Lupicia

I absolutely love the teas they offer. They are always so helpful and kind.
I wanted to pick up another bag of the California Golden Honeydew tea because my husband and I cannot get enough, they were sadly out but they were more than happy to order me some. It was available to pick up 5 days later, they even called me to let me know if was ready.
I love that they give you a sample of tea with every purchase so I can become addicted to other flavors.
They offer tea samples in the store of the flavor of the day, but not only that, they are more than happy to brew you almost any tea they have for you to try as well.
I will continue to get my teas here as long as they are around, and even after I’ll probably order online.

Love tea? Forget those tea bags you buy at the grocery store aisles go to Mitsuwa in Costa Mesa. Bought the box of 30 different flavors. Plus a couple of bags. We have tried a lot of tea and Lupicia tea by far is the best. They are also great to give away as gifts.

The best things here:
— free samples in store
— sample packets with any purchase
— super polite and helpful employees (maybe a little too helpful ahaha)
— Yummy tea (uhh, the name of the tea for the strawberry vanilla rooibos)
Also sells awesome gift tins of tea for $ 9 – 15.

Great entry welcoming to the Mitsuwa market. The staff have always been extra nice, they always have samples, they enjoy sharing knowledge and are super helpful.
The selection here is very nice. I’ve tried a few of them so far and sampled even more. The samples are a great way to expand your tea line up.
The parking can be a little tricky, there is actually much more parking than you initially can see. You might have to circle once or twice. The market place has many awesome shops so spend some time, but diffidently hit up Lupicia on your way in.

I only buy my tea from Lupicia

Tea heaven.
I love the tea here. If I could afford to only drink the tea from here, I would.
At first I was kinda intimidated by this place. I was like «woah, what is this fancypants store?» But the service here is very lovely. I love the staff here. Everyone is so friendly and nice. It’s actually pretty chill. And I love that you actually get to smell the tea leaves. The variety of flavors that they have is mind blowing! I’ll probably end up spending a fortune here.
This place single-​handedly made me a tea-​fanatic.
Also, this is a great place to get gifts for people. You can customize what you want (they put what you want in a box and wrap it for you) or they have pre-​packaged gift sets.

I find myself at Mitsuwa market often because I’m in the area for work several times a month. Usually when I walk by Lupicia, I’m accosted with samples of tea which I politely drink and continue on my way. This time, I was not accompanied by my husband who would have undoubtedly shooed me along so we could continue grocery shopping or to the food court.
When left to my own devices, I end up buying expensive tea.
Granted, it would be the same effect if I were walking past Teavana at the mall (get accosted with samples of tea, buy more tea than you can consume in a year, etc.) but Lupicia and its teas just seem to GET ME more so than Teavana or Harney & Sons ever will. The flavors are bold enough to stand on their own without additional sweetener, the flavors are innovative and just so darned cute. Plus, the tea I purchased today was an herbal tea consisting of sweet potatoes, chestnut and pumpkin. Yes, on the first day of October I totally crave this kind of tea, thank you so much Lupicia!
Ok, so I bought 10 tea bags for $ 8.50 (that’s $ 0.85 per tea bag, and each tea bag brews three cups, so, it’s totally cheaper than the cup of tea I’m purchasing from Starbucks). This place is great for gifts and just for feeling dainty and girly in general.
Don’t tell my secret Santa that they are receiving Lupicia tea this holiday season, and please let my secret Santa that I’m a huge fan of Sweet Autumn tea. Oh, and do me a solid and don’t let my husband know I dropped $ 8.50 on tea today…

5 stars for the tea
4 stars for the service
2 stars for the sales/​distribution
GOODNESS. This tea is amazing!!!
After visiting the Ala Moana location, I was thrilled to find one in So. Cal!
I actually did not get a great 1^st impression with their tea (@ both locations.) I don’t remember which flavors I tried, but their samples were kind of bitter & not very memorable.
BUT, got drawn in by the scent of some of these & bought some anyways. I’ve purchased 6 – 7 different teas. & they taste great iced or hot. I’ve observed that adding just a tad of liquid cane sweetener really really brings out the flavor. Works excellent w/​fruit teas, a chocolate tea, even their «miss jasmin» tea!
Service. They do what they can/​are allowed to. The displayed samples are nice to have. They have also offered to brew other teas beyond what’s displayed (if they have a sample satchel). They have tried to order other teas w/​good follow up if out of stock.
Which transitions into sales/​distribution. Probably more of a corporate thing… I was extremely dazed, confused, then frankly pissed to learn that not all Lupicia teas are accessible online/​in store. Ex: I was looking for a «San Francisco specialty tea» that I found in the HNL location.
The employee tried to order it since it wasn’t @ this location. However, was informed that it was only available in the Bay area locations & was unorderable, even online. So I called the SF store to see if I could order it there & have it shipped. Instead, they said that they do not do that, the SF tea I saw in HI was likely a promotion. & I physically have to travel to their store to get some more??? Incredibly lame + a huge loss of potential profit on Lupicia’s part!!!
But I digress & consume the tea @ home that I do have. Can’t wait ’til next restock!

