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

On Jun 28, 8:10 pm, toci > wrote:
> My choices-TC56 Koslanda Estate Organic BOP- TE15 Earl Grey- TN68
> Iyerpadi Estate Organic OP. Toci

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: http://bp0.blogger.com/_RjHPbIOPmac/...h/P1140696.jpg
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
http://teasphere.wordpress.com

On Jun 29, 9:24*am, "Dominic T." > wrote:
> On Jun 28, 8:10 pm, toci > wrote:
>
> > My choices-TC56 Koslanda Estate Organic BOP- TE15 Earl Grey- TN68
> > Iyerpadi Estate Organic OP. * * Toci
>
> 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:http://bp0.blogger.com/_RjHPbIOPmac/...AB0c/nl18XpMO9...
> 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.
>
> - Dominichttp://teasphere.wordpress.com

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

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

Hope all are well,
Ian
--
It is better to have loafed and lost than
never to have loafed at all. (James Thurber)
http://www.aspipes.org/
http://www.bookstacks.org/

On Jun 29, 2:16 pm, toci > wrote:
> 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

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

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

"Bonky" > wrote in message
...
> please, Upton's selection is as good as anybody's.
>
>

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?

On Jun 29, 10:11 pm, "Bonky" > wrote:
> please, Upton's selection is as good as anybody's.

I wasn't trying to offend anyone, just calling it as I see it. Again,
maybe for your particular favorite tea they would be very good... for
me they aren't. Their Japanese greens a very basic and poor, their
Chinese greens are rarely above decent, and they don't have much in
the way of yellow tea or highly roasted oolongs. Now, again if you are
a DJ fan or black teas I think they may offer more... however even
there it would be hard to see them as a "5 star" outlet for tea.
Upton's will do fine with or without my endorsement.

- Dominic

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

Bonky wrote:
> please, Upton's selection is as good as anybody's.

Space Cowboy > writes:

> [...]
>
> My local tea shoppe unloaded some yellow tea called KoKo which is
> Chinese for Cocoa just based on the pinyin. No characters
> available.

That would be kekecha, I think.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

You're right.

Jim

Lewis Perin wrote:
> Space Cowboy > writes:
>
> > [...]
> >
> > My local tea shoppe unloaded some yellow tea called KoKo which is
> > Chinese for Cocoa just based on the pinyin. No characters
> > available.
>
> That would be kekecha, I think.
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /
> http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Space Cowboy > writes:
>
> Lewis Perin wrote:
> > Space Cowboy > writes:
> >
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > My local tea shoppe unloaded some yellow tea called KoKo which is
> > > Chinese for Cocoa just based on the pinyin. No characters
> > > available.
> >
> > That would be kekecha, I think.
>
> You're right.

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

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

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 chlorophyll doesnt break down, the thylakoid does.
The hot selling product is sunscreen made from tea where the
chlorophyll/thylakoid provides the protection.

Lewis Perin wrote:
> Space Cowboy > writes:
> >
> > Lewis Perin wrote:
> > > Space Cowboy > writes:
> > >
> > > > [...]
> > > >
> > > > My local tea shoppe unloaded some yellow tea called KoKo which is
> > > > Chinese for Cocoa just based on the pinyin. No characters
> > > > available.
> > >
> > > That would be kekecha, I think.
> >
> > You're right.
>
> Hey, that place really *is* above average! So how did you like that
> tea?
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /
> http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

On Jun 29, 9:11*pm, "Bonky" > wrote:
> please, Upton's selection is as good as anybody's.

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

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.

On Jul 6, 4:08*am, "Bonky" > wrote:
> 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.

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

On Jul 6, 10:17 am, toci > wrote:
> On Jul 6, 4:08 am, "Bonky" > wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> 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

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