Upton Tea Imports

Sipdown no. 2 of August 2019 (no. 88 of 2019 total, no. 576 grand total).

To the original note on this, I’ll add that it was quite nice cold. So much so that No. 1 pretty much drank up every pitcher I made before I could have more than a glass or two.

And with that, the cupboard is down to 18 pages. Yahoo!

I refuse to view this as chai, despite the cardamom. No ginger, no black pepper. French name. I’m not putting in the chai category. I’m calling it a chocolate spice flavored tea.

So I’m drinking it straight up as my first morning tea, because I felt like something mixed up and flavored with a chance of being sweet after my epic green tea experience last night. I feel much too healthy and clean for my own good. Time to get some approximation of candy into my bloodstream.

This does just fine, and it doesn’t require milk or sugar to get there. It’s got a very chocolate fragrance in the tin, and I can see the green cardamom pods in there. Pretty.

The tea’s aroma smells like baked goods, like something that would go into a tart or pie. It’s a blend of chocolate and cinnamon mostly and a touch of cardamom.

The taste is mild with a minor kick that doesn’t take it out of the mild category, in my view. Just a little love pat on the tongue to remind you it has spices in it. It’s terrifically drinkable without milk. The chocolate succeeds in giving it a little sweetness, which is what I was hoping for this morning. There’s no bitterness, and no sense that you’re drinking something other than the way it was meant to be had (which I’ve sometimes felt trying to drink chais straight).

A nice not-chai for the collection.

What a perfect farewell to summer, the last of my white tips.

Not that “end of summer” means much in Houston Texas, mind you. Our weather forecast for the first day of autumn is 90 degrees despite possible thunder storms.

Backlogging. Had this Tea on Monday. There is something almost obscene about these tea leaves, both dry and wet. I really like the cup, but I find myself avoiding this tea because the leaves kind of freak me out.

I’m really not sleeping well, at all; I’m not at all clear on why, either. It isn’t that I cannot get comfortable or that the room is too warm or too cool. I just keep waking up at such short intervals that I get no real rest. So I need tea. Lots of it. And a sense of something cozy.

These Paklum Tips are the biggest, fuzziest, softest white tea I’ve ever seen.

The cup brews up a cheery, bright yellow which fades to golden brown.

The flavor is not as complex as some of the flat leaf white teas, but probably also not as fragile. Soft, fuzzy and mildly earthy, like the leaves themselves, this tea is like a gentle hug from a girl you used to have a crush on, years ago, and these days you’re just happy to see each other happy.

I can’t help but wonder if there is a problem with consistency from batch to batch with this tea, because the other tasting note speaks of broken, short tips. My leaves here are so soft they couldn’t break and they are quite long. Not a “silver needle” at all, just a bag full of fuzzy buds.

A non-traditional oolong due to it’s particularly flowery aroma. Color of the brewed tea is a very light golden yellow. Light to medium viscosity. Slight acidity and aftertaste lingers on the tongue. Good wind down or evening tea.

I have to downgrade my score here by a lot. It is way too hard to avoid this getting really bitter. When it is not bitter, it is very tasty, but I veer too close to making tea look like a chemistry experiment as it is.

Boy, I tell you, this unorthodox steeping method of mine makes even very tricky leaves a lot more forgiving. I steeped this the full three minutes, last time only just over 2 minutes, and it tastes less vegetal, astringent and bitter than it did the last time, not more.

The result is a really great cup of Darjeeling tea which is just a bit green around the edges.

I have to say, this wide mouthed, covered Pyrex approach is the way to go.

Peppery. Green and peppery. The typical soft, smooth, round flavors of a Darjeeling with a little spinach and black pepper right at the end.

I steeped less than the recommended time, and I am glad I did. I get the hint from what I can taste right now that another 45-60 seconds really would have made this like drinking a spinach salad. So I’m glad I cut it short.

This is definitely a unique set of leaves, as the name Darjeeling green oolong would suggest that they are.

Organic teas make up probably 10-20% of my collection. I love organic items but to be honest, for teas, I don’t go out of my way to buy organic. The aroma is very characteristic Darjeeling as the hue of the tea. After my first sip, I must report the taste is wonderful. It’s not a standout tea but it’s able to stand up on it’s own. At 16 cents per cup (if buying the 500g pack), it’s definitely an affordable treat for yourself first thing in the morning. I know plenty of people love putting milk, sugar, honey or other oddities in their black teas. I don’t personally, but even if I did, I would not advise messing with this cup since it’s on the lighter side already.

What a short brew time! Not unexpected though since it’s a green. The leaves are short and crunchy and smell really good. The brew is a light light caramel color. Maybe more like yellow-brown than caramel. There is some acidity but nothing really strong. I want to say it tastes slightly citrusy but don’t take that to mean it’s super acidic. It’s not. It’s a good tea but I am not sure if it’s a “WOW” tea.

What’s up? I am back from a vacation in Montreal where I had zero, I repeat, zero tea. I was having tea withdrawals. Luckily, when I returned, Upton had a box for me with over 60 kinds of tea to choose from. Today I am trying a, new to me, Chinese black tea. I’ll be honest, I was busy so I drank this after it cooled a bit. I think that’s fine since I don’t like sipping boiling water. Anyway, the dry leaves are very interesting looking and their aroma is quite inviting. They look like they might be hard and crispy but actually yield quite a bit when touched. The brew has some slight bitterness, not unexpected from a black but it doesn’t have that back-of-the-tongue aftertaste that most black Indian teas have. I drink primarily Indian and Chinese teas but there’s something a little bit harsh about the former and a little more soothing about the latter. This is shaping up to be a very good tea for me and I am going to have to recommend it to all my followers.

