Upton Tea Imports

Fresh, minty, great for blending.

Scalds very easily – ruined my first cup by scalding the leaves and it was horribly bitter and astringent.

At a lower temperature, the tea is still bitter, which I’m not a big fan of. If you like a stronger, more bitter tea, I can see how it could be very appealing.

The tea stood up to a second infusion, but I didn’t try past that.

The Final Sipdown: Day 7
Decupboarding Total: 13

Because of the less-than-stellar interaction I had with this one the other day, I tried to think of what to do to make this final experience more satisfactory. I bumped up the steep time by a minute and added a pinch of sugar.

It sort of worked. The sugar is mild enough that I really can’t tell any added sweetness but I’m not having the bitter wrong taste at the end. Instead, I have a raw Nilgiri type taste a few beats after I sip. But it’s not near as distracting as the bitter was so I’m able to focus more on the taste of the tea.

Yeah, still just not quite my ideal lapsang. It’s not tarry (which is good because that’s usually a little too rough/thick for me) but at least tarry is interesting. This one is just tasting… thin. Almost like I didn’t use enough leaf or I massively understeeped it. (Which yeah, I didn’t on either of those.) It is smoky but it’s not an interesting smoky. It doesn’t evoke thoughts of walking in the woods on a crisp fall day, it doesn’t make me think someone in the neighborhood is barbecuing, it doesn’t make me think the house is on fire… It’s just… smoke and tea. Kind of flat and straight-forward but not bold enough to be such a one-note tea.

Anyway, it’s just not a lapsang for me but I’m glad lots of others seem to like it. Every tea deserves someone to love it, even if it is only its mother.

I was hoping for good things from this tea and maybe that’s my problem – my expectations were too high. I mean, it’s not a bad tea. It’s a gently smoky tea with a nice sweetness at the end of the sip. Super-faint hints of cocoa occasionally pop up, as well as something almost floral. It’s got a nice depth of flavor and actually reminds me of Teas Etc’s Bohea (which I love).

All of this sounds great, right? But there’s one thing that makes this one a non-happy tea for me. The aftertaste. There’s a little twinge of something on the end of the sip and in the aftertaste. I can’t quite peg what it is but it’s a little… off. It makes me think I’ve just walked through a big cloud of hairspray while inhaling through my mouth. Something sticky and a little perfume-ish/chemically. It’s not a very strong aftertaste so it’s almost ignorable, especially if I sip a little more quickly. But ultimately it means that this tea gets no love because there are other softly smoky teas in my life that behave better.

I’m wondering if Upton does something to their leaves that gives them this aftertaste. This funkiness isn’t near as strong as the ick that was the Extra Bergamot aftertaste (that one was bitter and sticky and wrong) but they could theoretically be related. Perhaps the way they store or package or maybe even flavor their teas? I see nothing that indicates that this tea is artificially flavored but maybe?

The dry leaves smell incredible – strong cloves and citrus, very festive.

As for the liquor itself – The cloves and citrus are mild don’t overpower the taste of the tea. Overall, really enjoyed this, especially with the cold rainy weather today.

SIPDOWN!!!! Only 600-or so more to go :)

Thanks LiberTEAs for sending me a bit of this! I will try just about ANYTHING Grapefruit!!!!

This has a very gentle aroma. It’s gentle in every way, actually! The smell of it is a more floral-white tea with a hint of grapefruit. As for the taste the grapefruit is subtle. There isn’t a lot there but what is there is lovely! Grapefruit goes well with white tea, at least I think it does!

This is very pleasant. I would suggest this for a nice calm-down or end to the day or if you are stressed – it’s comforting and relaxing! A nicely flavored white tea!

I recently made an order from Upton to fill up my Earl Grey tin and I chose a couple of tea samples that had been Upton best-sellers. Here is the report on one of them:

Both the picture and the name of this tea appealed to me. They both just muster pleasant images in my mind. The dry leaf has a more Oolongy appearence, and is so dark it is almost—blue, which is intriguing. As for the name… I mean, I love melons.

This is a Chinese green tea, but the flavor reminds me of a more characteristically Japanese “peaty” flavor. I have been detecting that flavor in Chinese greens an awful lot lately, so I wonder when I will altogether drop the reference and just start giving Chinese teas the credit…

Note: I feel kind of buzzed after 2 successive unique cups, so the caffeine content gets a +.

Initially, this smelled very smoky – ironically smokier than Upton’s Finest Russian Caravan – and very Keemun-y. I was a bit worried because I’ve been having some pretty kick-ass Keemuns lately and this one didn’t smell like it would match up at all. As it cooled, the smell became less smoky and began to get fruity and sweet, somewhat like plums. So maybe this tea will luck out and not end up competing against super-awesome Keemuns.

