Lupicia is a tea shop and they had their first Grand Marche in Fukuoka this weekend! Obviously, I signed up ahead of time and went in.
There were quite a few people there, but luckily it wasn’t very crowded. There was enough space to move around and not get jostled.
This is the first time that it’s being held in Fukuoka, and I hope the sales are good enough that it becomes a yearly thing.
Since I signed up ahead of time (like a few months ago, because this is tea OF COURSE), so I got a door gift! They are cookies (which look good) and tea clips, which is going to be useful when I open up packets!
Reservation is free, by the way, so you’ve got nothing to lose by signing up.
The Fair
The first thing I saw was this cute retro car:
And the second thing was this corner of exclusive teas!
Basically, Lupicia shops have regional exclusive teas, which are all available here, in a special size! They have teas from overseas (I saw America and Australian teas) and from around Japan.
I probably should have gone yesterday, because quite a few are sold out already, but sooooo many teas to sniff here. And I love the labels.
But I stayed strong and didn’t buy anything from here because I have so much tea at home.
Next to the limited edition corner was a Turkish tea booth! It sold accessories and tea, plus you can try the tea. I was very tempted to buy something, and maybe I will if they ever hold the Grand Marche again. Right now though, I’ve got to watch my wallet a little (especially in view of what’s going to happen this week)
When I saw this I realised that I can organise my life around tea. This tea is meant to be drunk after 5pm and is supposed to make you more beautiful and increase 女子力 (feminity).
The taste was only so-so to me, and since it’s over 1000 yen (even after the discount) I gave it a pass.
They also had scones that are not available in Kyushu!! This, I could not resist. I ended up buying two – milk tea and rich cream. I’ve already had the milk tea, and it’s pretty good, though a little dry (but I ate it without heating it up since I don’t have a toaster)
They have also had Te Mari, the tea that unfurls in hot water:
My bro asked to talk to me (when I called my mom) and when I asked what tea he wanted, he said “anything that changes colour there?” Since it was no, the unfurling tea is his second choice.
Of course, in my brother’s case, he likes to watch the tea, and then I’m the one that drinks it :p
They have a matcha section, and I liked the strawberry and Acai one so much that I bought it! It’s really pretty too. The Apple was pretty good as well, though I didn’t try the chocolate flavour. They also had a recipe leaflet which I took just in case.
Oh, and Lupicia had a tie-up with Meiji AND THE MILK TEA IS AMAZING.
It’s sold in conbinis so if you see it you should totally get it. I haven’t seen it in the conbinis that I’ve been to, though, so I hope it’s not already sold out.
They also had the Halloween teas! But I don’t know about my feelings towards pumpkin flavoured teas so I skipped it.
The weirdest tea section had to be the one about tea made from vegetables:
I saw mulberry (which is nice) and some weirder ones like corn and um… Onion peel. Yes, onion peel. I tried that one, and it tasted like a tea version of onion rings. Not terrible but definitely not for me.
Demonstrations
Apart from the tea buying, they had some demonstrations!!
One was on how to roast tea leaves (top is before, bottom is after)
Apparently, Lupicia sells this tea-pot-like thing that lets you roast tea at home. And the handle is hollow, so you can get the tea out without making a mess.
And there was a Chai demonstration!! The guy was quite funny, he was turning left and right to pose while doing this. I quite like this because he also talked about how to make milk tea (while telling us how to make chai). Obviously, Lupicia sells a set where you can make the tea from scratch and a ready made version. There’s a non-caffeine one that has ginger which is good for pregnant ladies, but my cousin says she doesn’t drink tea nowadays so…
Got some hot chai to drink. Soooo yummy
Eat-In Corner
Ok, this is not a corner but more like a food court!
Lupicia has a snack and food corner. Most proper meals were already sold out, but the patisserie section seemed really popular.
There are a few sets and they seemed quite nice, but I was… A bit out of money when I saw it 😅
And they had a ‘Tea Bar’ to sell TEA COCKTAILS.
There’s an alcoholic and non-alcoholic version.
My cocktail – Rose Royal base (one of my favourite teas!) with sparkling champagne. And some other stuff. They did also provide the recipes for the cocktails, so I guess I can try to make it at home too!
I wasn’t going to buy it because I had just enough money for the things in my basket, but then my mom replied my message and I ended up having to withdraw money (ran like crazy to avoid the higher charge but still had to pay the higher fees) from the nearby conbini so I decided to get it.
The cocktail was SERIOUSLY GOOD
Lupicia Haul
I hesitate to say tea haul because a lot of it isn’t actually tea. And I forgot to take the macarons out of the fridge (yes, there are tea macarons and they are amazing. I tried one with the champagne – there was a sale when I bought it and it’s limited edition).
Anyway, only the matcha and food are mine. The rest of my buys is for others. I can’t believe that even with me holding back, I spent enough to get a free membership to Lupicia