Upton Tea Imports

Not feeling well today. Didn’t go to work, but I must go to school for a test! Making this tea to help me study :) Light on the bergamot, but sweet (the one teaspoon of sugar I added was almost too much!), with a touch of smoke which is really nice on such a cold day.

All gone now!

This is really, really nice, especially for a decaf. I had it with some vanilla soy creamer and sweetened it just a little bit. It is a little weaker than a non-decaf, but has a strong bergamot flavor and was just right for evening.

This has a delicious flavor, but as another reviewer mentioned, I’m not getting the creamy notes. I like this quite a bit. It has strength and richness. I will probably buy some more of this when there is room in the cabinets again.

I first tasted this tea as part of a sampler set (British Blend Sample SB11) that I purchased last year. This tea alone was good enough to convince me that I ought to try some other teas from Upton. I have a hard time explaining why I like this blend so much. I remember saying something uninspired along the lines of, “It tastes like tea!” So many mild afternoon blends are so bland that they end up tasting like slightly stagnant tap water. The Richmond Park Blend tastes like tea. It still tastes like tea if milk, honey, or sugar are added, but I usually drink it with a splash of soymilk and no sweetener.

I had this last night, prepared the traditional way boiled in a mixture of water and milk. It is well worth the trouble to prepare chai this way! It brought out the spiciness of this tea very well.

I brewed this as I normally do a black tea. Put in freshly boiled water from the microwave and guess how long it’s brewed. Taste and let brew longer if not strong enough.

Enough about the technicalities. After adding a dash of soy cream and a little sweetener I proceded to taste. The first taste wasn’t real spicy, but by the second or third sip, it had quite a kick to it!! I enjoyed it a lot and I will definitely use up the rest of my sample. I’m thinking that I should try preparing it like a traditional chai, but that sounds like an aweful lot of work for tonight, so that might have to wait for another day.

This is a wonderful dessert tea, nice with some sugar cookies or other simple pastry.

A great cuppa even after it has been sitting around in the pot for 10 minuets. Takes a bit of milk and sugar just wonderfully. One of my favorite get up and go cups.

Rainy windy day – came into work SOAKED. I thought drinking multiple steeps of an oolong sounded pretty much perfect on a day like today

Leaves smell much like a green tea. Crazy wavy looking leaves (much like my HAIR after getting stuck in the rain!!!!)

1st: 3 minutes – Beautiful golden color – I LIKE :) Sweet and smooth. Just the slightest bit woody – a bare hint. Nothing like the strength of the woody nutty flavor I got from the Formosa Amber Oolong from Upton. As it cools, this touch of woody dissapears.

2nd: 4 minutes – more of the same – slightly sweeter and the wood is gone. Still a brilliant golden color. Still delicious!

3rd: 5 minutes – can’t believe how golden the tea still is! I am tasting more floral and sweetness. Really nice. I think I’m going to have lunch after this cup, but plan to make more this afternoon :) I’ll edit this post with what I taste!

EDIT: 4th: 8ish minutes (with a student and lost track of time!) Very nice but lighter. I can sense that the flavor is fading but it’s very enjoyable still. I’ve had enough for today, but I could see going at least one more time!

This tea is probably one of the best examples of a Vanilla tea that we’ve encountered. It is a standard black tea, very much in line with the generic term, “China Black”. That said, it is a good quality tea base with a full black tea flavor.

The tea is advertised as a full-leaf tea, however, when wet, it reveals itself as a machine processed tea. The leaves are broken, cut and relatively small. This is in line with the tea being a standard China Black. Even though it does not appear to be a proper full-leaf tea, the base is still substantial enough to support the vanilla flavor.

This tea uses actual pieces of vanilla bean along with some artificial flavoring. The beans are exactly as they appear in the image, chopped pieces. In a sealed container, no doubt the oils from the bean pieces infuse with the tea. The flavoring is added for extra punch and works wonderfully.

Some drinkers may flinch at the use of artificial flavorings, however, Upton makes clear that the products they use are labeled according to FDA regulations which are fairly specific. However, Upton’s marketing material states, “…the so-called nature-identical flavorings which are used on most of our flavored teas, must be listed as artificial.” In other words, nothing to worry about here. Drink your tea.

