Ripe papaya is hard to come by, with papayas outside the tropics often picked very green for export so that they often start going off before ripening fully. While green papayas are used in salads in South East Asian cuisine, a papaya in the stages between unripe and ripe is an offensive assault on the senses. But, there’s nothing like a ripe papaya in the tropics like Hawaii, apparently. And this here is Lupicia Grenada.

The tea was a looseleaf blend of black tea flavoured with dried pieces of guava and papaya and the petals of southern flowers.

Steeping 3 g of loose leaf in 200 mL of water at 85°C for 3 minutes, the infusion was a clear reddish-brown with a sweet tropical fragrance. Served hot, the characteristic sweetness of ripe papaya came through strongly in both the smell and taste. A mellow, slightly floral tropical sweetness of papaya – somewhere between a fig and a honeydew melon – came through before the slightly sour and sweet notes of guava – somewhere between a strawberry and a pear – appeared briefly and faintly in the body. The sweetness of the papaya returned in the finish to leave a sweet and tropical aftertaste with a slight astringency.

The mellow natural sweetness in this black tea made it a more elegant and enjoyable tropical twist on a (sugar) sweetened black tea.

This Lupicia Grenada contained 50 g. The tea was sourced from India and Vietnam, packaged in Japan, and purchased in Kyōto, Japan in 2015.