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I received this as a gift from Todd back in 2020, and I’m working on sipping it down by enjoying it in the mornings. The hojicha is lightly woody/nutty, and I like how it compliments the spices — in particular, the citrusy notes of the cardamom really pops. In some sips the woodiness of the hojicha mixed with the cardamom create an almost piney sort of flavor. It is the strongest spice I’m getting, though I do taste a bit of the ginger and the cloves and the cloves in particular leave a strong aftertaste. Apparently this tea is supposed to have chocolate flavoring and cocoa nibs according to the ingredients? I don’t taste even a hint of chocolate. (I know it’s old, but it has been kept factory-sealed in the tin since I received it, so I thought at least some of the flavoring notes would survive…)

This is very enjoyable… definitely a cozy-feeling tea.

I pulled this out some time at the beginning of summer and am now close to finishing it off when it is more seasonally appropriate. I wouldn’t say “pumpkin” is really where my mind goes when I drink it, but despite that, I really enjoy it! It reminds me of the “Honey Apple Cider Green Tea” from 52Teas that I had earlier this year. It has this strong apple note that comes off with a very fresh feeling on the green rooibos base, and the allspice is very nice. The aftertaste does sort of give me something squash-adjacent if I really focus on it. It’s nice hot and plain, but Anne’s suggestion of a little honey is nice, too.

So this tea appears to be a blend of Adagio’s Vanilla Oolong, Black Cream, and Lapsang Souchong, with marshmallows added. Since the Lapsang was listed last I thought it wouldn’t be very prevalent in the blend, but I was wrong… all I taste is Lapsang Souchong, not a hint of vanilla/cream/marshmallow in the flavor. It’s just pure pine smoke, which I’ve always had major issues with… the smell gives me migraines and the tea irritates my throat and makes it scratchy and causes me to cough like crazy. This is all campfire, no s’more.

Ya, nope. I’m not even going to push myself through the rest of the sampler bag. This is going in the bin.

When I looked at the ingredients for this, I thought it might scratch the itch left from finishing off Lupicia’s “Chocolate and Strawberry Pu’erh.” The ingredient list sounded really promising, mixing assam and pu’erh with strawberry, hazelnut, and cream flavors, but unfortunately, I’m not really getting that from the flavor. The flavor of the assam is just not coming through the pu’erh at all, while the black tea added to the Lupicia tea really smoothed out the pu’erh flavor in that tea. So I pretty much just taste pu’erh, which isn’t my favorite tea type… it isn’t too “dirty” tasting here, thankfully. But the earthiness is very strong due to the hazelnut flavoring, which is really strong and prominent. I don’t taste strawberry or cream at all. If I had to wager a guess, I bet this is a blend of Adagio’s Black Cream and Strawberry and Hazelnut Pu’erh, as that hazelnut flavor is very distinct. I’m sad the other flavors aren’t popping, though (I’m actually a fan of that Cream flavoring Adagio uses).

So ultimately, I’m just getting a cup of hazelnut-flavored pu’erh, which is fine, but not what I was hoping for. I was really hoping for some malty and fruity notes. I’ll finish up my sample with breakfast but probably would not reorder this.

It’s still warm enough that I’m drinking iced tea in the afternoon, and I’ve been enjoying this one cold brewed. I typically don’t find the flavor overwhelming in Lupicia blends, but the mango really pops in this particular tea… it really does have a very fresh and juicy note that tastes great as an ice-cold tea. The oolong base adds a very complementary “green” note and a touch of florality and mineral water. Extremely thirst-quenching!

This tea has been my morning cuppa on those mornings cool enough for hot tea. It has that same strong CTC base that most of Lupicia’s black teas have, which is malty and tends toward astringency even with a shorter steep. The flavoring surprisingly holds up pretty well given Lupicia tends to be a bit lighter-handed and their black base is really strong; the chocolate is similar to that from the “Chocolate and Strawberry Pu’erh” I just finished off, lacking that “liquor” taste and instead adding a sort of fudgy quality to the black tea without tasting particularly chocolately. The orange stands out a lot more; I like it a lot more than I usually find orange flavorings, but my main issue is it has a sort of bitter quality to it that really makes the astringency of the base stand out. I get a sort of coating, drying sensation on my tongue. It’s not bad (at least prepared hot, but I found the tea downright unpleasant once the cup had gone cold), but I definitely prefer Lupicia’s chocolate+strawberry or chocolate+raspberry to this.

