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Black Tea by Upton Tea Imports
Description:
This versatile selection is good hot or iced, and can be enjoyed plain or with the addition of milk and sweetener. The flavor is reminiscent of a simple Keemun tea with light Burgundy hints, but without the smoky nuances one often associates with that style.
Origin:
ChinaSteeping Suggestions: –
Leaf Quantity: 2¼ g/cup
Water Temp: 212° (boiling)
Steep Time: 4-5 min.
Continuing on with my Black Tea/Upton World Journey…I’m now in CHINA…oh…I wish I really were in CHINA.
Anywhooooooo…
Other than the black tea base I can smell a hint of fig. It’s neat.
It’s a medium-brown sort of color.
Yum! This is a nice change-up from the last few black teas I have had today. It’s smoother, almost. It’s lighter. A bit mellow. A little like sweet-wood. It has a nice finish – easy to handle…pleasant.
Nice!
Backlog
Another one from yesterday that I didn’t get a chance to take notes on. I do recall this being a very mellow tasting tea that didn’t necessarily smack me in the face but was quite tasty. Rating later once i try it again.
Bargain Basement Time-
Onto my cup #9. (I just have to thank Upton for having such a vast variety of teas for sampling! Huzzah!)
This one is probably the cheapest of the bunch. It is one of their Season’s Picks, so the minimum you can order other than a sample is 250g. But is it only $4.70 for 8.8 ounces of tea, or 53 cents an ounce! Yes, truly a bargain. To break that down even further, using the average of about 12 cups per ounce, we are talking about 4 cents a cup. When I make a pitcher of iced tea, I use about 6 tsp, so my whole pitcher is about a quarter. Now that is a refreshing number.
All of those numbers sound great, but how does it taste? Really, it is pretty good. I am positive it would beat Lipton easily for taste. There are no roasty, toasty, notes, or hints of chocolate, but it is a good solid, smooth tea. Upton describes it like a Keemun without any smokey notes. If I did not have about 20 varieties in my cupboard to make iced tea (meaning teas I bought and did not really care for them hot), it would be on my shopping list, because I do like this one hot, too. Maybe next season.
(Better go make something iced ASAP.)