The taste turns into a good news/bad news type situation. The good news is that this tea isn’t Keemun-y enough to compete against my favorite Keemuns. There’s a little Keemun edge to the end of the taste, a little raw leafiness, but it doesn’t strike me as a Keemun. The taste is mostly Darjeeling, smoothed out by the Keemun and tiny, tiny bit of Lapsang Souchong. It ends up tasting just a little bit like a thin, light, sweet Yunnan.

But, here comes the bad news: it’s just not all that special. Yes, it’s smooth and sweet and has a nice flavor that doesn’t require any additives but all that just ends up being okay. Nothing really sings or sparkles or jumps out and, while it isn’t a flat, one-note tea, it doesn’t have a very complex or deep flavor profile. So, yeah, it’s just okay. I’d buy it at a grocery store if I needed tea but otherwise, not so much.

Meh

Just finished a cup of this as well as a SIPDOWN. Good while it lasted…see other notes…

LiberTEAs sent me a bit of this one as well and I thank her very much! :)

This smells like a very Lavendered-Up Earl Grey but the taste isn’t overly so. I can taste more Lavender than Earl Grey but even the Lavender isn’t over-done which I do like that about it….by this being mellower it doesn’t taste chemically like some can taste if to intensely flavored. This is a nice HAPPY MEDIUM type flavored Earl Grey. Pretty good, indeed!

The tie-guan-yin toastiness is there, with an extra punch. The ginseng and licorice (or whatever they ground on it) give it an unusual sweetness. I’ve had success both with 1 minute-and-increasing infusions and the 3 minute generic rule of thumb for oolongs. Play around with it to find your sweet spot.

I have mixed feelings about Upton, but this tea delivers. My favourite lapsang souchong so far. I prefer to keep the brewing time around 3 minutes, it comes out brighter and the smokiness isn’t too overwhelming.

The Final Sipdown: Day 21
Decupboarding Total: 41

The leaves post-steeping look like my irises did after grasshoppers had their way with them. Other than grasshopper memories, this tea can be explained in 4 words: unimpressive Darjeeling with bergamot.

This tastes like a Darjeeling with a little hint of creamy on the end to cancel out any potential tart edge and then a little whoosh of faint citrus in the aftertaste. It’s not really a bad tea, but it’s not a special one either. The flavoring is too light for it to be considered an actual flavored tea, the bergamot is much too light for it to be anything remotely Earl Grey-ish, and the Darjeeling isn’t special enough for it to be a notable Darjeeling. So basically it’s one big ball of meh. In fact, the more I drink it, the less special it becomes.

That was then, this is now. Wonderful woodsy, spicy smell. Very, very smooth, full tea. Some spice, some wood, some fine tobacco. Chocolate hint, but not in the cup. If it weren’t for the nuances, this would just slip down almost without swallowing. Very tasty and yes, good with chocolate – Lindt’s Dark with Sea Salt.

My first yellow tea and… I’m apathetic. I expected something else, something different, something magical. Especially at this price pointed and limited supply. Alas, It never happened.

The dry leaf aroma is very intriguing, it smells of flowers and mandarins. Mandarins are my favorite part but unfortunately they don’t transfer to the brew. The brew… here is where the disappointment strikes. It is completely watered down. I’m drinking water, lightly flavored with Silver Needle. There is a tiny bit of sweet fruitiness lurking in there as well but it is hardly noticeable. Nothing more.

Off to the second infusion. All the fruitiness is gone, Silver Needle flavor is stripped down and only water remains… you get the picture. I feel like dumping it down the drain.

I need to try other yellow teas now.

Quite pleasant, but doesn’t scream Earl Grey to me. It’s smooth, vanilla.. pedestrian in nature.

I love how this one smells so I’ve been anxious to try it – it’s vanilla-creamy with a splash of creamsicle-like orange. And I’m a sucker for anything orange, so yeah. Post-steeping the smell is awesome. It reminds me (what I remember) of SpecialTea’s Earl Grey de la Crème, which I really enjoyed (though it has been years since I’ve had it).

Additive-less, the initial sip seems a little sharp but the aftertaste is sweet and creamy. Mmm. A few sips in, the sharpness evens out and I’m left with smooth, creamy, sweet but not overly Earl Grey-y tea. The citrus bit pops up mostly at the end of the sip and is nice and bright but sweet in a way that doesn’t really scream citrus fruit so much as fruit-like candy. It’s nicely sweet but I almost want to add sugar to fully realize the dessert potential of this tea.

Ultimately, this falls more in the dessert tea category for me than Earl Grey category, but that’s okay because I like the dessert tea category a lot. I have a feeling I’ll really fall in love with this one when I put in some sugar and milk (and thus the rating might go up).

This is such a nice tea! There is nothing missing from it. It’s sweet and even has some subtle flavor to it.

Weird.. barely any taste to it. I mostly tasted just hot water. =( Glad this is just a sample pack. I tried two infusions, 2nd was pretty long and still not much taste.

The last of my sample of this from Miss Melanie. This is one that I’d definitely get more of!!