Golden Kenya TGFOP - Upton Tea

A few notes on tea news of the past week. Visit Topix for the full stories:

• There have been a few articles this week suggesting that drinking black English Breakfast tea can help to halt the effects of anthrax in the body.
  


• Honest Tea is producing a new line of teas for the mass market (through Moxie). They will be sweeter and fruitier than the original "...to be a mainstream product." (It feels to me that they are compromising to sell more tea at the expense of the original mission. I worried when Coca Cola bought a 40% stake in the company.)


• McDonald's restaurants in the UK are dropping Tetley and will now be using PG Tips.


• Tea planters in Dooars and Terai are expecting 50 - 90% reductions in their first flush crops due to a lack of rainfall in the region.


• Meanwhile, improving weather in Kenya may mean a rebounding of their crop production.

Now, today's tea. Today I tried Golden Kenya TGFOP from Upton Tea. (I think that last news story inspired me.) I reviewed Mark T. Wendell's Mountain Kenya tea back in January so it seemed time to revisit the region.

Back to the alphabet soup - TGFOP - Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. This whole leaf grade is one of the higher grades and the long tips add great visual interest. The golden tips are readily apparent in this tea and the leaf is large and beautiful. It is a completely different look than the Mountain Kenya. The scent reminded me of Formosa oolongs - light and citrusy with a bit of woodsiness.

This tea brewed to an amber liquor. I prepared for my first sip, expecting bold and hearty like a breakfast tea. I was wrong. It was a much lighter flavor, with fruity, lemony notes. There was a remarkable sweetness to this cup. I think this would be much more of an afternoon tea for me than a breakfast tea. An almost delicate tea.

Tea: Golden Kenya TGFOP
Source: Upton Tea
Type: Black tea
Brewing details: 1 1/2 tsp for 4 1/2 minutes
Comment: Upton Tea continues to impress. It was nice to start to see some diversity among Kenyan teas.

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Taken from http://teapages.blogspot.com/