Short reviews of many teas

[Splinters]

Hi all,

I'm pretty new here, but not to tea. Earlier this year, I ordered a slew of samples and batches of tea from Upton Tea. I thought maybe someone would like to see my brief notes on the various teas I tried. I've graded on a scale of 1-5 stars.

Five-star teas

Pi Lo Chun -- Super tea in all respects. Nutty brew with fine complexity and an unmistakable grapefruit finish.

Song Zhen -- Pine needle tea leaves. Unbrewed leaves smell sweet and floral. Brew is engaging and reasonably smooth, with jasmine overtones and a hint of unobjectionable smoke.

White Paklum Tips -- Nice alternative to Bai Hao Yin Zhen; different in its own right. Smell is basic white, but cup is fruity, vegetal, and possesses a tiny wisp of sour

Four and a half star teas

Spring Sprouting Jade -- Light sweet and sour tea, with roasted apricot overtones.

Four star teas

Long Jing Superfine -- Fine Dragon Well, with nutty yet green flavor and smooth overall mouth.

Mao Feng -- Nice daily tea with a nutty scent, a hint of sweet, and sufficient flavor complexity.

Pi Bao Shan -- Very nice tea similar to Pi Lo Chun, but with a mellow -- instead of a grapefruit -- aftertaste. Great flavor and value at this price.

Pi Lo Chun Bao Wei -- A delicate version of Pi Lo Chun, with lighter leaves and softer flavor.

Long Jing Emperor's Tribute -- A delicate version of Long Jing, not clear that it justifies the cost differential.

Premium Fukamushi Cha -- Taste similar to a smooth and light Dragon Well.

Hongyokuro -- A very nice tea; a delicate and very smooth version of gyokuro. Perhaps not as distinctive as the regular-grade I got from Ryu Mei.

Guangdong Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearl -- Superior tea, with a mild (perhaps a tad too mild) jasmine flavor, and a mellow mouth and aftertaste.

Jasmine Silver Buds -- Nice tea with a bright jasmine flavor and a dry mouth and aftertaste.

Three-and-a-half star teas

Gu Zhu Zi Sun -- Interesting tea. I've never come across a tea whose taste so closely matches the smell of the dry leaves. Pleasant brew overall.

Pan Long Ying Hao Select -- Nice down-the-center tea. If perfectly brewed, possesses nice mix of complexity and smoothness.

Three-star teas

Gu Zhang Mao Jian -- Perfectly nice green tea, but not memorable.

Tai Ping Hou Kui -- Interesting full leaf with nice aroma; cup is a simple green tea.

Turkish Apple -- Pleasant sour apple flavor. Nice afternoon sip.

Ko-kei Cha -- Better than I expected. Nice aroma. Flavor is similar to what you'd get by ordering tea at a Japanese restaurant.

Foucha -- Smooth, simple, classic green tea. Lacks complexity.

Two-star teas

Arya Estate White Pearl -- Largely flavorless version of a white tea.

Makaibari Estate Silver Tips -- Prototypical Darjeeling. Not sufficiently different for me.

Xia Zhou Bi Feng -- Nutty and dry, with a very distinct astringency. Easy to misbrew.

[Salsero]

Thanks for all the reviews. You have obviously been very busy! I love these sort of drive by evaluations. In many ways they are better than the extented and erudite appreciations most of us tend to do. The short ones are easier to read, nearly as informative, and less imposing to write.

I'd love to see dozens more like this!

[inspectoring]

yep...awesome job...I agree.

I would do something like this...the only problem being that I change my mind often.
I am trying lots of teas the 2nd and 3rd time around. I guess in two or three months I will post some reviews.
Once again, thank you mate.

[kongni]

Splinters - How does Upton package and ship their tea? Would you recommend them?

[Chip]

Thank you Splinters for sharing with us and welcome to TeaChat!

LOL, Upton. I sometimes wonder which is upgraded less, their site or their teas. 2+ years ago I contacted them about posting harvest info on their site since I think that info should be disclosed when you offer around a million teas, and I am not keen on asking about every tea they offer (they supposedly will tell you about individual tea's harvest info if you ask).

I emailed back and forth with an officer who said they were upgrading their site and would consider it then. Seemed like a cop out, tbh, since all they would have to do is include it in the product description at least for now.

But this was pivotal to my moving on after using them for 4-5 years. Now, more than 2 years later, they still do not post harvest info with few exceptions and the site still sux, and has not been upgraded.

The reason I bring it up here, I had freshness issues with them which is why I became adamant about harvest info at that time. I am glad I moved on and am happier with other vendors. They have a nice selection of Darjeeling.

[kongni]

Thanks for the info Chip!
Yeah, I wish that more online tea vendors would share info about harvest time. I'm always concerned about that kind of thing, especially when buying Japanese green teas. For example, when a vendor still has shincha available in Feb/March....Hmmm....Makes you wonder...

[Splinters]

Thanks very much. I hope these reviews are useful.

I have a slightly different view of Upton Tea; I like them. I agree that, on occasion, some of their teas can be spotty. For example, the Xia Zhou Bi Feng I purchased from them was clearly off-par.

Having said that, the wide majority of the teas I've gotten from them have been tasty and sufficiently fresh. The HUGE advantage of Upton is that you can "try before you buy" by purchasing tiny ($2-3 / 5-10 g) samples of each of their teas. I first buy a sample from them, and if I'm satisfied, I go back for more. Plus, their prices are reasonable.

As for their packaging, I like it. Their full-sized teas are packaged in ziploc-reclosable foil-like bags with a personalized sticker that lists recommended temperature and brewing time. I like their bags better than TeaSpring's foil baggies because you need not transfer the tea to a tea tin.

Their shipping is lightning fast, at least to Maryland, and all tea I've ordered from them has arrived safely.

As Chip suggests, your mileage may vary. But if you're willing to buy samples or willing to trust others' reviews, I'd say Upton is definitely worth a look.

[Splinters]

I agree. It's always helpful to hear different people's opinions of the various tea sites. But I also find that people's tastes vary, and that tea shops are not monolithic and may deliver a variety of teas, good and bad, over the seasons.

I know people praise TeaSpring, and I've had good experiences with them as well. But people also praise Dragon Tea House, and I've been less impressed with their tea. Some dislike Upton Tea, but, as I noted above, I like them because of their selection and the ability to buy small samples and "try before you buy."

But I'd love to hear others' views of Chinese Tea vendors in particular.

[Pentox]

I wish there was a site that rated the same type of teas from different places. For the longest time I was buying from Holy Mountain and I loved their teas. Then I tried some from Teaspring and all I can say is "wow". It would be nice to know what places have what type of quality of tea.

There are a few sites that are like that. TeaViews is probably what you are looking for, although personally I don't really find my tastes in line with some of their reviewers. Depending on your tastes you can follow bloggers, we tend to get teas from a variety of vendors and put our opinions of them up for all to read.