Upton Tea Imports

Smooth very nice

this is really nice basic black tea, smooth, flavorful. very nice.

I got this with the black tea sampler from Upton. I liked it very much – smooth but flavorful – but I can’t compare it with other Keemuns. I would definitely reorder or try another type of Keemun.

Thank you to Lori for this sample!

I am with Morgana on this one. I smell and taste darjeeling. I don’t know if it is really in there, but that is what I get. It is smooth, not too astringent, and I really don’t detect any smoke at all. It has good flavor, though, was decent both plain or with milk and sugar added, and ….I think…..it may be reminding me of Margaret’s Hope 2nd Flush FTGFOP. That’s the darjeeling I am sensing, I suppose. Maybe the tiniest bit pepper-y, too?

Interesting mix of sweetness and muscatel notes here. The sweetness seems to be overpowering at first and taking over but once swallowed the astringency comes out. I liked it one day and hated the other. Eventually the sweet part killed the enjoyment for me.

I got this as a sample some time ago, but haven’t tried it until today.

The aroma is very lavender, but, I like how the bergamot comes through. It has a really pleasing fragrance – more enjoyable to me than lavender or bergamot would be on their own.

The flavor is very nice. The bergamot and lavender are paired nicely here. Sweet, floral, sharp, citrusy… very nice!

This is a really pricey tea. $24 for a 50 gram packet. The instructions are sort of confusing too. On the label, it says 2-3 tsp. On the website it uses grams (which I convert to anyway) and list the steeping suggestion as 2.25 grams / cup, which is Upton’s standard for everything. In other words, they consider 2.25 grams per cup the same as 1 tsp per cup. Anyway, is it 2-3 tsp (6-9 grams) or 2.25 grams? I went with the latter since my 6 gram packet would have yielded me only one cup had I gone with the 2 tsp scale.

Anyway, the tea is incredibly fragrant and floral and does not smell like a traditional Oolong you might find at dim sum. It smells sweet like lychee or a southeast Asian fruit cocktail. The hue is fairly light, even lighter than honey. It has a mellow comforting taste and not surprisingly is a little “sweet.” It has very little tanins; just a little in the aftertaste.

Upton was not lying, this tea is legit.

I have to say first that this tea has beautiful leaves: tiny twisted dark brown and golden leaves tangled together. They smell sweet like raisins and honey with a slight floral note. Brewed there is a slight bitterness combined with the taste of raisins and tea. It is reminiscent of Golden Moon’s Sinharaja (though I like Sinharaja better since it lacks the bitterness).

This is such a pleasant tea. Not perfumey, more of an herbal, almost minty. A good tea base with just enough of it’s flavors and oils. A good balance.

This is this year’s Dao Ming and it is superb. Very dark red wine cask smell and taste, with oakiness, and a bit of acerbic twist. A tiny whiff of smoke in the smell, but none in the taste. Earthy but not Pu-erh like. More a groundedness. A touch of cream rounds out the edges from being brewed about 1/2 minute too long. Really excellent stuff.

This tea reminds me of my experience with rosewater-flavored Turkish Delight. Despite knowing that it’s meant to be ingested, I keep getting twinges of “Why am I drinking perfume? Is this safe?” in the back of my mind. It’s not unpleasant enough that I won’t finish off the sample tin that I purchased, but I’m unlikely to buy any more of this. I guess I am too conditioned to think of lavender as a cosmetic rather than a foodstuff.

An absolutely delightful caramel-flavored black tea with a distinct caramel flavor. Thank you Lori for sharing this tea with me. I enjoyed this tea while relaxing with a good book tonight.

I found this tea to be a tea that was pretty with no flavor other than vanilla. My new tea buddy Lori was kind enough to share some of this with me. Thank You Lori!!!!!
I read teanotes as I brewed this tea, tasted the tea, then added just a pinch of mint (because we know I love mint blended at times). I did enjoy the tea and will enjoy it again soon. This tea does leave a sour note after drinking it.

Welcome to the first day of Seeking a New Dawn: Carolyn’s quixotic search for the tea that probably doesn’t exist any more. I’ve ordered several batches of trial black teas from various companies: from inexpensive to pricey. In truth I really don’t care how much the tea costs as long as it fills that Dawn-shaped hole in my morning.

Today we start with an inexpensive Yunnan. The leaves are somewhat pretty with little golden bits. It has a classic tea fragrance with something light and fruity in the offing. It darkened up reasonably fast in the cup so I removed it. I’ve had a enough of over-steeped bitter tea after yesterday’s shenanigans in which no less than 3 cups of tea were ruined by my over-anxious boss’ sudden demands, which caused me to ignore the tea until it had reached the toxic stage.

There is a slight astringency but not so much as to be offensive. I’m not getting any bitterness but I suspect that it would not stand up to much more time steeping before the bitter set in. There is a very slight raisin after-taste. Overall it is an average tea. I would’t toss it, but it is not the Holy Grail of teas. I’ll finish my sample today (hoping it gives me strength for what has been a very difficult week) and move on tomorrow. It’s not a re-buy tea.

This is really a very, very nice tea. It’s nice and roasty-toasty, not as green as some other tie guan yins, but still not too dark. It’s just light and full of character. A great tea that I would love to drink every day.

It’s pretty rare in my experience for a vanilla-flavored tea to taste as good as it smells. I’m glad I gave this tea a chance because I’m usually disappointed by vanilla-flavored teas. Maybe it’s the combination with bergamot that makes the vanilla flavor pop out. I got this as part of a sampler pack but I will most likely be ordering a full packet of it!

this stuff is just really good as a basic go-to tea – very tasty but almost neutral flavor, so it’s good no matter what you’re in the mood in – as opposed to teas which have particular fruity or floral or other flavors – which are good but you might have to be in the specific mood for them.

iced is awesome, cold brewed. i love this stuff.

yummy iced.

this stuff is really good – simple but very flavorful. just enough vanilla. YUM.

Really enjoyed this – nice taste of vanilla along with the rooibos.

This is a fairly strong and intense yunnan. It definitely benefits from some added sugar. With the addition of sugar, I can detect some cocoa notes midway thru the sip. Like unsweetened cocoa…not as cocoa-ey as Dawn- but promising….

creamy pears and green rooibos…very nice…see other notes…

I forgot I had tried this one but I received a nice new tin from Twiggles! Thanks so much! This aroma makes your nose-hairs dance (and my grandfather used to say). It’s really potent but I like it! This is MUCH different than I remember – after rereading my tasting notes from a while back! I really like this and am going to increase the rating! This time around I can taste the pear more but it also reminds me of another tea (from Drink T, I believe) that had Apricot Pulp in the loose leaf mix…perhaps it’s pear pulp!? Regardless it’s fruity and nutty and nice! I can really taste the fruit this time! YUM!