Momoko

This is my review of this tea 2 months after (2/24) my initial log:

I am sitting on the floor taking a homework break after I gleefully found my lost (and my only) tea ball. Yay! I chose this tea because I realised that the majority of my collection is Earl Grey and rooibos. What a testament to my preferences, eh?

The scent of this tea makes me think of peaches and almonds and I can feel my muscles relaxing. I didn’t even know that I was stressed. I taste yummy sweet peaches and a vegetal note from the green tea base. I am so please that I chose to drink this tea! I don’t want to store the leaves in the fridge, so I may steep a second pot and bottle it up and try it iced.

Oh tea ball, how I missed you. Don’t ever run away from me again!

Momoko – Lupicia – 2/5/14
2 minutes, 175 degrees.

I read some of the other tasting notes to get an idea of what I should be tasting but it wasn’t entirely clear. I also thought I might have tried this before but there are no tasting notes from me so it appears that that is not the case.

I’m definitely picking up some vanilla amidst the green tea flavour. As I sip a bit more, the peach becomes stronger until it’s quite clear. Originally it just tasted a bit generically tropical before resolving into straight peach. I’m not an enormous fan of the green tea base in this, it leaves a yucky aftertaste and it is somewhat astringent despite my somewhat conservative steeping time/temp. The whole thing put together is pleasant enough, but it is not something I think I would ever buy now that I’ve tasted it.

TTBB#4 (Not even 10am at work)

This is the last (to be reviewed) tea from my Happy Bag from January. Dry, it smells exactly like peach gummies (and looks gorgeous!). Steeped, the vanilla is stronger than the peach – although the peach is quite present too. The overall effect is very floral – perfume-y, even. I’m usually all for the strong florals, but even I’m finding this a bit much. The mouthfeel is quite creamy, probably due to the vanilla. I’m also getting honey, although I’m pretty sure there’s no honey or honey flavoring.

The base – or what I can taste of it underneath the quite strong flavoring – is fine, if unremarkable. When very hot it’s slightly vegetal, which isn’t a quality I enjoy alongside fruit flavoring, but as the tea cools the base recedes into the background. I’ve tried this hot and iced (brewed hot, then chilled); it’s pleasant both ways but I tend to prefer most flavoured greens iced, so that’s how I’ll be finishing off my bag.

Tea tasting of the morning… Sample courtesy of CHAroma. Thank you! Lupicia and learning to like green tea are definitely on my list, and this sample is helping very much!

Let me prefece with the fact that I am relatively new to green tea. Also, let me say that this is a great one to start with. I do get the hints of peach and vanilla on the lightly grassy tea base. No additions. I am sure the flavors would come out with a little sweetener, but it really doesn’t need it.

6 oz cup, 1 tsp tea, freshly heated water to about 180, 3 minutes. No additions.

It turns out that my bamboo strainer from the first Steepster tea box fits my Fiestaware teacups perfectly. With a breadplate on top for steeping, it nearly makes a gaiwan, except that I just drink out of it….

This was the free sample that came with the Lupicia magazine this month.

The dry leaf smells super peachy with a touch of vanilla. I didn’t smell much of the green tea when it was dry, but it still was amazing. Almost to the point of overwhelming – but from experience with Lupicia’s tea, the strong scent of dry leaf turns into the perfect amount of flavoring when it is steeped.

And this was no exception – once steeped the buttery green tea came out more in the scent. The taste was perfectly balanced – green tea then a candy-like peach, with hints of vanilla in the background. The vanilla adds that extra complexity that really takes it over the top. It doesn’t need anything added to it – the sweetness of the peach and vanilla are perfect.

As good as this is hot, I think it really would have been amazing iced – I will likely have to get some for that purpose. Peach candy green tea will be a wonderful complement to this coming summer, I expect.

So this was my second tea of the day. (Had it this morning so I’m a little late with the review) If I remember correctly, I purchased this from….Momo I think? I wish there was a way to search for topics started by a specific user. But ah well.
The tin this came in is so pretty and I think it keeps the tea inside fresh. Or at least, this tea smelled pretty good when I opened it. It’s a green tea, which I usually don’t even consider as something I’d want to buy to try, but I figured what the heck, and I get a tin out of it too. Lol.
The tea smells sweet and kinda fruity and there’s little crystals of sugar and flower bits mixed in. Pretty.
There’s no recommended brewing stats for this tea on the Lupicia site, so I took the one that seemed to be most popular here and tried (almost) boiling water for 3 min. I was afraid that I’d get a nasty boiled/burnt vegetable taste because this is a green and needs to be at a lower temp. But I have enough of it so I can always try something lower next time.

Brew is also fruity smelling with a slightly grassy/green smell to it but not the overcooked smell I was anticipating. Unfortunately my first sip reminded me of seaweed. Floral seaweed, but seaweed nonetheless. Ugh. I added a smidge of sugar in the hopes that maybe it would bring the other flavors out, but all I got out of it now was sweet, floral seaweed. Mostly on the front of the tongue. If I drank the tea so it hit further back on my tongue, I didn’t get the seaweed taste as much, but it was still there.
No hints of peach or vanilla from this unfortunately.

I’m not going to rate this because maybe it was the temp I used that made it turn out rather badly for me? Next time I’ll definitely try something lower and give it a rating then.

So in order to get through the TTB quickly, I’m using my 4 oz gaiwans to brew half cups, that way I can sample a bunch of tea in small amounts. I’m still going with western parameters though.

This tea initially seemed like it might be kind of nice, but after a few sips my mouth began to feel strange, & my sinuses feel the way I feel when someone wearing perfume enters the room, so I’m guessing there are artificial flavors in this.
NEXT!

Thanks Alphakitty! The aroma of this is so sweet! There is a nice peach flavor with a few floral notes. I’m always happy when I can taste the tea base under the flavors. The green tea has a bit of a buttery-slash-vegetal flavors going on. This was perfect to start my morning with! Thank you again!

First sips: Lightly peach. Refreshing. Slightly sweet—in a “clear” crystalline way. Like a peach sorbet.

I’ve kept this steeped forever and used boiling water but it hasn’t gotten bitter or astringent at all. So upon cooldown, the flavor just seems to get more syrupy and more candied—like Peach Jolly Ranchers.

I like it! :)

[Backlog] – I am usually a big fan of Lupicia’s fruity blends, but there was something gross about this one. The peach seemed very artificial and the floral notes made it a bit more confusing — difficult to grasp what this tea was supposed to be! It was sweet, fake, floral, grassy. I was also not a fan of the green tea base, something about it was off. I really disliked this blend and dumped the rest of the cup.