Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Champagne Rose

Tea: Champagne Rose 5532
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: $6.50 / 50g
Vendor Description: Flavored with sour-sweet strawberries and champagne, a typical drink for celebration. The pink and silver Argent blended in the tea are like bubbles in a glass.

At first I thought that this might be a novelty tea with the little silver and pink balls in it. According to the vendor they refer to these as Argents. When brewed these little silver and pink balls which at first reminded me a lot of nerds candy, dissolve to add a sparkle to the glass of tea. They cause tiny metallic flecks to float around the tea. This actually is not the first time that I have tried this tea, but the first time that I noticed the flecks. The first time I tried the tea was from a teabag, so it is possible that these are only present in the loose leaf version of this tea. I'm not sure.

The leaves themselves have a very strong strawberry smell to them. I found the aroma to be one of the most appealing aspects of this tea. This aroma carries very strongly into the brewed tea as well, an aspect that rarely carries over into brewed tea.

The brewed tea has a very slowly developing flavor. When it first reaches your tongue you don't really notice much of a flavor at all, and then the flavor of the tea slowly comes out and builds until it finishes with a moderate astringency. I was unable to distinctly discern the taste of strawberries and champagne as the description suggests, but they are definitely present in the aroma.

Rating: 8/10

Conclusion: While I am somewhat inexperienced in the tastes of black teas, this tea has a beautiful appearance and aroma. I was somewhat expecting something more to be found in the taste. As it is this is a very interesting tea.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I liked Champagne Rose.

I receive this as a sample, so I wasn't expecting anything. I was curious about this tea, because it's always in the store when I visit.

This was my 1st experience with Lupicia Tea bags, and I was impressed. I got quite a number of steepings from the tea bag, and clean up is easy. On the minus side, I really couldn't see the tea leaves and everything else that came in the tea bag, so the visual aspect was completely lost.

Anyway, I enjoyed Champagne Rose, although I don't see the relationship of champagne or roses to this tea. Perhaps the visual aspect of Champagne Rose contributed to it's name, but the tea bag (even though it's transparent) hid the tea's appearance.

Overall, not very memorable, but not bad at all. There are too many teas left for me to try at Lupicia, so I will not be re-visiting Champagne Rose for a long time.