Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Upton Tea Imports
Tea Description:
A medium-bodied CTC selection which can accommodate milk if desired. This tea produces a flavorful cup with a deep amber liquor. Enjoy hot or iced.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Season’s Pick Vietnam CTC Black Tea from Upton Tea Imports is a very flavorful tea – there’s a lot going on in each sip! My first sip of this tea, I was really surprised at just how flavorful it was, but, for all it’s flavor it doesn’t really have a heavy body or texture to it, it’s actually quite smooth to sip.
There are notes of sweetness to this: a fruity sweetness that is reminiscent of a berry medley, with notes of citrus in the background. It’s not overly tangy, though, it’s more like the sweetness of these fruits without the tart or tangy notes. There is a low earthy note and I also notice a sort of “smoldering” wood note, vaguely smoky, certainly not overtly smoky … more like wisps of smoke that peek out from underneath this wood-like undertone that sit just beneath the earthy notes.
I like the robust quality of this tea – that it is a good, “rugged” type of tea without the heaviness of a typical robust or bold tasting tea. It’s like a gentle shake to alertness, rather than a strong, vigorous kick in the butt. Very little astringency (I’m talking, next to NO astringency here!) and no bitterness.
A really pleasant cup of tea. Not my favorite tea that I’ve tried from Upton, but, it’s a pretty decent black tea.
Kalubowitiyana Estate Ceylon Black Tea from Upton Tea Imports
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Upton Tea Imports
Tea Description:
Only limited amounts of CTC style tea are produced in Sri Lanka, and we are happy to be able to reintroduce this style after a prolonged absence. This offering is notable for a pleasing malty nuance, combined with the classic Ceylon notes of cedarwood and light citrus hints.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Nice! This Kalubowitiyana Estate Ceylon Black Tea from Upton Tea Imports is a very finely cut CTC … but don’t let the small size of the leaf cut discourage you. Just reduce the brew time … I brewed this for 2 minutes in my Breville One-Touch rather than my usual “go to” time of 2 1/2 minutes for black tea, and the result is a cup of really pleasant Ceylon tea.
The most surprising note in this tea is the malty tone … it is MALTY … like a good, hearty Assam! It is rich and flavorful, with a heftier body than I usually associate with a Ceylon. This is like a Ceylon in Assam’s clothing. In fact, had I not known that it was a Ceylon with my first sip, I would have thought it was an Assam.
However, now that I’ve had a few more sips, I notice more of a Ceylon character start to emerge. It has that even-tempered flavor that I expect from a Ceylon, as well as hints of citrus that arrive at the tail end of the sip. Mid-sip, I notice a woody character with earthy notes. There is a moderate amount of astringency to this, which is further accentuated by the citrus notes that arrive at the finish.
This is a really pleasant cuppa – one that would be nice morning or early afternoon tea. It has a good amount of kick to it … so it can get you going just like a hearty Assam would!
Red Elephant from Joy’s Teaspoon
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Joy’s Teaspoon
Tea Description:
Our Kenyan orthodox black breakfast blend is a high quality CTC tea that packs a punch and will jump start your morning. Clean leaves, honey-like aroma, floral flavor with no harshness and excellent with a splash of milk.
A beautiful scene unfolds as you envision the tea bushes, grown on the southern slopes of Mount Kenya at a relatively high altitude of 2036M above sea level, situated between two main rivers (Rundu and Mukengeria) that have their source in the Mt. Kenya forest. The area is farmed by approximately 3,700 small scale tea farmers with a combined acreage of about 847 hectares (2,092 acres.) Most of the farmers are related and farm ancestral pieces of land that have been passed down from generation to generation. Most of the pluckers are women who farm tea farms that belong to their husbands or fathers. Land is usually inherited patrilineally, though recently women have begun to inherit and purchase their own tea farms.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Now that’s what I’m talking about! This tea has got some heft! This is the kind of tea that you want to drink on those mornings when you’re having a hard time keeping your eyelids open, This tea is sure to help with that!
This tea is good and strong, and a little goes a long way. That is to say, when measuring, you don’t need to add a little extra to the teapot for added strength! This is plenty strong on its own. Use the amount you’d usually use, or even just a little less. If you usually use a heaped teaspoon, use a level teaspoon for best results.