Yessss! A new tea vendor that specializes in loose leaf tea & it’s located right in the middle of Mitsuwa. Tons of tea to choose from, but it seems as though they have more satchel tea than loose leaf. Check out the back panel (the area that’s well lit) for all the flavors they carry. I’m biased against satchel tea (conducted a blind taste test with my roommates, you can check my blog to see the results) so I headed straight toward the loose leaf offerings.
The staff is really friendly & nice. One of them gave me advice on how they make their iced tea, which was a bit on the time consuming side. Soaking the tea leaves overnight in the fridge is not my idea of how to make iced tea quickly, so ex-​nay on that.
However, I tried their sample teas & they were really nice. I recently purchased the Yume Au Lait, which pairs perfectly with a nice coconut creamer, milk, or almond creamer/​milk. That’s what «au lait» is supposed to mean anyway. Very strong tea flavors. I was told by a tea expert that you shouldn’t need to bring water to a boil for tea because it’s just too hot & it can ruin the flavor, however I believe the Yume’s instructions are to boil water. Other tea stores will tell you the exact temperature, but Lupicia’s seems to just say «boil» unless I’m mistaken.
I also purchased the melon black tea & it tastes exactly like honey dew & cantaloupe flavored tea. It’s a very strong flavor as well & it tastes great iced.
Their teas smell wonderful & they taste wonderful too (so far at least!). Can’t wait to visit again for more tea. I’m crazzzzzyyy about tea.

I have fallen in love with this place! This review has been long overdue! I came in on Wednesday evening and was approached by a super friendly and helpful girl. She was quite knowledgable about all the teas in the store and when I was unsure about how the new Sakura tea would taste, she immediately offered to brew me a sample and I didn’t even have to ask! She was patient with me as I was shopping for gift sets and was super nice! After I was done with my purchases she even offered to gift wrap my teas and took her time to make sure everything was perfect and looking nice! I already love the tea selections but your customer service just made my time at Lupicia that much more awesome!

Cute little place inside of Mitsuwa market. So many different teas to choose from. Each tea is about $ 7 or $ 10 if you want the tin. Great as gifts, since the tin containers are very pretty. Got a few as Christmas presents. They were a big hit with my mom and the boyfriend’s mom. I’ve tried the strawberry and peach flavors. Both were very good.

tons of tea selections to choose from. so far i’ve tried mango oolong and strawberry chocolate oolong. both are very tasty. i like the mango oolong better as it has a stronger tea flavor with more bitterness. i am a tea drinker and i like my tea to be bitter and strong and the mango oolong taste just like that. the strawberry chocolate has a very unique and unusual combination and it taste just fine. the tea is a bit pricey ($ 7 for 50grams of tea leaves) but its a good quality of tea. definitely worth it.
service is super nice and friendly. they let me placed an order for the tea they dont have in store. just ask them whatever question you have and im pretty sure they will answer it with smile and help you as much as possible.

Hidden gem or discovered treasure!!? Lupicia currently operates 6 retail outlets in the US?! So, aren’t we spoiled Southern Californians lucky to have them in the Mitsuwa Marketplace Costa Mesa location or what?
Based in Japan as a retailer of teas, tea ware and confections, this company sells teas from all over the world from China, Japan, India and even South Africa. Say what? Tea from Africa? I thought they only grew coffee beans? Well, come to think of it, African cultures have «medicine doctors» who probably take advantage of the herbal teas and organic, natural supplements. Hmmm.
Of course every item packaged in Japan has to be near perfection. Lupicia does not fail. Its decorative tins with delicate floral accents and vibrant colors appeal to the passerby’s eyes. You cannot help but stop by and «smell the roses» so to speak when you’re at Mitsuwa. Plus, how can you pass up the sample of teas right?
Lupicia offers hundreds of varieties of teas. I found more in the shelves under the counter, which I’m not sure if I was supposed to open them and take a look… but when I pulled the shelves open, wa-​lah! There are tons of teas inside! (maybe it was for storage.)
The display on the wall reminds of Peet’s Coffee or Tranquil Tea Lounge, where you can sniff and see the actual tea leaves in the palm-​sized, stainless steel tins.
During the holiday season, Lupicia vamps up their cuteness with festive scenes of a winter wonderland. Even the names of their holiday flavors alluded to its festiveness like «Winter Wonderland», «Carol of Dreams», «Jingle Bells», «White Christmas».
As like any Japanese retailer shop, Lupicia will offer FREE gift wrapping with cute stickers to accent for the perfect gift for a family member, friend, co-​worker, boss, or that special someone. :)
P. S. So, why only 3 stars for Lupicia??? Well, the truth is, I’m not a huge fan of their teas. I have been disappointed in the past with their «watered down» taste. For example, if the flavor name is «Blueberry Green Tea», I expect and desire a stronger blueberry taste. However, Lupicia have not lived up to their taste… I’m still in discovery mode and still have yet to try more of their teas. but for now, their teas are just a «A-​OK» for me.
Feel free to comment and lemme know… What do you think?

