Sakura Black Tea

So this past week I finally had a chance to go shopping at the new T&T Grocery Store that opened a few months ago. For anyone not familiar, T&T is a very large specialty grocery store that imports a lot of food products directly from across Asia. This is the first location they’ve opened in Montreal, and it’s actually their biggest one too. It’s produce and snack heaven!

I definitely got my fill of different snacks (new to me and favourites), but one thing I didn’t expect is that I’d also have a chance to grab some Lupicia tea! For sakura season they had imported both of Lupicia’s sakura leaf teas – a black and a green. I passed on the green, but clearly I ended up getting this black tea based one. It’s a simple blend; just black tea and salted cherry blossom leaves. I made a cup first thing when I got home and it was really interesting!

I was nervous the salt would be too much, and it’s definitely apparent in the infusion but I was pleasantly surprised by how restrained the salinity was. By the end of the mug, it was verging on a bit much as that taste definitely built up on the palate over time but it never crossed my comfort level. Overall it was a smooth, medium bodied cup with a really soft floral aroma and a light but very consistent note of the cherry blossom leaves. Like, true cherry blossom – not the weird floral cherry flavouring that a lot of Western facing companies (tea and otherwise) use to replicate it. Subtle, delicate sweetness with just a bit of a bitter licorice-like undertone to go alongside the elegant floral taste.

Very cool, very unique!