Decaf Carol

I was cleaning out my cupboards today trying to figure out how to organize my tea collection better (HELP!!!) , and I unearthed this which I haven’t had in a while. Lupicia does a lot of nice flavored tea and this one is great for evening due to the decaf, the strawberry smells so natural and the vanilla and rose just add a nice touch. I will have to try and remember this for the evening/dessert time. :)

This is part of the “Low Caffeine” Holiday Tea collection from Lupicia.

Having tried both the Carol and now the Decaf Carol, I find them to be very similar but there are some differences that stand out to me. First of all, the black tea base here is a bit thinner than that of the caffeinated version. However, the flavorings are more intense with the decaf… the strawberry and vanilla really POP and the coconut is much more distinct here!

Both are very good!

I wasn’t going to brew another tea tonight because that requires me to wash my cup and strainer. But I’m intrigued by this loose leaf sample from Lupicia, so I’m washing some dishes!

The dry leaves smell fruity and delicious! It must be the strawberry. Oh, it smells so good!! It’s funny because I just read a post by Angrboda where she said she had to try and type around a “sleepy but social cat (what do you mean make her go away??? I can’t! She’s cute!).” Now I’m doing the exact same thing, precariously balancing my laptop on the edge of my knees with my arms wrapped around a purring kitty who demands attention now. :) I can’t possibly move him when he lays his head on my hand and sleeps.

“You’re making this impossible,” I say to him. And he responds by looking up at me, still purring, and doing that slow blink thing cats do when they’re happy. He’s just the cutest thing in the world! How can anyone dare to disturb that happiness?

At least the distraction has allowed my tea to cool to a drinkable temperature. Wow, this tea is delicious! The strawberry is definitely the most prominent flavor. It lends a great sweetness to the brew so that I’m not immediately compelled to add milk and sugar. Still, I’m going to add just a tiny touch of milk anyway because the kitty decided to get up.

This is really really good! Even though I’m not individually tasting all the flavorings in this tea, I’m sure it wouldn’t be the same if they were left out. This tea has really impressed me! It’s too bad it’s no longer available since the holiday season is over. I really missed the boat with this one. But now I know to look for it next year! And that’s what I call a tea success!

Thanks LiberTEAs!!!!
I agree with LiberTEAs that the black tea taste/intensity is more pale or mellow in the decaf blend here…but the decaf is tasty! I do prefer the original to the decaf but if you are looking for no caf give this one a try!

Being doomed temporarily to decaf-land after being a hearty black tea drinker for decades was almost a death sentence. Really? It takes 2 decaf Tetley bags to make a vaguely reasonable mug of tea. Bleah. I came across this tea at our local Mitsuwa and DANG AM I GLAD!! First sniff takes me right to Crunchberry-ville!! The strawberry and vanilla smells really sweet, but it doesn’t translate to that level of sweetness in the mug. But it is nice. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. It tastes like a treat. A nommy self-indulgent treat. I used honey and milk with a teabag…I might add a bit more tea to the brew if I had loose leaf to make it stronger, but that’s my personal choice. If you like cap’n crunch, get this tea. If you love strawberries, get this tea…..aw heck, just get this tea. Especially if you’re living in decaf land. It’s worth it.

I’ve had this quite a few times and it is delish! I just finished it off a few days ago and thought I would make one last review only to find out I never reviewed it! I must remedy this!

First of all, this is really nice hot or cold. I prefer 4-6 minutes if I’m adding milk or ~3 if not. For cold steeps I brew overnight or for at least a few hours. It is very nice on its own or lightly sweetened with agave. It is not too tannic in a way that is bitter and overpowering, but there is lots of flavour there. The fruitiness is natural, but it is difficult to pick out distinct fruits. I want to say strawberry and notes of honey, tropical fruits, and maybe apricot. I do not get floral notes but the vanilla is present in the aroma. I like how versatile this blend is. Perfect for a cozy cup with milk and sugar but just as nice plain and iced in the summer.

January Sipdown Prompt – Happy New Year! Drink a favorite tea to start the year off right!

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope everyone here and everyone who ever reads this has an amazing year and dreams come true and more goes right than you ever believed could go right!

We are partying hard tonight! That means homemade ice cream, Fortnum & Mason Biscuits, and TEA! And since it is evening we are having decaf because we are PARTYING but we are not INSANE.

Tea is absolutely delicious with ice cream. I love Lapsang and hojicha with ice cream already, but I was so surprised at how wonderfully delicious Decaf Carol was with it. Yum!

I love you guys!

My Lupicia happy bag included a tin of this blend. Inside are about 6 pyramid sachets. I have been drinking this at work, so I never got an exact count. However, I decided to take the last sachet home so I could focus on it enough to write up a proper note.

The dry leaf smells strongly of vanilla and candy-like strawberry. There are some white specks in the blend that look like coconut. I’m really frustrated that I can’t find an ingredient list online. Minus 2 points for still having this tea on their website but not clearly listing ingredients!

I normally make this in my travel mug using hot water from the office filter. So figure about 14 oz of water per teabag in approx. 180F water (that’s a total ballpark guess, I just know that it’s too hot to drink right away but not actually boiling). Tonight I am preparing this tea properly. One teabag in a 12 oz mug of boiling water. I ended up oversteeping because my timer crapped out on me. The leaf ended up soaking for about 4 minutes.

This brews up a nice dark orange, almost brown. There’s a little bit of oily film on top that I never noticed before. It smells absolutely gorgeous. Like strawberries and cream. Very soothing and desserty. The flavor is definitely more savory now than it is when I make it at work. There’s more body and an almost mushroomy aspect. The sweet strawberry and vanilla flavors come in later in the sip. The strawberry is candy-like and lingers long after the sip ends.

Lupicia suggests having this with milk. I added some rice milk when I was about halfway through the mug. So. Good. Just liquid strawberry candy with a lovely vanilla back. I pretty much gulped it down after adding the rice milk. I got a good second steep out of the leaf and added rice milk right away. Totally the way to go.

This falls into the category of teas that I’m quite glad to have tried, enjoyed while they lasted, but just wasn’t wowed enough by to actively seek them out again. The candiness is just a bit much.

sipdown

I got this in my Lupicia Happy Bag, along with a bag of their Strawberry and Vanilla green tea. Both have a very pleasant creamy strawberry flavor, but of the two I prefer the green tea version. The green base just goes better with these flavors in my opinion…and Carol also has a slight astringency in the aftertaste which I’m not a big fan of. But this is still tasty and I’ll have no trouble finishing my tin!

I’m not sure how I still have a couple of Lupicia holiday teas that I haven’t tried! This is the only caffeine-free one, so the others will have to wait until tomorrow. My sachets of this tea are in a cute little tin with two doves holding bells on it. Inside the sachet, I can see small black tea leaves, a few pink rose petals, and some small shreds of coconut. Coconut… why? Isn’t this a strawberry and vanilla tea? I really hate it when companies put real coconut in their teas, it goes bad so quickly and ruins the entire blend. I’ll be sure to drink these up quickly now that I realize they contain it. Anyway, dry scent is sweet strawberry candy.

The steeped tea also has a strong and candylike strawberry smell, perhaps with a touch of cream. Hmm, this isn’t half bad. I never have high hopes for decaf teas, since the bases are usually terrible. Now, certainly the base here isn’t amazing, but it’s mellow and quiet and isn’t making anything bitter. The strawberry is certainly the candy variety, but I don’t mind that actually. I’m not sure I taste any vanilla, but I do taste cream, and it makes me think of eating fresh strawberries with whipped cream on top. I’ll definitely be able to finish off my 4 remaining sachets.