Upton Tea Imports

Surprisingly, this is not vile. I know, I know. I’ve turned out to be so anti-Upton. I don’t mean to be. I’m just constantly disappointed by them. For the most part I’ve either not liked their teas or liked them enough that I would pick them up at a grocery store but not go out of my way to order them online. (There are a couple of exceptions that I would possibly order online but there are better versions at other vendors so I’d ultimately go to the other vendors.) Anyway, enough Upton-bashing (I seriously don’t mean to, it just happens.) On to the tea.

Without additives, I was kind of prepared to have to add sugar and milk to it to make it drinkable but nope, drank the whole cup straight. It’s surprisingly smooth with zero bitterness and a decently full flavor. The only problem I really have with it is the main flavor was kind of… fresh, young tree limb. I think it was the Darjeeling in there but it made me think of a Nilgiri (though a bit smoother) and that’s just not a flavor profile I’m in love with. It makes me think I’m munching on plant-life.

It’s definitely a mellow tea and that’s kind of nice but it makes me wonder how well it would truly hold up with milk and sugar. Though I gave some to the husband steeped for 4 minutes with milk and sugar and it was good enough that he was surprised when I told him it came from Upton. So apparently it can hold up to sugar and milk. Though I’m the type that likes to pee on the electric fence myself so I’ll try it later just to be sure. Until then, this rates as a decent tea that I would have no trouble drinking but would only buy if 1) I could find it at the grocery store and 2) There were no other better options there.

A very enjoyable smoky aroma with a pleasant and smooth liquor. Do not be afraid, it does NOT taste as it smells, the two senses conflict for an interesting and not unpleasant experience.

Amazing herbal tea. I will definitely have to add this to my permanent stock…
So relaxing!
(By the way, I love the name. Holy basil!)

Tiny tiny little CTC leaves. Once steeped, they don’t look like fun GrapeNut tea bits. Instead, it just looks mushy. So unfun CTC + Upton? Yeah, I anticipated lots of not greatness. So I used a generous teaspoon of sugar and a good sized dash of half & half in my 12 oz…. and it was good. Like, really good. The tea wasn’t covered up by the milky or the sweet, instead it was a great breakfast tea with just a bit of astringency hanging out at the end of the sip (but not so much as to make it feel bitter – though that could be the glop of half & half I put in).

Now, I can’t say how this is without additives (yet) and honestly, I’m a little nervous for it, but with? This blend makes for a nice stout and uncomplicated breakfast tea.

Yunnan and Assam — my two favorite regions tasting so great together. Mincing Lane has a permanent spot in my cabinet and my cup. That said, today’s pot finishes up my 250g tin. Time to reorder.

The Final Sipdown: Day 19
Decupboarding Total: 38

At first, this one didn’t seem as shiny as it did yesterday. But it perked up about half way through my cup. So I’m going to say that this is one that does best closer to luke warm.

Shockingly, my cupboard is nearing the 90 mark. It snuck below 100 without me noticing but seeing it so close to 90 makes me happy. So what am I doing to celebrate? Duh. Ordering more tea.

Upton and I haven’t been getting along much at all so I wasn’t expecting great things from this sample. In fact, I was planning on disliking this tea simply because I’m to the point where I just don’t like Upton. (Yes, I’m sulking about their general meh-ness and disappointing-ness. And I have no current plans to stop.) But, dangit, as much as I want to, I can’t dislike this tea. It’s good. Really good.

Boo.

The smell is strong but not overly thick – it’s all campfires, bark and crispy fall with no road tar or thick smoke syrup to be found. The taste initially seemed a little watery, which fell into my general “I don’t like Upton” plans. I don’t know if the flavor thickened up a bit as it cooled or if the flavor built upon itself as I continued to sip, but I that watery impression didn’t stay around for long. Instead, the taste is smoky but not overpowering or heavy. There’s a hint of sweet that flashes across my tongue every so often but I wouldn’t go so far to say it is a sweet lapsang. There is a taste at the end of the sip that’s a little warm and almost spicy. It blends with the bark-ish tea taste and brings to mind cinnamon. Not so much that it tastes of cinnamon, but rather gives a feel of cinnamon. It makes me think of unsweetened Snickerdoodles.

I’d say this tea compares pretty closely with Golden Moon’s lapsang, though I haven’t had that one recently enough to do much of a true comparison. I don’t believe this one is as sweet and it registers perhaps a little more on the autumn side of things. Regardless, it’s annoyingly tasty. Which means I can’t just dislike Upton across the board. Apparently, they do some teas right. Darn it.

This tea is smoky, but the flavor cannot follow the taste of the tea. The taste is too light then its flavor; weak balance. I put leaves a bit more than the standard (around 5g / 300ml). It’s not a perfect Keemun but I love it.

This is the first Keemun I have tasted from my sample stash from Upton. The dry leaves smell good – like it would brew into a dark, rich red and not earthy at all. However, when brewed it turns into a goldenish liquid with red undertones and somewhat an earthy taste. I did not get a chocolate-y flavour at all.
Not particularly memorable but perhaps mixing it with some Ceylon could be nice.

