I’m down to the last 5 or 6 of my upton samples; the ones that I’m not really sure why I got, and well I’m going to be frank these leaves look weird. They’re irregularly twisted, but more prominently they’re an off-greyish green colour, and they smell like ginseng or matcha powder.
At first, it tastes like bitter ginseng, and lemongrass, but with a dirty and sharp taste. it’s very lemony, very bitter and very ginsengy, there really isn’t much else that ever happens. I actually noticed at one point that it does have quite a nice, thick, creamy mouthfeel, but it’s not something that you notice while drinking this one, since it’s so sharp and abbrasively bitter.
the lemon eventually steeped out around the fifth or sixth steep, and left really just ginseng, with hints of florals and earth. I used a moderate temperature, about 80C, and varied my steep time around, but to no avail.
It’s very uncomfortable drinking this tea, and I wound up cutting my review session short because of the discomfort.
Flavors: Earth, Floral, Lemon, Lemongrass
