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TeaEarleGreyHot drank White Christmas by Lupicia

234 tasting notes

This loose-leaf sample aliquot of Lupicia’s White Christmas came to me via the generosity of ashmanra. I steeped it up according to the usual directions for Lupicia’s blends: 2.5 g tea in 8 oz boiling alpine spring water in my stainless micropore basket for 2 min, with a re-steep again for 2 min. The aroma was wonderful, and of nutty, buttery pastries, and I spent some time simply enjoying the wafting deliciousness arising from the cups! This is a black tea, and yet while drinking, it was quite smooth, almost sweet, without bitterness or astringency. I enjoyed the strong flavors of vanilla, almond, and white chocolate, along with notes of butter and the sensation of a velvety pastry on my tongue. The resteep was gentler, but revealed more of the black base that seemed to be like a ceylon, but without any wintergreen notes. Again I noted a roasted, almost caramel note. After finishing, I read some of the many tasting notes here on Steepster, and was surprised to see so many mentions of an apricot flavour, which was absent in my infusions. Thankfully, I also saw more recent notes by others with the same observation, so I conclude Lupicia has indeed modified their recipe over the past 10 years. But I still found the tea to be absolutely worthwhile as it is today. It was similar to Lupicia’s COOKIE blend, but with a stronger white chocolate note. That was Saturday. Today, I steeped up another couple cups of White Christmas, this time shortening the first steep to 90 sec, allowing more flavor to ride over to the resteep. And today I added a yellow sweetener packet and a splash of half & half. Again the tea was delightful, this time like a toasty cream-filled white chocolate croissant with almonds. Oooh so good! Both steepings! I have enough leaf left for a final session tomorrow, which I greatly anticipate! Thank you again, ashmanra. I recommend this without hesitation, and rate it 90.

Flavors: Almond, Buttery, Caramel, Toasted, White Chocolate

Preparation

Boiling 2 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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ashmanra
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I am glad you enjoyed it! I think it becomes available around mid-November!

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ashmanra
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I am glad you enjoyed it! I think it becomes available around mid-November!

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Life is too short to drink bad tea!
Pan-American: Left-coast reared (on Bigelow’s Constant Comment and Twinings’ Earl Grey) and right-coast educated, I’ve used this moniker & Email since the glory days of AOL in the 90’s, reflecting two of my lifelong loves— tea and ‘Trek.

Now a midwestern molecular biologist (right down to the stereotypical Hawaiian shirts), I’m finally broadening the scope of my sippage and getting into all sorts of Assamicas, from mainstream Assam CTCs to Taiwan blacks & TRES varietals, to varied Pu’erhs. With some other stuff tossed in for fun. I enjoy reading other folks’ tasting notes (thank you). I’ve lurked here from time to time and am now adding a few notes of my own to better appreciate the experience. Note that my sense of taste varies from the typical. For example, I find stevia to be unsweet and bitter. My dislike of red rooibos may be rooted in the same genetic palatum divergence, which impacts perceptions of many flavors, from asparagus to stevia to cilantro.

I don’t work for any tea vendor, and I’m not a professional tea sommelier. And I don’t taste every nuance, hint of flavor or note of aroma, nor am I trained to describe those that I do detect. But I taste enough to have opinions, and do my best to be descriptive. Sensory preferences can shift from day to day and person to person, so numerical ratings are kinda bogus, especially between and among various people. But there are individual trends, and I try to reflect that. As reference points for my ratings, I give Lipton Black Tea bags “orange pekoe and pekoe, cut black” a score of 65 because it is widely available and profoundly consistent. I view it as just okay. I would give plain, hot, quality spring water a rating of 25, and I buy Crystal Geyser brand for brewing because my local well water is stinky and discolored, and my filtration & softening system leaves it salty and unpleasant. Tea should make the commercial Spring Water better, not worse, so a rating below 25 speaks for itself.

I am conversationally friendly but absolutely not here looking for dates or money, nor to sell anything. If I’ve started to follow you, I don’t mean to be creepy, it only means you recently posted something I liked reading, or it was about an interesting tea or event. And I’ve recently discovered that the Steepster system only notifies me of new posts written by people I follow. If you follow me, I won’t assume anything. If I do not follow you, it isn’t a snub—you’re still a good human being!
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Avatar:. Arrival in Athens, Greece, on vacation.

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Chicagoland-USA

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