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Hummm….Perhaps I’m just not a Ceylon fan. Today was the second time I had this tea. I can’t remember if I added anything to it the first time but I remember a very bright tea flavor but I just wasn’t wowed. This time I thought I used plenty of leaf, but after adding some milk it just seemed completely overpowered. Too mild for a breakfast tea for me – and I can just imagine hubby complaining about it being tasteless. Could be an afternoon tea, but I just have so many more better options than this for the few times I manage to get in an afternoon cup of tea.

Humm…..Very nice. I believe this was supposed to be the May entry in the Single Leaf Club although I received it at the same time as their White Cloud in June.

The fresh leaves smell wonderful! I kept my nose tucked into the packet for a while to breath it in. A sweet citrus with just a hint of floral. I don’t usually like strongly scented tea leaves but this one is awesome. The fresh leaves also look gorgeous.

I initially followed the recommended brewing of 1 minute at 212. This was good, but after a sip I wondered if it would be better with an additional minute. Two minutes was perfect. No bitterness, just nicely full flavored.

Once brewed, their is just a hint of the fresh tea scent. The tea has a nice toasty flavor as mentioned in the Golden Moon tasting notes. A small hint of citrus for me. Not sure about the cocoa – still thinking about that one. Very nice, though. Highly recommended.

ETA: As the tea cooled, the citrus flavor that I noticed in the fresh tea leave scent became more pronounced. I really enjoyed this tea and look forward to trying a resteep.

Another entry in the Golden Moon Single-Leaf Club. It is my first white tea so I would not even attempt to rate it. The leaves are quite large. I followed the recommended steeping time and temperature.

I normally drink breakfast teas, heavy on the single-estate top grade Assams so this is quite different than those. Very vegetal – can’t say if it is leeks or not, but vegetal. The flavor lingers long after drinking it. I know white teas are supposed to be sweet, but I am not really picking this up at all, perhaps because it doesn’t compare to the honey or molasses of the assams.

Interesting. I can see why some might like it. Not quite my cup of tea. Now I’m really looking forward to the Golden Bi Lo……

Very good, and the Upton description is very accurate – "strong, bracing and malty….smooth for such a stout cup. Really enjoyed this one.

This was really, really boring. My husband said “tasteless”. I brewed it at 2 tsp/cup and still not good. I usually drink more of the top tier when it comes to single estate assams and while I wasn’t expecting it to live up to that, I was expecting it to still have good flavor. For a similar price, I think the Upton East Frisian BOP is a much better value. May not be single estate but I don’t want to just pay for a name. Ended up throwing out the tin.

My problem with the Upton single estate assams is they are usually sold out by the time I review them. This one is almost sold out, but I liked it so much I thought I would slide in a review. Nice flavor, malt, fruit, maybe spice. One of the best teas I’ve had. I liked it enough to purchase another package before it sells out.

We don’t drink flavored teas at all, but I love to mix this one in with other teas. Our favorite is to mix with Supreme Breakfast, but it also mixes nicely with assam teas. Unfortunately we discovered that ants love this tea!! I left some in my Breville overnight which was a big mistake. Didn’t do that again, but they even found the tin of sachets we had too. They smelled it right through the tin! So now it is double packaged – tin of loose tea inside a plastic container. The sachets had ants in them so had to go.

This one has really grown on me. The trick for me, was brewing for 4 minutes and using 2 rounded tsp per cup. Not a very malty tea but caramal and nuts.

This is a lovely tea. I started with a 4 oz tin and liked it enough to purchase a pound. Even better than their 2010 Mangalam. Lovely malty flavor. Great with a touch of honey. Initially was brewing for 5 minutes but it was bitter a few times so reduced to 4.5 minutes.

Tried this tea again a couple days ago. Definitely not a big malty assam that I’m more used to. On the other hand, I think it might grow on me. At 4 minutes, no bitterness at all. I think 3 minutes would be much too short and watery for me. I would not describe it as malty. Perhaps nutty and fruity might be better descriptions. As i slowly drank my 16 oz cup it did open up some and I liked the flavor. Look forward to my next try with this one. Reserving any score at this time.