Upton Tea Imports

Getting into the home stretch of this sample packet. I still find it too perfumy. Definitely prefer the Earl Grey Special.

Going back through some of the Upton samples that I’d previously dismissed just to make sure I didn’t do it wrong the first time around or something.

My description of this tea is pretty spot on though. Highly aromatic, weirdly floral, and kind of acidic in the back of the throat. I think I don’t mind the acidity as much this time around, either that or it’s lighter. Since this was my morning tea and I was running late as usual, I’m pretty sure it steeped for a maximum of three minutes. Apparently shorter steeping time is the secret to me enjoying this tea, although I’m not a huge fan of it’s over-floweriness.

I’ve been thinking of getting some of the frou-frou Rosy Earl Grey because Rabs’ notes have made it sound really nice, but considering my reaction to this stuff perhaps that is not a good idea.

Upton Tea Sample Buying Spree Tea #8:
More than halfway done with the Earl Grey’s – Hurrah! Specifically, all I’ve got left of the Earl Greys is the Premium, Green, and Sacher Blend – which is technically a “flavored Darjeeling,” but, since it was in the Earl Grey section at Upton, I will assume that one of the flavors is, in fact, bergamot or something bergamot-like.
This leaves are quite aromatic, probably on the level of the Blue Flower, although different in nature, of course. It smells properly Earl Greyish with a bit of extra…something thrown in.
It brewed up quite light, and on my first few sips tasted almost creamy, although that faded as I got further into the cup, to be replaced with a general floweriness that I’m not certain I approve of, although the base ceylon is VERY tasty. It leaves a rather weird taste at the back of the throat – possibly the result of too much acidity from the double citrus punch of the lemon and bergamot? I’m not really sure what I think about it, I started out quite enjoying it but that feeling faded the more I drank, until I just wanted some water by the time I was finished.

Wewt, finished another sample packet! I really want my Earl Grey Special sample to get here now though….

(Extended) Weekend Backlog One Sentence Logs: XTREEEEEEEEEEME!

Hey, I said I was making an effort to finish this.

(Extended) Weekend Backlog One Sentence Logs Continued!

Making a semi-concerted effort to finish this off – mostly it makes me miss my earl grey blue flower.

Now that it is no longer Geek Pride Day, my inner geek is safely back in its box. (don’t worry, there’s wifi! oh yeah, air holes, too)

I’m glad people enjoyed yesterday’s themed posts – they were fun to write, although they required a bit more brain power than I really want to put in the average tea note. Shout out to my pals in S Crew (yes we are very immature) who, although they do not read Steepster, deserve credit for the Star Trek technobabble which I could not have managed without their input :D (I knew I had to reverse the polarity of SOMETHING, but was kind of lost as to what).

And now, for your regularly scheduled morning tea note:

Decided to try this again since it’s been a while since the regrettable papery soap earl grey incident. While I didn’t have the negative reaction to it that I had last time, I still have to say I like the Earl Grey blue flower more – it just seems more balanced.

I still miss having a morning breakfast blend, though.

On the plus side, got notification of my Teafrog order shipping! Can’t wait!

I woke up five minutes before class, oops! Grabbed some of this on the way out to have later. This was my favorite of the Earl Greys from my first go around, so I thought it would be nice to have on a morning that started out…not optimally.

So I wrote in my first tasting quote that I love Earl Grey But Moar teas, which is why I thought this stuff was great. This time though….I got soap! I blame Tippy Earl Grey. Or perhaps the water wasn’t hot enough? I was using water cooler water, which I assume does not go all the way up to boiling. It’s kind of tempting to say that going through all of those tastings with the Golden Moon sampler has refined my palate or something, but I refuse to accept the idea that in the space of a couple of weeks my tastes have completely changed regarding Earl Grey.

I guess I’ll bring my rating down. Maybe next time it will taste good again!

In other news I have the Robot Unicorn Attack song stuck in my head. This has nothing to do with my Earl Grey tasting like soap, but it’s not making me feel any better about it.

