The leaf of this tea is significantly coarser than many grades I have also seen called fannings.

The brewed tea is deep reddish brown. The aroma isn't terribly strong, and is mostly earthy with some nutty tones. Little bitterness, but also, little complexity.

I find that this tea is too mellow for my tastes if brewed as Upton instructs. I also tried using boiling water, but would not recommend this as it makes the tea very bitter and astrigent to the point of being undrinkable. However, using water somewhere between 190 and boiling yielded very nice results. It was remarkable how much of a difference such a subtle change in temperature made with this tea.

This tea is not good for multiple infusions: nearly all the aroma is gone after the first cup. I've found that the infusion time is not particularly important...I've produced flavorful cups with 1-5 minute infusions and they all taste similar.

This tea is inexpensive by weight, but I think Upton's more expensive offerings offer much better value. For a tea with such little complexity, it is surprisingly difficult to brew well, and it's only good for one brewing.

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