This Lupicia Sarafan is inspired by the colourful image of a sarafan, a long, traditional Russian folk dress and has a flavour that’s ‘reminiscent of Varenye, a Russian strawberry and raspberry jam’.
The tea is a looseleaf black tea blended with rose petals and freeze-dried strawberries.
Steeping 3 g of looseleaf in 200 mL of water at 86°C for 3 minutes, the infusion was a clear red-brown colour with a bright and sweet aroma of strawberry jam. Served hot, the same sweet jammy strawberry notes came through at the head of each sip before gentle floral rose notes develop in the body ahead of a bold and notably bitter black tea in the finish that lingered with a moderate astringency long in the aftertaste.
This Lupicia Sarafan contained 50 g. The tea was sourced from India, packaged in Japan, and purchased in Tōkyō, Japan in 2018.