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Tried the new bag again this morning. Yukk! I don’t think it even has Satrupa in the bag. I will inquire of the source on this bag as it’s nasty tea. Maybe that is the nature of this year’s crop which I hear resulted in some very strong assam teas. But I had two bags of this in the same order and the first bag was wonderful. This bag is like a different tea or a different crop at least.

Having a cup of this as my after lunch tea. It’s a darker Yunnan with small broken particles and a golden Yunnan leaning in it’s flavor.

Got a sampler of this recently and gave it a try in a head-to-head taste test with two other recommended assam teas from Upton. This one had beautiful colors in the leaves, with orange, yellow mixed in with the black. The brew is dark and a bold flavor. It has some spicy notes, some astringency, some maltiness and fruity notes. It’s a good blend of flavors and a bold assam. Their description says the dry environment in India this year resulted in strong teas. So you may want milk with yours. I tried it black with raw cane sugar as sweetener.

This tea at first glance looks like a golden Yunnan. It’s got a similar aroma and flavor as well but its unique enough to be its own variety. It’s a very good flavor with the honey and spicey notes. The brew is a deep amber color and offers a bold cup.

Opened a new bag today and found it (based on the first sampling of it) to be disappointing. If I were blindfolded I’d say it wasn’t the same tea. I’m not sure what happened but it wasn’t a great taste, the maltiness I’m used to in this tea wasn’t there. I’ll hope for better results next steeping.

I’m not a huge fan of white teas but I have found some that are very good. This tea I got from one of my favorite tea shops, the Tao of Tea. It’s an organic white tea from southern India, in the mountainous Nilgiri region. The leaves a long and hard, reminding in looks to some pine needles at first. The liquor steeps up a pale golden yellow color. I find the flavor very subtle and uninspiring for me. It’s ok… but I prefer a little more flavor.

I’m not a huge fan of darjeeling tea but it’s growing on me. When I do drink it I gravitate towards the 2nd flush varieties as they are less “grassy” flavored. I decided to order this one based on the description. It’s described as a high elevation Himalayan foothills variety. I enjoy Nilgiri teas for their higher elevation growths contributing to a milder less astringent flavor. The description doesn’t say more specifically why it’s a “blend” other than maybe they mixed with darjeelings from several farms/estates. The brew from this has a medium muscatel flavoring that is mild and tasty, not astringent and quite nice. I think I steeped it longer than I wanted to but it still tastes very nice.

I’ve been into assams teas lately. Early on in my “turn on” to loose leaf teas I didn’t like assam teas. I found them bitter. Then I discovered that not all Assams are equivalent. And I discovered that if you steep for 2 or at most 2 1/2 minutes you prevent most of the bitterness. What little is left can be masked with a splash of milk. Take a good tippy assam, steep two minutes, add some sweetener and you can have a really delicious tea.

I was recommended this particular assam by the Upton Tea CS manager. I recommend this tactic for any tea shop. Find an experienced tea buyer or someone who knows the shops teas very well, tell them what you like and ask for suggestions. It works quite well.

As the description for this tea states, it’s a strong assam. The leaves are thicker than most assams, with tight kinks in it. It’s partially broken but still large chunks remain. I like a chunky leaf tea. The brew is dark and bold. I steeped a tad over 2 minutes and I don’t taste any bitterness. This is a great strong assam. I am trying it with just some Stevia sweetner, no milk. It’s really a great flavor. It has some malty character to it but the flavor it has is very good. I am

Just got this new (for me) tea in from Upton. I was looking for a replacement to a Yunnan I had from last year (2008) but it too was a seasonal pick and therefore no longer available. The friendly CS dept manager at Upton pointed me to this tea as a possible replacement.

Like some other teas, Yunnans seem to come in various shades (amounts) of golden colored leaves. I was looking for a darker less golden version to offset my collection of golden leaf Yunnans. This tea surprised me in that it’s a more broken leaf than I was expecting. It says FBOP grade but I’m not always sure how broken is “broken”. This has small particles. The color is darker with some tips mixed in. The flavor for me is more golden flavored than the appearance would suggest. So the distinctive flavor of a golden Yunnan is stronger than I was expecting but it’s a very good flavor… just not quite what I was looking for in a darker leaf Yunnan.