I’m jealous of all of you that are already getting fall weather… it is still decidedly summer here, though it has finally cooled down a bit first thing in the morning, at least enough so that I’ve been craving a hot cuppa tea to start the day, before then switching to whatever I have coldbrewing in the fridge (lately that has been Lupicia’s “Happiness” and “Kotobuki”).

I’m not a big pu’erh fan, but I do tend to like most flavored offerings, and this is no exception. The pu’erh base is quite earthy but tastes a lot “cleaner” than I tend to find pu’erh, which often tastes a bit dirt/mud-like to me. Steeped strongly, the black tea in the blend comes out more and smooths the flavor a bit more by adding some subtle smokiness, but that also gives the tea a slight astringency. As far as the flavor, it isn’t really strong in typical Lupicia fashion, but it is present; the chocolate doesn’t have that weird liquor note and is more of a fudgy/nutty flavor that blends nicely with the base notes, and the strawberry is that light candy-esque strawberry flavor found in Lupicia’s other strawberry teas. It’s really satisfying (especially during a rare summer rainstorm) and gives me a lot more alert energy than I typically get from caffeinated teas.

I’ve been enjoying this orange-flavored oolong mostly as a coldbrew due to the blazing temperatures, but have tried a stray warm cup here and there as well. I often find orange-flavored teas either a very artificial sort of flavor, or super pithy due to orange peel, but this tea manages to be neither. It’s a more subtle sort of citrus, but still has a noticable tang at the end of the sip. The oolong base is very green and smooth, with a touch of florality which, mixed with the orange, gives an “orange blossom” sort of vibe. It’s a nice choice for someone looking for a citrus tea that isn’t overbearing, and very refreshing as an iced tea.

With the unending triple-digit heat here, I’ve mostly been exclusively drinking cold brew or iced tea, but I wanted to try at least one hot cup of this tea before the leaf is out.

I love green apple, and never seem to find enough things with that flavor for my liking. This tea has a really lovely green apple flavor, and the sencha Lupicia uses as a base always appeals to me, falling on the grassy and buttery side rather than the oceanic side, which blends well with the apple flavor. My biggest complaint is that the soft, pillowy approach to fruit flavoring Lupicia uses is just not strong enough for me in this case… I just want moar green apple! I want to be slapped across the face with it, rather than a soft and subtle background note.

Makes a very nice coldbrew! I’ve tried preparing it cold a few different ways but didn’t find any noteworthy differences when brewing it hot and then icing over just coldbrewing the leaf, nor with adding sweetener (it tastes nice with a bit of honey, but is fine without). Makes a good guzzle-tea.

I believe I found this on the US Lupicia website once and pounced on it, but have never seen it reappear since that time.

Like a lot of Lupicia’s fruity blacks, the base is very strong and leans on the tempermental side, where a little too much leaf or a slightly longer steep than anticipated can really bring out a metallic and bitter/tannic aftertaste. Under ideal conditions, it is still quite dark and malty, with an autumn leaf note and a bit of drying at the back of the tongue after the sip. The strawberry aroma smells lovely from the bag and the cup; it is the same sweet/candy-like strawberry flavor Lupicia uses in other teas, though the candy notes are a bit more subdued in this particular tea since it isn’t paired with a vanilla/cream flavor like many of their other strawberry teas. The most disappointing part of this tea is I bought it for the rhubarb, but I don’t taste it much at all. There is a little bit of a tart note to the cup and the strawberry isn’t as sweet, which I suppose could be the doing of the rhubarb, but it isn’t very pronounced to me… perhaps if I was drinking Lupicia’s plain Strawberry black tea side-by-side I might notice the difference more. I suppose on the plus side I won’t have to be too upset that this doesn’t seem to be a flavor they carry often, as any of Lupicia’s other strawberry teas would hit about the same for me.