Upton Tea Sample Buying Spree Tea #7:
I freely admit it, I am a sucker for these “Earl Grey but MORE” type of teas. Name something Earl Greyer? I’m THERE. Name it Earl Greyest? Well you better be able to back it up, is all I’m saying.
The aroma of the leaves themselves wasn’t nearly as strong as some of the others – like the Blue Flower, for example. Even the Lavender was stronger, I’d say. It brewed up a nice reddish-gold, not too dark. Although I use an ingenuiTea, so often times the color kind of accumulates on the bottom which I’m pretty sure was happening here. (I drink most of my tea in pottery mugs, rather than teacups, so I can’t generally make color judgments once it’s been poured.)
This stuff is really tasty. And has no problems cutting through my congestion. Very citrusy, maybe even a bit smoky…well, I got some hints of smoke in the aroma anyway. Very neat. I could see it being too much for those who like their teas to not stray too far from the “tea-flavored” category, but for people like me who can’t get enough Earl Greyness, it’s wonderful.

Ok, so I thought I’d try this again since I couldn’t taste anything the first time I tried it, and also tried a longer steeping time, just in case that would help.
HO-LEE SHAZBOT. I don’t know if all the lavender fell to the bottom of the pouch, if I really WAS that congested, if I let it steep to long or what, but WOAH – the lavender is overpowering this time. It gives the tea at once a perfumed and peppery taste. Looking at the leaves, there DOES seem to be quite a bit in there, so perhaps it got clumped up. Looks like this is gonna need a third tasting.

Upton Tea Sample Buying Spree Tea #6:
Chosen because my brother, with whom I have been jointly doing these tastings, is not here and this is the tea that made him make the most grossed out face. Honestly, his worries were completely baseless since (and I freely admit that this COULD be the result of congestion – although I am at least able to breath through my nose this morning so it’s not THAT bad) I couldn’t get ANYTHING out of this tea.
Seriously, it just tasted like tea. Tea-flavored tea. Perhaps lavender has the magic property of canceling out bergamot! Maybe if you made a tisane that was JUST lavender and bergamot you would get something that tasted like water! Somebody must do this…FOR SCIENCE! (I volunteer someone who is not me)
I did start to get some citrusy hints toward the end of the cup, and it certainly brewed up nice and fragrant – although fairly light colored. Definitely need to do another tasting of this one.

This tea looks quite beautiful. The rooibos looks like standard red rooibos, the flower petals add such bright brilliant colors.

The aroma is quite like most rooibos I’ve tasted, with a little berry aroma (from the hibiscus I believe).

Right after steeping, this tea tasted very bland and plain. But after letting it cool a few degrees, it got sweeter and more berry flavored sip to sip. I really didn’t think I’d get much enjoyment out of this tea after the first few sips, but as it cooled it really impressed me.

I also found out after I brewed the tea that I should have doubled the steeping time, so I’m going to see what happens when I try it that way next time.

Thank you Lori for passing this tea on to me!

Finished off my sample of this for my morning tea . Of course, I say morning but since it was the weekend it was more like eleven or so. Mmmm, weekend. It was pretty much down to this and the blue flower for what I wanted more of and, while this is good and interesting and nice, I think I like the blue flower bette for tasting how I want an Earl Grey to taste.

Nice morning tea though!

I guess I’ve pretty much narrowed down what I like from my Upton sample buying spree and what I am just going to hold in reserve/foist off on other people eventually. Now that that’s settled, it is time to destroy these samples because my tea-buying hand has been restless lately and I need to make space in my cupboard.

I am still not really getting anything in the way of grapefruit from this tea, just a generalized fruity and floral note. I kind of want to drink this and my Czar Nikolas back to back to see how they compare. The Czar also has this sort of light blend with assertive black tea taste and flavors you can’t quite pin down thing going on. Oh wait! I think I got some grapefruit just then, in the aftertaste. Or maybe I’m trying too hard.