This is a very rich and flavorful tea – there is a freshly baked bread and burnt sugar kind of taste to it. Sweet, caramelized burnt sugar. YUM! There is a pleasant earthiness to this as well as some hints of malt … but don’t go thinking this is similar to an Assam, because the malty tone is where those similarities end.
This is a very enjoyable, full-bodied black tea that is strong enough to give a good kick start to anyone’s day, and it’s just what I needed to help shake that groggy, sleepy feeling I had this morning. This tea has managed to chase those feelings away without a trace! I’m awake and raring to go!
Southern Boy Teas Series, Part 7: Neapolitan Ice Cream from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where To Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Premium Indian CTC black teas blended with organic flavoring. Amazing tea with a great Neapolitan ice cream finish.
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
YUM!
I am nearly finished with this series of teas (just one more flavor to try – Bubblegum!), and I’ve really enjoyed them all so far. Each one has been deliciously unique – revamping the idea of boring iced tea, transforming it into a very exciting way to enjoy cool, summertime refreshment.
The original “Neapolitan Ice Cream” tea from 52Teas was actually a flavored honeybush that I quite enjoyed, although I didn’t really drink a whole lot of it. My oldest daughter went through a honeybush phase where she would have honeybush tisane every morning, and this was one of her favorites (Her #1 favorite, though, was the Coconut Cheesecake Honeybush) Anyway, my pouch of this vanished pretty quickly during her honeybush phase, so I have to admit that I was pretty excited to try this new black tea version of the dynamic flavor.
Before brewing it last night (I cold-brewed this the same way I did the other six Southern Boy Teas before it), I smelled the teabag, and I could smell each of the flavors: chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, although the strongest fragrance came from the strawberry. It almost overpowered the other notes, with a subtle vanilla/creamy note coming through and mere hints of chocolate.
This translates into the brewed tea as well. The strawberry is the strongest flavor – in fact, with the first few sips, all I could taste, really was the strawberry and the black tea. By about the third sip, I began to notice some creaminess coming through, and by the time I was nearly finished with my first glass, the chocolate was coming through … and it was really weird because it wasn’t really like “boom! and now, here is the chocolate” … “it was more like hello! I was here all the time, I just wanted to let the strawberry have its time in the spotlight.”
Now that I’m nearly finished with my second glass (goodness this tea disappears quickly!), all three flavors are shining through. I get a sweet yet tart note from the strawberry, complete with the tickle of berry in the aftertaste. I get a smooth, rich chocolate note that is nicely complemented by the creamy, sweet vanilla notes. These three flavors together give it all a very ice-cream-y kind of flavor that is really delectable!
But what I think I like even better than the flavors of this tea is how well the black tea performs with these flavors. It comes through very pleasantly strong, with delicious malty notes and a nice amount of astringency that I find to be very refreshing.
Another winner in this set of iced teas! I’m loving it!
Southern Boy Teas Series, Part 6: Cotton Candy from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Premium Indian CTC black teas blended with organic flavoring. Amazing tea with a great cotton candy / carmelized sugar finish.
Learn more about the Southern Boy Teas series here.
Taster’s Review:
I know I’ve probably said it before (somewhere), but I love cotton candy. I was really excited when 52Teas released their Cotton Candy Flavored Black Tea earlier this year, and I was very pleased to see that it was a flavor that was recaptured in their Southern Boy Teas series.
This does taste a little different than the original version that I just mentioned, but, it’s still VERY good. The black tea bases are different, so this leads to a different flavor. Also, I did cold-brew this super-sized tea bag to make the iced tea so that also contributes to the differences in flavor that I’m noticing.
The cotton candy flavor is very subtle. It doesn’t hit you upside the head with cotton candy flavor. But the tea is sweet and very delicious, with a hint of cotton candy weaving its way throughout the sip. It is at the finish where I notice the strongest cotton candy flavor… and then I start to notice a couple of other flavors, too … something I don’t remember tasting with the original blend.
Chocolate! Yes, that’s what I said: Chocolate. It just sort of took me by surprise when I first tasted it – I noticed the lovely black tea flavor with a lovely hint of candy sweetness, very smooth and delicious, and then as the sip neared the finish, there it was, as plain as day: chocolate! Hints of a caramel-y sweetness were there and the knee-buckling flavor of chocolate.
So far, I do think that this might be my favorite of the Southern Boy Teas… possibly dethroning the much loved Rainbow Sherbet! The flavor here is just amazing – so unexpectedly good. Refreshing. Yes, all of that. Very moreish, and very, very good!