I have tried a few different jasmine silver needle type teas, and of the ones that I’ve tried, this one is my least favorite. I am not exactly sure what it is about this tea, but, it isn’t as good as it could be (based upon previous experiences).

The jasmine flavor is overpowering and too sharp and even bitter tasting, while the white tea flavor is nearly non-existent as it has been overwhelmed by the jasmine.

This is quite disappointing, actually. Not one I’d recommend to others.

The Final Sipdown: Day 10
Decupboarding Total: 18

Since I slacked yesterday (though not intentionally), I plan on decupboarding three teas today to keep my goal of two per day. So let’s all just pretend that it is yesterday for the next few minutes.

I was waiting to see how this tea went with additives before I rated it, hoping some sugar and creamer would help perk it up. Well, this morning I had it with additives and yeah, not a fan. It just tastes so flat and cardboard-y. Not even good cardboard but boring, slightly dirty, uninteresting cardboard. There’s a bit of a nutty-bitter taste at the end but it’s not even a strong enough nutty flavor to be interesting. It’s just flat and boring. I’m sure there is some caffeine content to it and if I think about it, I might be able to agree with the “clean” bit of the tasting notes so the tea isn’t a total loss. But frankly, I can pick up more interesting and tastier blends at the grocery store.

Oops, I forgot to log this one when I was on Steepster earlier (ironically backlogging last night’s teas). The bits of leaf are decently small so I was expecting a strong brew. And it is. I tried it first without additives fully intending on adding sugar and half & half after a few sips. And yes, the additives were desired but I was trying to get computer-related things done and ended up not going back to the kitchen for tea doctoring until I was over halfway through the cup.

It’s malty, nutty, stout and chewy with a little old-nut-esque bitter at the end (a note that seems pretty typical of the stouter Assams for me). I did finally add sugar and half & half but I added too much for the small amount of tea left so it ended up more like tea-flavored sweet milk (which was actually pretty good but not a good representation of the tea).

Currently, this reminds me a lot of Taylors of Harrogate’s Pure Assam, though with a bit less intensity to the bitter-nut taste. I’m going to hold off rating this until I can doctor it properly and then see how it floats my boat then.

Noooo its all gone for now =( must order more!!!

Perfection. Love. Relaxation.

This tea was ok but nothing spectacular. In my opinion too expensive for the taste.

The Final Sipdown: Day 8
Decupboarding Total: 16

I’ve had a number of Upton samples lately and think I’ve just gotten it in my head that Upton teas don’t sparkle for me. I’ve tried too many samples for me to have coincidentally only picked bad teas. There have been a few teas that are quite good but still nothing that has changed my developing view of the overall lack of wonder Upton provides.

This one is one of the few tasty teas. The dry leaf has a very malty smell to it – it’s surprisingly strong. The tea tastes smooth and malty and has a bit of dry hay note. It’s very tasty and I like it. It reminds me a ton of Teavana’s Golden Monkey and so which would be a great tea… if I hadn’t tried Teas Etc’s Golden Monkey.

Still, it’s strong and bold but smooth and sweet with perhaps a bit of a peppery tingle that’s left on the end of my tongue. It’s not overly nuanced and I’m not detecting any milkiness to it, but there would be worse things to buy if you had to buy tea from Upton.

The leaves are very furry; just as you’d expect from a white. There is a a unique odor smell to the brewed tea. It’s not bad, just different. It kind of smells floral, but artificial. Like an air freshener rather than a bouquet of flowers. Very little to no tanins. Medium viscosity. Interesting flavor. Almost saline.

This is a dramatically different Oolong than you’d find at your neighborhood dim sum joint. The tanins are more pronounced and there is less of a metallic tinge that I normally associate with cheap Chinese teas. The aroma is slightly floral and the taste is ever so sweet. The color is a classic light caramel and it brews up cleanly with few particles making it through the filter. Of course this depends on how fine your mesh is.

I wasn’t sure I was in the mood for a mint tea today but now that I’m drinking it, it’s just perfect.

Since it is broken leaf, I went straight for the additives here. Ironically though, there is no bitter aftertaste here like what I ran into with a few other Upton blends in the past couple of days. (The husband even commented on the nutty-bitter of River Shannon and he didn’t even try it without sugar and milk.) Actually, there’s not a whole lot of anything really. I taste milky and I taste sweet. Which, yeah, from the sugar and half & half I added. And I didn’t add that much – less than 1tsp of sugar and 2tsp of half & half for a 12oz cup. There is a mild hint of flavoring that I assume is Earl Grey and an even milder hint of tea flavor but only really as a hint of boring cardboard. Yes, not even the fancy, tasty cardboard.

Definitely not what I was expecting from anything with any kind of BOP in the description.

I’m surprised no one else has tried this tea on here.. it’s so awesome! One of the best flavored teas I’ve had so far. Yummy fruity sweetness! (and not overwhelming!) I definitely recommend trying a sample of it next time you order from Upton.