn’t have quite the candy-soda-like taste but more of a realistic grape flavor. This one and the Yamabudo (Mountain grape) oolong are both pretty good. The Muscat would be good to those who like Fanta grape soda. It has a slight bitterness to it that mimics the slip-skin part of the Budou (humongous almost black grapes). It’s super aromatic like the others but the flavor is mild.

So I finished going through all the “grape” Lupicias. I think I like the Yamabudou over the Bodou Green over the Muscat.

I received this free sample. It came in a pouch, with good labeling and a 7.5 g serving. Lots of reviews, but looks like I’m somewhat of an outlier.^^

The dry leaves had a great aroma of molasses, cocoa, spices, malt, nuts. After the rinse, the lid smelled even better, along the same lines but with the addition of fried plantains and sweet potatoes. It remained flavorful to the end with constant changes throughout all the infusions. It was complex and I was glad I did shorter infusions in the beginning. Sweet potatoes were the main constant from beginning to end. Notes of roasted nuts, molasses, dark chocolate, bittersweet and sweet chocolate, malt, toast, a little citrus here and there, plums, caramel, spices too. It was a smooth and creamy mouthfeel in the beginning and then that changed too. Their site says it gives a “glassy” mouthfeel. It never got bitter nor astringent.

110ml porcelain gaiwan, put the entire 7.5g in it., 205°F, rinse, 11 steeps: 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 120s.

I love grapes. I ate at least 2 lbs of them this week alone and the week isn’t over lol. Yeah, yeah call me a piglet.

So, I bought every kind of grape (Muscat) Lupicia that was available, just to try before they go bye-bye. I’m watching the Tea spending discussion on the forum, I won’t dare write what I spent this month but I watch to make myself feel better for my many “momentary lapse(s) of reason” lol. (Pink Floyd)

This one came the other day (last Lupicia shipment… For real.) and all I have to say is if you don’t mind the artificial grape flavor, and you love candy grape, you’ll probably like this tea. Sometimes I don’t mind grape taffy but that’s candy. It’s like grape soda. The black tea base is nice though, carries it well. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about black tea to tell you more about it.

Right now, I prefer the Mountain Grape (Yamabudo) Oolong over this one because of that. I still have the Grape Green to try that’s waiting in my tea drawer. o.O

Edited and updated: I tried this a couple of days after Cameron B. wrote a review on it. I didn’t take notes but I agree that I couldn’t taste much, if any, vanilla in it. I recently had the sipdown of this. It was better than I remembered. It had malt notes, a little dried fried taste, chestnut notes too. I tried it cold brew and it’s way better that way. As Cameron wrote, I wouldn’t classify it as vanilla. It’s better than their “Vanilla” although there are no vanilla notes. Their Vanilla is far too artificial tasting while this one is not.

Sipped this while watching Bohemian Rhapsody. Such a good movie.

Really nice ginger tea. I put ginger in almost everything I cook, especially in my rice congee. It’s a subtle tea, very smooth. Floral but not too much. Citrusy but not too much. Balanced and the ginger is the star in this one. I was worried that some tasted Jasmine because I can enjoy a little of it but not a lot. No problem in that department. Lovely morning tea if you like Ginger.

Thank you Cameron B.!

This was today’s daily sipper.

I got the grape aroma as soon as I opened up my thermos. At first, I thought I put in the wrong tea because of it.

Although the aroma was of strong grapes, the flavor was not. The notes I got were citrus, orange, dried fruit… Fruity in general, and raisins with honey notes. My favorite part was the oats notes (rhymes lol). The after taste stayed with me long after the sip. It reminded me of a good bowl of fruit oatmeal. It was sweet, creamy mouthfeel and smooth. I didn’t get the scone-like essence or hint of cream flavor as I had hoped though. Enjoyable though. :)

I received this free sample from them in my most recent order. It came in a pouch, with good labeling and a generous 7-8 g serving.

Oh no. Yikes. I’m the first one to review this. ^^

The dry leaves are elongated, twisted, dark, wire-y. The wet leaves, in the beginning, had a prominent floral aroma, almost perfumey. The liquor is a bright orange color. Early steeps I got a bit of baked bread, sweet plantains, honey, toast, but quite a bit of daylily notes as described on their site. For a couple of steeps, it started getting a little perfumey but that stage passed. The lid began losing the perfumey aroma and started smelling like sweet potatoes. By the fifth infusion, it was a wonderful full-on sweet potatoes yummy smell and on the 7th infusion, the lid smelled of freshly baked bread and sweet potatoes, the flavor profile mimicked the aroma. The floral notes were still there but not as prominent as before. I really began enjoying this tea in those middle stages on. As I progressed, the spices came out more, the floral exiting a bit, but was always there, the malty comforting side of the savory spectrum entered, some astringency but not a lot.

Delightful cup(s) of tea… Especially after my rice and steak stir-fry.

7g, 212°F, 110ml, rinse, 11 steeps: 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 120s

Had this last night. 3 g in 12 oz, the first infusion was the recommended and the 2nd infusion much much much longer. Maybe an hour? :P

It’s good and the fig notes are there. Like the others, I’d love more fig in it. The oolong is nice because I don’t typically like over the floral type of oolongs where in this one it’s the fruity notes in the forefront and the floral in the background.

Lots and lots of good reviews on this so I will make it quick.

I made an order around Dec. 11th, 2018, and I took advantage of the black tea sample sale even though I’m currently exploring oolongs and pu’er. I just recently received this package. It usually doesn’t take that long but the holidays I suppose.

The dry leaves were pretty, twisted leaves with gold tips and had the aroma of sweetness, hay, and a subtle aroma of sweet potato. The liquor had a pretty orangish-red color. Smooth, silky mouthfeel, malty, mellow, sweet aftertaste, notes of molasses, yams, baked bread, no astringency nor bitterness, just smooth & sweet, exceptionally comforting.

Gaiwan, 185°F, 9g, rinse, 8 steeps: 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 120s

Interesting tea. I put this in my daily sipper and I got kumquat notes and soon felt a weird feeling in my throat. At first, I thought “Am I getting a cold?” The back of my throat felt funny after I swallowed… Not unpleasant, just surprised me some. So I went to look at the ingredients. Ahhh, there is it… Cayenne peppers.

The heat spreads too as you drink this. It wasn’t spicy hot on my tongue, it’s like a funny feeling in the back of your throat and by the time I finished my first infusion, my whole throat was warm. I also got orange-kumquats-citrus notes, the cooling effect from the cucumbers but not the flavor of cucumbers so much, some sweetness, honey notes, malty.

Interesting tea but in a good way. :)