Had this one again this morning without milk. Such a smooth drink. I agree with the other reviewer that this one has cocoa undertones. So, to compare to Dawn, this one has less cocoa but it is more full-bodied for a first cup in the morning. For the summer, a brisk assam is too strong, soo, this is becoming my “go-to” breakfast tea.

Backlogging! I went out of town for 2 weeks and this was one of the Breakfast teas I took with me. this is a smooth and mellow tea. not astringent but not overwhelmed with milk. this is not smoky tea like Teas,Etc. ’s Bohea.

I received a sample of this from Upton with instructions for brewing it as an iced tea. I did it the “traditional” way, brewing it hot and then mixing the hot brew with a roughly equal amount of cold water and serving it over ice. I used 4 teaspoons of dry leaf, brewed it in 16 ounces of boiling water and then strained it into a thermos and added a teaspoon of stevia to sweeten it. Then I poured it into a pitcher holding two and a half cups of cold water.

This Ceylon is a solid choice for an iced tea — not minty or flowery or super-special in any way, just a good iced tea with plenty of body and some astringency. I realized while drinking my first glass that I neglected to add a squeeze of fresh lemon! I will remedy that situation for Glass No. 2.

Sipdown no. 51 of the year 2014. Ahhh, this is making me miss Rabs, the person who kindly sent me some of this.

I don’t have a lot to add to my previous note, except to say that there is some nuttiness in the flavor, particularly in the aftertaste, and that it reminds me a little of water chestnuts more than of true nuts.

One day a while back when I was whining about how every time I was moved to order a first flush darjeeling I’d been met with “OUT OF STOCK” (which really is almost as disheartening sometimes as “GAME OVER”), Rabs very kindly offered me a taste of this, the full name of which, according to her darling Old Typewriter fonted label is “Namring Upper Estate 1st Fl Darjeeling FTGFOP1 (TD88).” I’ve been waiting for the right time to give it a taste, and, unfortunately, I’ve discovered that as with having children, there is no right time. I must just come to grips with the fact that there’s never going to be a quiet day when I’m rested yet perky with a relaxing expanse of time in which to savor this.

So instead, I’m going to have it now, after a day that included a flat tire coming back from a work related event and an afternoon (when I should have been doing more work) at the doctor’s office trying to get number 1 son in to be checked for strep throat (again) before the weekend, along with an unhealthy degree of anxiety over the fact that I haven’t done my weight workout yet today which makes a full week of no weights. I hate doing the weights, so I feel particularly guilty about it, as though any discipline I once may have had has flown the coop.

However, I have been granted a furlough of a few hours by the BF who has said he’ll amuse the kids (which I think means sleeping while they play with the Wii) so I can work out. And yet, as you can see, I’m not yet working out. I’m gonna have some tea, dammit.

How green this looks! I’ve read that darjeelings aren’t fully oxidized, but seriously, this looks very very green. Like a green tea. Or maybe white? It’s green in color but it has that silver/grey tip thing that white teas sometimes have. In any case the color is not at all what I’ve seen in other darjeelings. The leaves are for the most part fairly large and curly. They have that sharp smell I associate with darjeelings and that I’m guessing is “muscatel” since I don’t know what muscatel smells like. One day I’ll have to find out.

The tea’s liquor is a deep yellow, sort of the color of liquified butter. Its aroma isn’t strong, but I pick up a nut current as well as a very dilute essence of the sharper smell of the dry leaves.

The mouth feel is pretty amazing on this. It’s soft. Really soft. It reminds me of how I used to feel after visiting some place with hard water and then returning to New York, and washing my hair. And feeling like I couldn’t get the conditioner out no matter how long I was under the shower. Then realizing that it was out, it was just the softness of the water that made it feel like it was still full of conditioner. Brooklyn water was even more that way than Manhattan water. This tea feels like Brooklyn water.

To me the flavor isn’t really rich. It’s delicate. Mild and smooth; no sharp edges to this one. It’s the second darjeeling I’ve had recently that seemed closely related to an oolong, in that it seems toasty and buttery like an oolong. I do get the muscatel notes, or at least what I think they are from the fact that they taste like the smell (see above). And I am getting a really nice finish with a sweet aftertaste. It’s kind of like a darker version of one of the better green oolongs, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I’m quite enjoying it. Thanks much, again, Rabs!

For some reason the leaf in my sample has some sort of yellowish tint instead of being jade in color… kinda sad looking. I usually brew this type of oolongs at 200F and this one is sensitive to high temperature, turning into grassy brew. Only after reducing the temp to 190 I was able to get it right.

The flavor is surprisingly mild. It has creamy, almost milky notes and is very sweet, with slightly woody, toasty background. The aroma is fleeting, I had to keep my nose close to the cup to actually smell something, which was floral and sweet.

I can’t say I’ve enjoyed this tea but definitely can imagine someone who would because all in all it is interesting, unusually tasting oolong.

This is only tea that I have had from Vietnam. This is also the only tea that I’ve drank that comes off exactly as advertised. The tea has beautiful leaves and steeps up amber in color. The tea has a refreshing clean taste with a slightly sweet finish. This is not a heavy or breakfast tea. I really enjoyed this tea and it is one I may reorder.