Upton Tea Imports

One of my favorite Irish Breakfast teas – strong and malty and consistent in quality. It’s CTC processed, so quick brewing and strong. My morning cup more often than not, with a fair bit of milk.

Fairly dark (colored) brew. To be expected since it’s an Assam but this one is quite dark almost a red rust color. Very little sediment at the bottom of the cup. Brewing it at the recommended time and temp resulted in quite a bitter cup. Luckily, like most teas it doesn’t linger much but this would not be good for an afternoon tea where I prefer something more subtle and less jolting. This is a good pick me up tea (and definitely higher on the caffeine scale). I wish I had something sweet to enjoy with this.

This tea mostly had a non-distinct sweet flavor that was pleasing….

This is a very satisfying afternoon tea. The wisp of smoke is very restrained and I am certain that this tea would be perfectly acceptable to those who do not like smoky teas.
Upton offers good teas at decent prices. I think that I’ve tried much more costly Keemuns which have spoiled me a bit for their more pedestrian siblings. This smooth tea is really a delight. After drinking some Hao Ya Keemuns this tea certainly seems like a step down, but I feel a bit churlish writing this.

It might be analogous to eating a lobster dish after you’ve sampled caviar (not that I’ve had a lot of experience there). What might have seemed like a wonderful tea a couple of weeks ago seems a little simple-minded compared with more brilliant teas.

What am I getting at? If I were grading papers I would give this one an “A” even if there were another paper that went miles and miles beyond the outer reaches of what I know to be an A+. Excellent tea, Upton!

This is still my favoritest-favorite black tea. I’m finally drinking it quasi-regularly in the morning – and not being such a dragon-like tea hoarder. Life’s too short to skimp on tea.

With my newly filtered water, and cutting out sugars in my diet, the sweetness of this tea almost sings from the very first cup (and gets progressively sweeter the number of steeps I have, with three being the peak). TG

I’m back to drinking tea on a regular basis: yay!

I went immediately for one of my all-time faves to mark the occasion (hint: it’s this one). And my cat immediately came up to try and get some for himself (jerk).

Even being a few years old (eep!) it still is smoky-tasty to me. Huzzah! But it’s definitely not as good as a fresh tin.

But with my renewed tea-drinking (and shunning of diet sodas), I have made myself a promise: I shall no longer hoard my favorite or limited-edition teas. I need to drink them uninhibitedly. So drink I shall! NE

I just had to stop by Steepster and say “HI!!!” to everyone, and apologize for my prolonged absence. I’m getting ready for a major move sometime in June and am still adjusting to the new job. And let’s not even get into the grad school fail (I need to re-apply for next year). But at least I’ll be within a mile of my work and will no longer have the 2 hour round-trip commutes to contend with anymore — huzzah!

I haven’t had a spot of tea in months :( With the hectic schedule I’ve been relying on coffee (gasp!) and diet soda (double-gasp!) to get through. However, my poor system is begging for tea — so I hope to turn it around after the move. I hope.

I miss you all and hope that all is going well!

Warmest Wishes,

Rabs

Had this this morning using the ForLife mug I’d bought my mom as a gift (since replacement teapot has yet to arrive). I think that my tea mojo is slowly making a comeback. There’s still a ton of stress in my life (job interview tomorrow and the GRE looming), but I think that I’m starting to handle it a bit better. I think. NE

Had to have my Dragon to start off my week. I’ve been mostly MIA on Steepster since I had family visiting (my little niece and nephew keep me a-runnin’), and I’m trying to make my lifestyle healthier. Blech. ;) So this weekend was a blur. But now I can sit for a few minutes and enjoy one of my most favoritest teas in the universe. TG

Dear Black Dragon,

Thank you for bein’ in my cupboard. You’re great at curbing my anti-morning homicidal tendencies. Good job!

Yours Truly,

Rabs

Rawr!

Now that’s what I call a tasty dragon!

Seems only right to drink a “Dragon” tea after a geek-tacular night of rolling dice ;)

So I just had to bump this up to 100 this morning. The thought of this tea got me out of bed when all I wanted to do was stay cocooned within my quilts (and my cat wasn’t helping since he decided to go all “cat loaf” on my back thus pinning me to the bed). The other reason for the change of rating is that I dropped the temp to 205. Holy shnikes! That upped the “yum” factor by at least 10 points — the sweetness is even better. Oh, yes, I love this tea! This was my first pot of the tin that I purchased, but I shall always think of Doulton and her Shakespeare box every time that I enjoy a cup :) TG

This morning I used the last of Doulton’s sample from the Shakespeare box. It would have been a very sad occasion but for the fact that I have a new tin of this in my cupboard! Woot!!!!! I couldn’t imagine not having this tea as an option for my mornings. It’s my anti-homicidal tea :D I also highly recommend Upton Tea Imports: they are crazy-fast, they print your name on the label (teahee), and they’ve got $1 samples. TG

Doulton’s Shakespeare: A Tasting Note in 5 Acts
Act I scene 3

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date . . .
Sonnet 18, 1-4

This tea is both a sonnet and is sonnet-worthy. I know that Doulton is married to this tea so I am incredibly grateful that she’s willing to share! I shall merrily be this tea’s mistress and woo it with poetry and all of my feminine wiles.

I really didn’t know what to expect in regard to this tea. With Doulton’s love and the name “Black Dragon” (the name alone is a natural 20 in my book!) I was thinking that this might be the smokiest tea on the planet. Well, I had another think coming! This is the loveliest smoky tea that I’ve ever had. The smoke and the sweet earthiness are so beautifully balanced. It’s like I’m drinking the new growth after a forest fire. It’s like drinking summer.

I highly recommend this to anyone who’s intimidated by smoky teas. It really highlights the best parts of Lapsangs. I think that Life in Teacup’s LS will be my LS when I need “oomph” and smoke. I can see this becoming a daily “must-have.” It’s absolutely lovely. TG

My “cat sounds” Lapsang Souchong rating: this tea made me purr!