Upton Tea Imports

I’ll do a full tasting note of this later. Just a few thoughts. I got this as a sample from Upton when I was getting some herbals from them. I’ve never done too much with Darjeeling, was curious and they had a lot of them, so I got a few samples.
There was a definite grape must/wine flavor to it, a medium-high amount of bitterness, medium thickness body. Other flavors in there but I drank it a couple hours ago and didn’t get a work break until now, so I forgot them. I enjoyed it. I just steeped up a small amount. About 3g in a 110ml gaiwan and wasn’t filling it all the way for a lot of the steeps (8, I think) steeps lasting between 5 and 45 seconds, temp 180F.
The tea says FTGFOP1 but I couldn’t find one full leaf in there, so that designation shouldn’t be on there. FTGBOP would have been more appropriate. If it is the last of their stock and all that is left on the bottom is broken leaf that should be accounted for in the description. Maybe this is something that is normal with Darjeeling but I was certainly surprised by it. I only spent a few bucks on the sample, so not that big of a deal financially, but I’d really like to know what the tea is like full leaf. I’m guessing less bitterness, which would let more of the flavor shine through, different body, thinner? thicker?

I’d be curious to know what the more experienced Darjeeling drinkers think about the broken leaves?

Here’s a picture of what the leaves looked like.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BD0306hEX0G/?taken-by=thecheesenerd

A sad moment. I’m sipping down the last of my mist valley. Also, an embarrassing moment, since I discovered that I haven’t taken the time to write a review for Steepster.

This tea isn’t great, but is a very good, solid Darjeeling-style second flush tea from Nepal. It is resistant to oversteeping, so when I just dump some in a pot and then oversteep, it still comes out well. Classic Darjeeling taste with a bit of stone fruit.

~120ml shi piao yixing
~4g

Smell of the dry tea in the warmed pot is so delicious, delightful. It’s summer. It’s sweet, nutty (odor of baked nutfruit bread wafting out a window?).

Chaqi is strong & bright, like getting hit with a tidal wave of freshwater.
Or a vigorous massage with tingly oil.

Mouthfeel makes the cheeks, then both sides lower, salivate.
Dries up the roof of the mouth, then the front half of the tongue.

The aroma is simultaneously light and rich; gushes up the back and out the nose.

Wet leaves look like freshest red leaf lettuce.

Muji porcelain teapot
2 heaped t
95-100º C;
steeped 3min

Green! ranging from white to ash green and various shades of brown. Plenty of thinly twist-rolled, hair covered leaves.

Amber liquor. Beautiful brilliant clarity. Nutty sweet aroma. Easy to drink, light, spring fills mouth.

Multiple infusions (5m, 6m, etc) until sweet water

Today, I drank the last of this that I had in my stash. I did 2 teaspoons in 500 mL water at 190 for 3:30, which is more tea than I normally use. This is a light oolong with good floral/grassy flavors, and it brews up to a light golden color. I like this one a lot, and will probably get some more at another point in time.

Nothing special. It doesn’t have any of the chocolatey hints you’d normally get in a Yunnan, just a generic “black tea” taste. Just something I’d drink when I don’t want to use any of my Black Snail or a flavored tea.

Very even, short, finely twisted wiry strands of tea – since I’m using my black Korean strainer cup, these are the only appearance remarks I’ll bother with for now.

The aroma of the dry leaf has a pronounced sweetness suggesting orange blossoms, vanilla, and rosewater. There are some subtler spice notes as well, hinting at pipe tobacco or even nutmeg. Unique and inviting.

Aromas largely dissipate in the infusion, though their signature remains coherent.

The flavor is very smooth, faintly malty; clean, yet rich. Arguably the platonic ideal of a Medarata Ceylon, where you get a wonderful natural balance between the nuance of Udarata teas and the strength of Pahatha teas. Slightly tannic woodsy finish.

Fairly creamy mouth-feel, this would likely take a splash of milk, and isn’t subject to excessive bitterness when brewed for longer than recommended. In my strainer cup, it yields at least two solid re-infusions when I increased the brew time by a minute each time.

Nutty taste with some spiciness to it. A pleasant morning tea.

Malty taste without anything else of note. I have always wanted to try Japanese non-green teas, so at least I’ve got that done.

Brewed in my Korean infuser cup, roughly following the directions from Upton.

Auburn liquor has a delicate fall aroma, though I struggle to pick out individual scents. The flavors are likewise subdued – with vague river-stone and floral notes – though the finish is distinctly nutty, bringing to mind walnuts, apricot pits, almonds, or pecans. Muscatel presence throughout reminds you this is indeed a Darjeeling. Velvety mouth-feel, with just enough astringency to dry out the finish (though I’m not sure I’d call this a “brisk” tea).

While this has the delicacy I’d expect from a first flush, it is interesting to note how different in appearance it is, not only to other AV-2 clonal teas, but even to previous incarnations of Castleton Moonlight (e.g. the 2014 first flush, available from JAS-eTea, which is substantially greener).

Made at work, boiled water in microwave. 8 oz water, 1 tsp of tea, 3.5 min brew.

At first I really enjoyed this tea. Had a malty, cocoa-ish vanilla thing going on. Tasted comforting, which is what I’m looking for in tea! Then it started to either become kind of astringent tasting, or I started picking up on the mineral flavor that’s listed as one of it’s flavors on its Steepster page. I don’t think I’m capable of telling the difference between those yet.

Second steep I boiled water in the microwave again, then brewed for 4.5 minutes. I’m getting more of the astringent flavor.

I don’t want to count this tea out because I liked it so much at first taste, and my work set up is pretty crappy. I think I’ll bring it home and use with better water boiled in an actual kettle and see how that goes!

I’ve had this the last several mornings. I like it, but nothing about it leaps out to me. Yesterday I used 1.5 tsp with a 4 min steep and felt like it ended up a bit astringent. Today I used 1 tsp with a 4 min steep and was much happier with it. For a second steep I did 5 min, which I think I would increase to 5.5 or 6 min next time.

Hmm, I don’t think I like this one. It’s very smokey for me and that’s not really my thing.

I have been trying to find a loose-leaf version of Constant Comment that isn’t ACTUALLY Constant Comment.

This isn’t it, but it’s close.

It’s a little too heavy on the orange, tipping into the range where I can taste that it’s been added in artificially. It’s also missing the blend of spices I prefer, hitting clove and mostly leaving out nutmeg or cinnamon. Milk definitely helps with this one but it’s not one I’ll be getting again.

I have enjoyed Earl Grey for years. For ages, I would take it ‘british’, with ample sugar and cream. Once I started traveling more often, I started seeking a way to keep the soft creme notes in the tea without having to actually keep dairy around since it was getting very wasteful.

This tea is, by far, the best way to enjoy that same sort of flavor without needing creamer of any type.

Upton included a free sample of this with an order that was given to me as a Christmas gift. As others who have reviewed it have noted, the strong scent and dark color of this tea left me surprised at its mild flavor. For me, that was a good thing—I’m not a big fan of strong black teas. Nonetheless, although it was enjoyable enough, there was nothing about this tea that would compel me to want to buy it. In the past, I have been able to significantly improve my ratings of some black teas by adjusting steeping time and/or temperature. In this particular case, I feel like I hit a decent balance in the first steeping, and there’s probably not much I can do to extract more flavor without making the result overly astringent.