The vanilla aroma is strongly present in the dry tea, and the liquor is properly infused with it as well. The subtle sweetness that vanilla offers is found throughout the sip and even lingers in the back of the mouth. The bean pieces really solidify what the added flavoring may not add, thus this tea has a creaminess to it.

We would go so far to say that this is one of the best Vanilla Teas available.

Note: Upton Tea is an importer, they repackage and sell teas from around the world. They are not blenders. This tea is a product of Germany and is blended there. Some members of the Leafbox staff are familiar with numerous German tea blenders and merchants. Vanilla tea is a standard tea in Germany available from numerous sources, this one ranks among the best of that segment as well.

Our tasters found this tea to be complimented well with a bar of good chocolate nearby.

Okay…so…same case here…finishing up my stash of this stuff and had too much for a regular cuppa and too little for another cuppa…so I infused 2 T or so of loose leaf for 3 minutes or under. I sure can smell the cocoa today…which is really, really nice! Even with the severe amount change this is pleasantly YUMMY. I can taste just-enough Cinnamon/cardamom and the cocoa is great.

So…this one is supposed to be the Shiz-nat, eh!? :)
It smells a little like snickerdoodle and black tea. I’m just finishing up the infusion now.
It’s a reddish-brown in color, medium.
It doesn’t taste like snickerdoodle. It is a like a paler chai…cinnamon but not over the top, thankfully…it’s the perfect amount! This is pretty good…will be trying again!
Thanks J for sending this to me! :P

I’m out…it was good! :P

BUMMER. I totally screwed this cup up and it was the last of my stash…sigh…I put way too much loose leaf in there…it was texture-E and bitter…but totally my fault…I know it’s good otherwise tho…so I will keep the rating…

Thank you Jacqueline for sending me a goodie bag or BOX of tea!!!! YOU ROCK! This is the first one I have tried! It was nice…great morning tea, I think. Dark. Starts semi-smooth ends pretty bold.

I made the first cup in the Zarafina, so I’m not sure how long it brewed for. It was very light and tasted slightly of apples. Okay, but mildly disappointing. I’ll probably try in the triniTEA next time so I can make sure it gets the full recommended 8 minutes to brew.

Beautiful, curly greenish brown leaves!

First steep: Woody and nutty. I don’t taste sweetness or bitterness (and I didn’t add anything to this tea) – very even. So enjoyable to sip. I could see this being great with a meal.

Second steep (4min): Sweeter and just as nutty.

Third steep (5 min): Tastes very similar to the 2nd steep!

Fourth steep: (6 min): Just a tad lighter tasting. Incredible! I’ve had enough for this afternoon, but maybe on another day I’ll find myself going for a fifth, sixth, seventh!

I need to take this home with me because I could really see steeping this all day on a day off – how pleasurable!

Excellent tea that is full of magic…enchanting flavors, great color and as silky-smooth as a tea can get.
Unfortunately this tea leaf develops its great flavors only through a water temperature that is probably destroying its vitamins…therfore I do the first two brews with a water temperature under 85degrees Celcius. For the following 2 brews I go very hot and combine all 4 brews in on big tea pot. Stir it and I have the different flavors of four brews of one portion tea in one cup…fantastic
Warning: Very strong and awakening. If one drinks it after 5.00pm sleep becomes an impossible thing to find!

Today is the first day of the Spring 2010 semester at the University I work at. I’ve been doing this for almost ten years, so I knew today would be GUARANTEED INSANITY! I took this tea from my cupboard at home because it’s such an even-keeled Assam: not too bold, not too weak. I hoped it would give me an even-keeled disposition to deal with these lines of students! I do feel much better after this delicious cup, even though it sat there getting cold as I dealt with student, after student, after student. Such is life in the Registrar’s Office!

Oh yum! A very nice full flavored but light assam. I found it slightly…lemony? A reviewer on the Upton site said it tasted almost like a Ceylon, and I have to agree. I really like it. Milk and sugar!

Its not just for breakfast….