5 star Upton teas

My choices-TC56 Koslanda Estate Organic BOP- TE15 Earl Grey- TN68 Iyerpadi Estate Organic OP. Toci

Reply to
toci
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Wow 5 stars for any offering from Upton's would be tough for me. I'm not a DJ expert and they do tend to cover that area pretty well so I guess it is possible. I'd have to say 2-3 stars is my top for Uptons on most every tea I've tasted over the years. The day they offer something like this:

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I'll happily give them 5 stars :)

That said, I have enjoyed a number of their breakfast/black teas and flavored options like the extra bergamot Earl Grey.

- Dominic

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Reply to
Dominic T.

I have a personal 3 stars on their English Breakfast Blend, their Scottish Breakfast Blend, and their River Shannon Breakfast Blend- three of their best sellers. I'd rather be a bit more adventuresome than drink blended teas that taste the same year in and year out. Your picture looks like you drink tadpoles, though. Toci

Reply to
toci

Just my $0.02, but I think their Margaret's Hope 2nd flush Darjeeling is terrific.

Hope all are well, Ian

Reply to
Lance Manyon

Heh, I brew my tadpoles like a green tea... lower temp water but they're only good for one infusion. That pic is of a seriously high- quality Bi Lo Chun, which would certainly be a 5 star tea for me. I like Upton's, It's just that I can't really order from them in good faith when I know for a couple dollars more I can have some 3-4 star tea elsewhere. Occasionally something there catches my eye though and it is always pretty decent.

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

please, Upton's selection is as good as anybody's.

Reply to
Bonky

I wish they would carry Anxi Oolongs from Gangde, Xiping, for one.

To push the envelope, I wish them to have in their stock the puer from Boyu, Amoy, which has happened to have the taste tea should have.

Taste matters in tea, doesn't it?

Reply to
chance

I agree. Any well stocked tea store is like any other. And well stocked by definition is what sells. Wholesale channels are wholesale channels. You can get closer to the source by buying from someone who has an inside track. But that is nothing more than this years crop not in the channel over last year which is. I'll buy last years vacuum pack anyday over this years crop which has been sitting on the shelf for three months. Not every shoppe carries everything so you have to shop around. You can tell the good tea stores because their prices are in line with everybody elses. If somebody is selling you something special it aint. I like the variety by shopping around but if I only preferred English breakfast then any shoppe will do. When it comes to tea shoppes in general I'm more concerned how they store their teas than what they sell perse. My local tea shoppe unloaded some yellow tea called KoKo which is Chinese for Cocoa just based on the pinyin. No characters available. I havent found the time to track it down on the Internet. Like the noodles maybe someone knows.

Jim

B> please, Upton's selection is as good as anybody's.

Reply to
Space Cowboy

That would be kekecha, I think.

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

You're right.

Jim

Lewis Per>

Reply to
Space Cowboy

Hey, that place really *is* above average! So how did you like that tea?

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

Occasionally the owner will get in some hard to find tea he'd like to try personally then put up for sale. If it doesnt sell he unloads which is the case most of the time. A couple of years ago he got some yellow tea which the seller couldnt tell him more about. I didnt know. After checking my chinese tea book with the little I had left, Danny was right it was Guang Dong DaYeQing. He sold some tea he called green monkey, but it matches the wirey BLC not the kernel kind. I can see the snail in the kernel type with that tiny little head and shell. One day I'm looking at the desired wirey type then it struck me, it is the green/white slime track the snail leaves. I dont think the keke is anything to get excited about. It is pretty dry large twisted leaf. Once again there is the faint fish ordor similar to the DaYeQing but doesnt carry over in the taste which tends toward the bitter. There is no complexity in the taste. I dont analyze tea taste I just drink it.

Jim

PS Okay if the chlor> Space Cowboy writes:

Reply to
Space Cowboy

I think it's sort of like buying at a department store- you get a good variety, but if you want the very best, you go to a boutique. My 5 stars was utilizing Upton's own rating system, and comparing to the fifty some teas I've sampled from Upton's, plus health food and grocery stores. Toci

Reply to
toci

fine, and while I have a little place close to my home where I like to get my tea, I do get samples at Uptons.

And to say that out of their entire catalog of a zillion different estates and types of tea they have no 5 star teas just seems unlikely to me.

They might not have your favorite tea, but they routinely have very high quality teas IMHO.

Reply to
Bonky

As far as I'm concerned, Upton is pretty much my tea world. Dominic and others have a wider world that I recognize. I'm grateful for the comment that their Japanese greens aren't as good as others; I was beginning to suspect that, but hadn't quite solidified it in my own experience. Toci

Reply to
toci

It's all subjective, and I still highly recommend that folks work their way through their own tea journey at their own pace. I did. I spent probably 6-7 *years* drinking the Sunflower brand jasmine green tea in the little yellow tins, and for the first 2 years or so it was a 5 star tea to me. I've thought many time that I had tasted the pinnacle of a particular tea for sure, only to find an even better one or to find a whole new world of better ones waiting. The Internet and groups like this accelerate the journey, sometimes that is a good thing, sometimes not. Go at your own pace, there's no finish line and no losers.

I've been in ruts (some good some bad), I've used hundreds of vendors and shops over time, I still have guilty pleasures of very low-end tea. There's nothing wrong with it, and a 5 star tea can be whatever you are drinking and really enjoying at the time. I apologize if my post came off as tea snobbish, it really wasn't meant to, just that for the money I have found a lot of better tea than Upton's carries and to never be too complacent in a particular tea or vendor or else you might miss out on other teas. My ruts and stops along the way have never been wasted, just learning experiences and many help me to better appreciate a truly good tea now.

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

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