The second tasting of this went MUCH better than the lavender Earl Grey debacle. I let this steep for longer this time (especially since it was gonna be my morning cuppa) and I got a lot more out of it. It had an almost creamy texture to it this morning, and it was a lot easier to tell that it was flavored.
Clearly the answer to this tea is to drink it in the morning before you’ve actually tasted anything else.

Upton Tea Sampler Buying Spree Tea #5:
Next up in my Earl Greyathon, Russian style Earl Grey, chosen because it was on the top of the pile. Brews up lighter colored than the Blue Flower, but the tea taste is quite strong – stronger, I would say than the flavorings in it. The citrus taste is very faint and not really what I associate with bergamot at all. As the description says, it’s definitely a departure from traditional Earl Grey – in fact, I’m not sure it has that much in common with Earl Grey at all. Still tasty though! And this is only my first go at it, perhaps if drunk after a non-Earl Grey tea, it would be more obvious.
I don’t know where the steeping suggestions come from, but my sample packet said 4 minutes instead of 5; I think in later tries i will vary the time to see what happens.

Upton’s catalogue notes that this tea is also known as “Buddha’s Tea” so I got a 12g. sample in order to see what the jolly wise one drinks. Foucha Imperial strikes me as a green tea without too much attitude. I’ve been sampling some green tea with very high accolades and rave reviews of late. This tea does well without being showy. The tea does have a smooth buttery taste but with some restraint—it’s not enough “butter” to make me think of a “coronary by green tea”. It’s got the typical vegetal taste—-more freshly mown grass than deep fields of spinach, however.

Mae West says “I like restraint, if it doesn’t go too far.” So too with Foucha Imperial. The restraint does not go too far so it’s a very satisfying green experience. I would call it a very sincere green but not a pyrotechnical one. Sometimes less is more.

This tea steeps to a bright amber color. It has an underlying sweetness and a fruity taste. This tea is very mellow and smooth with no astringency or bitterness.

So Tuesdays are pretty much the worst day of the week for me. I start class at 9 and basically have it in some form until 6 (with an hour long break here and there) and the last class is the one where we talk about Foucault ad infinitum. So, rather than go for a strong pick me up tea today, I wanted something tasty and flavored to give me a bit of comfort as I thought about the rest of the day. As an added bonus I was able to finish off my sample of this in anticipation of the arrival of my Harney and Son order!

The more I drink it the more I like this Earl Grey. It seems to have just the right ratio of aroma to tea, and it the floral addition gives it a nice twist on the Earl Grey theme. Think it needs to go on my shopping list!

Now that I have solved the Mystery of Which Breakfast Blend Ewa Likes the Most, it is time for Earl Grey.

Oh Earl Grey, I will dabble in other teas, but I love you best!

Blue Flower Earl Grey continues to be pleasing to me. Will probably buy more of this.

Was in an Earl Grey mood again this morning and since this seems to be the one that has grown on me the most, I reached for it. Unfortunately, I reached a little too late and it had a super short steeping time resulting in a super weak tea that completely failed to wake me up. Bummer!

Not the tea’s fault of course, so the rating stays as is, although this HAS brought home to me that I am going to need to keep some sort of “Insert Name of Country” Breakfast tea on hand all the time since those are the only ones that I can treat that way.

Just HAD to have some earl grey this morning. Do you realize that I haven’t had any earl grey at ALL this week? I am not counting my horrible paper + soap tippy earl grey experience. In fact, I am attempting to block it from my memory altogether. It’s not really working well so far.

It’s interesting coming back to this tea now after having gone through all of my Upton samples, since I think this was only the second Earl Grey I tried. It may just be Earl Grey withdrawal talking, but I am enjoying it a lot more the second time around. I really like the kind of fruity flavor that I suppose the cornflower brings, it accents the bergamot flavor very nicely, and gives it a nice well-rounded taste that’s not just “ohai gaiz we added MOAR bergamot.”

May have to seriously consider getting more of this. But have to try the Extra Bergamot again, first. (Ok, fine, I am totally a fan of the “ohai gaiz we added MOAR bergamot” approach. I feel suitably ashamed of myself)