17 Tasting Notes
This tasted more like a creamsickle than a tea. The aroma is mostly vanilla with some orange, with a hint of spices. I can see how some people would really enjoy it, but it’s not my thing. There’s not enough tea presence for me…it is dominated by the flavoring.
Preparation
Brews a deep orange color. Fresh, light, and clean, a bit fruity, grassy / straw-like, and with a suggestion of a seafood-like quality. Less earthy and less sour than red rooibos.
I recommend a very long steeping time. I like this one a lot.
Preparation
This is my favorite tea from Upton and among my favorite of all teas. It’s so reasonably-priced relative to how complex and interesting it is. The aroma has woody tones, a hint of skunkiness, and at times seems a bit like a red wine. It has a pleasant bite to it, and the aroma is more than a bit unusual. Although I liked it the first time I tried it, it has grown on me a great deal.
This tea can be brewed many different ways, and I always brew it for multiple infusions. I think connoisseurs of oolongs would do well to try this one…in my opinion it ranks among the best of the greener oolongs.
Preparation
This is one of my favorite herbal teas. It’s a little like lemongrass without lemon; grassy but unlike a grassy green teas. Fresh, clean, light, and crisp. I prefer this to red rooibos very strongly; it lacks a certain objectionable quality in the aroma of the red tea.
Compared with other Jasmines, this was much less floral, and the aroma was mostly of tea, not Jasmine. The tea was very smooth like a pouchong, with a hint of sweetness. Expensive, but not a bad deal given that there’s a generous amount of leaf in the bag, and the tea proved to be usable for two infusions, although the second infusion tasted exclusively like green tea, not Jasmine.