Found Lupicia (Green, Jasmine Tea) served at Yoshi’s restaurant and jazz club in Oakland last month. My husband and I are tea lovers and couldn’t get over how great this tea was.
We went to the SF Lupicia store on Market St. and it was amazing. Lots of samples, etc. we felt like kids in a candy store.
An amazing find is the Oolong tea with Pineapple. Number 8510. It is out of this world. Mild with a lovely pineapple light taste (they call it pineapple cake flavor). It has little bits of pineapple in the tea.
Beautiful packaging and I also bought one of their beautiful glass tall tea pots with a long nylon infuser. You can choose the color of the top that you want. They have white, bright green, orange, etc. Very fun and hip colors.
Love this company and their products. Would rate them as a must try for tea lovers anywhere!

This place is located within the Mitsuwa Supermarket, right in front of the groceries and near the check out area.
They have a bunch of tester cups for you to smell the various flavors of tea they offer. They also oftentimes have samples that you can try.
Personally, I like the muscot black tea here the most, though I was very torn between the muscot and the momo black tea. You can get the more regular flavored teas in sets of 10 tea bags, or you can get it in a package and not placed in tea bags.
They also have some pretty tea containers for some of their more exotic tea blends, and you can buy gift set boxes for the holidays.

2 Star for the tea
1 Star for the service
0 Star for the sales tactics
Me:” I think you overcharged us”.
After she handled three other customers right after us, she came back to me:” Let me double check it for you”.
After running back and forth between the cashier machine and the tea display stand, she checked our bags over and over again (there were only 3 items in the bag). She tried to figure out how many tea we’ve bought for at least 5 minutes:” I am sorry, I overcharged you an extra product”.
Instead she voided the overcharged price back to my card, she cancelled the whole order and made us swipe the card again.
Me:” Can I get gift bag? It’s a gift for my friend”.
Her:” No, we ran out of the gift bags”.
Me:” Can you get me one of the gift bags from the display?“
Her:” No, it’s not allowed by my manager, I will give you some samples the next time”.(Yeah right, like you are going to remember my face).
I didn’t like the way how they charged multiple loose items in the gift bundle as one to confuse people. When you buy one gift box, there were 4 to 5 items appears on your receipt, so if you don’t double check the receipt, you may get overcharged for an «invisible» product.
Some of the tea smells very chemical, like some kind of parfum, some of the tea smells strong, but it’s tasteless.
I didn’t get any samples, nor monthly tea magazines even when I purchased quite a lot in store.
I am not so sure wether the nylon tea bag is really good for health or not, but I won’t come back for their lousy service and the tea that smells like parfum.

I’m new to Lupicia, but I’m growing more and more fond of tea thanks to them. I have about 5 – 6 bags of loose leaf teas at my disposal. So, lets talk about the shop. It located inside Mitsuwa supermarket. You can’t really miss it it’s right next to the cash registers. The staff is helpful and nice on helping you decide what to purchase, but they are on the quiet side.
Every time you make a purchase they give you a generous sample of tea.
They have lovely tea ware so it’s worth to try them out! My favorite teas are Napa Blanc and Champange Rose. Honestly, this place has very decently priced teas! They ARE affordable compared to Teavana at South Coast Plaza! Please do yourself a favor and look here before you go to Teavana. Also, if you make a $ 30 purchase you get a complimentary monthly magazine in the mail, but they are also free to pick up every month!
I think the stuff they sell is high quality even if you don’t like loose leaf tea. They sell tea bags too! It’s nylon bags! It’s really good! They also put down recipes for you if you want to make different mixed teas. (Milk tea, Citrus soda, etc) I highly recommend this place!
There’s so many teas here to smell! You’re free to open the tins and smell them! They are also careful with packaging stuff, if you want a tin for your loose leaf teas they’ll charge you $ 2 for it. But, they’ll put stickers on it and label them. They’ll even label the expiration date. So, yes I like how they take the time to make sure everything is going well for you. Really sweet people!
Oh yeah try their samples if you want to taste test. They usually lay out a pitcher of tea out for you to try!

I was surprised to see Lucipia at Costa Mesa Mitsuwa.
It opened last month according to the friendly worker. I guess it’s been a month since I go to this Mitsuwa, It doesn’t matter because I still get the FTR =P
The place is as big as Torrance Lupicia and located near the supermarket cashiers.
Same tea selections as Torrance and they have samples too.
Check out this place and you can sniff different flavor of fancy teas. I bought champagne rose tea and Sakurambo tea honey at Torrance last time.
4 stars! I am a fan and I will be back for Christmas.
Lupicia is yummylicious!