Upton has renamed their teas or changed their item codes between TT10 and TT11, which makes discussing them confusing. The old TT10, Season's Pick Formosa Fannings, was discontinued. This is the same tea that used to be called TT11 but it's now TT10. (Update, they now renamed it back to TT11. lol.)

This is a radically different tea from Season's Pick Formosa Fannings, which surprised me. That tea is mellower, whereas this is a bolder and stronger tea. This tea resembles a black tea a bit more. It's more similar, however, to Upton's higher grades of dark Taiwanese oolong (which are only slightly more expensive). I'm a bit confused as to why Upton offers so many options, especially after sampling all of them.

The dark leaves of this tea are aromatic, and don't expand much upon brewing, in contrast to a lot of oolongs.

I found this tea to have a fair amount of bitterness and astringency, which could be a plus or a minus, depending on your taste. Although it's slightly mellower than most black teas, it still seems more black-tea-like than oolong-like.

The aroma has some complexity...it's earthy with a hint of cinnamon. I find this tea doesn't do well with multiple infusions...after a 4 minute infusion, there's not much left in the leaves. I suppose one could use briefer infusions and more leaves, but I tried this and it didn't improve my overall experience with the tea. Bottom line? Take it or leave it...it's alright but I've had much better dark oolongs from other sources, and I find Upton also has teas I strongly prefer.

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