Each year Lupicia Tea, a Japanese tea company, comes out with a Sakura collection to celebrate cherry blossom season. The collection changes each year and for 2021 the theme is traditional Japanese culture that has been handed down through the generations, such as crafts and traditional Japanese patterns. The collection is well balanced and features a green tea, a decaf tea, black tea, rooibos, even a sakura matcha! The tins this year are beautiful and feature a lovely floral motive. I have wanted to try teas from Lupicia’s Sakura collection for some time so I decided this year that I would order a few.
The first one I am reviewing is Sakura & Berry. This has a black tea base with salted cherry leaf, rose petal and flavoring. The description says that this has a “sweet strawberry flavor.” The dry leaf smells amazing and actually made me think of when my mom would make me strawberries and cream oatmeal as a kid. I steeped the tea up at 212 degrees for 3 minutes.
I really love this one. The first taste is a nice fruity strawberry flavor, nothing too strong. It actually has the same strawberry flavor as strawberries and cream oatmeal but without the cream aspect. On the second taste I get a hit of the black tea base, it is smooth and mellow. I had hoped that I would get taste of the salted cherry leaf however that didn’t come through in the flavor.
Overall this is a tasty strawberry tea in a beautiful tin and certainly worth trying if you love strawberry-flavored teas. I really enjoy Lupicia tea, in fact their rooibos-based honeydew melon tea is in my top 5 favorite teas of all time! If you are interested in the Sakura collection I would not wait as fulfillment for the US comes from the online Hawaii Lupicia store and they get very limited amounts of inventory on these special edition collections.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Lupicia
Description
We are happy to announce the arrival of our seasonal SAKURA & BERRY tea: A blend of Darjeeling and Nilgiri black teas with salted cherry blossom leaves, mixed with sweet strawberry flavor and aroma. Popular as a hot or iced tea, try it with a bit of milk! A LUPICIA Hawaii staff favorite. (Only available in limited quantity)
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Strawberry Vanilla No. 961/Tin Roof Teas -Ashmanra-
I first tried this tea about seven years ago and I continue to pick it up now and then because it is really good to have on shelf. It is so easy to like and appeals to people who already love tea as well as people who are just starting on their tea journey. It pairs well with desserts and is lovely as a stand alone cup.
Although this came from Tin Roof Teas, I am 99.9% sure that it is sourced from Teageschwendner.
My excuse for buying this when I already have tons of tea is that my husband loves strawberry flavored teas, and he doesn’t like as many teas as I do, so I keep this on hand FOR HIM. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.
The green base is a blend from three countries – India, Japan, and China. I think Indian green must be excellent for aroma teas because I am pretty sure Harney and Sons uses a lot of it in their flavored greens. It is pretty mild and very smooth, and has just enough briskness to make this go really well with food. If tea is too mild, food flavors can overwhelm it so you taste pretty much nothing, like drinking a cup of hot water.
The strawberry flavor is fresh and the tiniest bit tart like a real strawberry. This is all smoothed over by the lovely hint of warm vanilla.
I like to steep this at 175F for three minutes and resteep right away, combining the two for an economical pot. It works really well.
Tin Roof Teas is in Raleigh, NC. They do ship and some of their teas are available on Amazon.
Their Moroccan Mint is blended in house and is my hands down favorite of the type. And their Tung Ting is mouthwateringly good. There is a 15% discount for your first order after signing up for their newsletter, so go wild!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tin Roof Teas
Description
Our Strawberry Vanilla is a captivating composition of sweet, succulent strawberries and creamy vanilla that is sure to bring your taste buds to life.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Organic Very Berry/Stash Tea
The product description for this herbal tisane begins, “If you like your teas tart, this zingy, triple berry combination is for you!”
I don’t like my teas tart. So why did I drink it? Because a lot of hibiscus blends taste pretty good as a sweet iced drink to me. The tartness comes mainly from the organic hibiscus and organic rosehips in the blend, though the berry flavors probably add plenty, too.
Also, hibiscus blends are usually so pretty. They look gorgeous in a clear glass on a hot day, bright red and promising refreshment. It looks like cherry Kool-Aid from childhood. Though I don’t like the tartness of hibiscus, it becomes quite palatable with sugar.
This was all overshadowed by the rooibos, though. Once in a while, a company makes a rooibos blend that successfully covers the rooibos taste. That’s a bad thing if you love rooibos, but I don’t. I rather strongly dislike it. Even with all the other ingredients, this like cherry cough syrup with cinnamon added to me, which is basically just how I describe red rooibos. Maybe someday it will grow on me.
If you like rooibos, you would probably like this blend, and it is all organic, which is awesome! It does look gorgeous in a pitcher or glass, and would really make a nice presentation with some fruit slices or berries floating in it.
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Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Stash Tea
Description
If you like your teas tart, this zingy triple berry combination is for you! We’ve combined natural flavors of strawberry, cranberry and raspberry with hibiscus and rooibos to create a tangy burst of flavor.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Strawberry Crepes with Cilantro Cream/A Quarter To Tea
There is a new craziness in my life and it is called law school. Yay! But also boo! One step closer to my dreams but a whole lot of miles farther from my friends and family. I do have one great comfort from home though and that is my tea. My tea and (almost) all my teaware which is now proudly displayed on a bookshelf for all to see.
With this new chapter of my life beginning, I have been thinking about the past chapters and I think that’s what made this tea, A Quarter to Tea’s Strawberry Crepes with Cilantro Cream, stand out to me. Crepes have always said Montreal to me, my home for so many years during one of the best times in my life…my undergrad. Here’s hoping this tea is as delightful as the crepes I remember…and also that law school ends up being as amazing as my undergrad.
Drinking the tea, it is definitely a tasty tea however it is hard to discern any particular flavor at first. As I continue to drink, I am picking up some of the strawberry, sweet like a puree you’d find in/on a crepe. Though cilantro isn’t fully clear, there is a savory note at the end of the sip that is different but I can’t decide if I like it or not. The oolong seems to be bridging the gap between the sweet strawberry and the savory end note. At the top of the flavor is baked goods that is light and could be crepes but it could also be a puff or a bun or whatever bakery concoction I am told to look for by A Quarter to Tea.
This is a good tea but I don’t know if this stands out. A Quarter to Tea has made some outstanding blends but this seems to be more middle-of-the-pack. I am enjoying what I have and I am glad I have another cup worth of leaf remaining but at the end of the day, I don’t think I would reach for this tea over another tea.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
It appears A Quarter To Tea is taking a short break but check out their FB page for updates.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait/Davids Tea. . .
My vegan friend gave this to me because it has traces of yogurt in it. SUCKER. IT’S MINE NOW.
I made this today and spent a chunk of the day wandering around the office showing people what a beautiful pink it was iced.
Three of us drank from the same mug, and thought the same thing: delicious. There’s a lot of hibiscus here, and a bit of strawberry, and some cream on the end notes. Yum. The sweet and the tart and the cream all balance each other out like a gymnast on a pommel horse.
I love this and I’m sad my friend drank most of it before going vegan.
If Canada were in the World Cup, this blend from America’s Hat would inspire me to root for them. Alas, they are not, so I will have to root for England instead. Tea people love England, right?
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Davids Tea
Description
Love rhubarb and strawberries? Try this sweet and tart caffeine-free infusion. It blends all the bright and juicy flavour of fresh-picked berries with a tart rhubarb punch and a hint of yogurt creaminess. Refreshingly fruity, it steeps up a satisfying deep red and is equally amazing hot or iced. Now that’s a beautiful thing.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
