Upton Tea Imports

I had the last package of this tea this afternoon at work. After exploring other Darjeelings this one stands out as pretty flavorful. I really enjoyed this for an afternoon tea! I am upping my rating of this tea.

This is one of the teas from the February 2014 Steepster Box.

This is one of my first Darjeelings. I am not sure what to write about this one. It is hard for me to pick out flavors in this tea. It has a very dry finish. It makes my tongue think it is a tad bit bitter at the finish of the sip, and there is a woody/fruity mouth full.

From tasting this tea I am tempted to purchase a sample set of darjeelings to see how they compare and if there are any that I would like. This one is enjoyable, but does not stand out as a tea I would purchase again.

Sample sipdown of the day from Upton….

I’ve had this tea for a few months now so it’s good that I’m finishing off the package. This is very flavorful with tangy and smoke notes in the finish. A bit like a baby lapsang but a little rough around the edges for me. If I had more of this, I would probably try steeping it for less time but I followed the instructions on the bag. It’s a good thing there are so many teas in the world so we can all find the ones we really love :)

Another day, another keemun sample, but I believe this is the last of the lot. I’ve been trying to train my palette but I would not say I am a keemun lover yet. The dry leaf smells slightly “tangy” with a hint of smoke.

Brewed the tea for 3 minutes via regular teapot method. It might have needed a bit more time but this keemun is nice. It’s a little more gentle than some I’ve tried. I’m getting a lot of winey/fruity notes with a slight hint of smoke. There’s a bit of bitterness in the finish which I am not altogether enjoying but it isn’t unbearable. I suppose it’s a testament to how I feel about keemuns in general that I thought this was better with some vanilla soymilk.

Not bad at all, but also not something I would bother to stock on a regular basis. I might try blending it too.

(1st Steep – 2.5 min) This tea has the softer aroma and flavor that you would expect from a Darjeeling. The muscatel flavor mentioned in the description is present but not overpowering. It is more of a slight sweetness followed by a slight woody flavor. It finishes clean and has a slight drying sensation. All in all I would say a great late afternoon tea. However, I could see myself drinking it all day.

(2nd Steep – 3 min) I noticed very little change between the first and second steeping of this tea. Possibly a little less of the drying sensation at the end, but it was minimal.

(3rd Steep – 3.5 min) The third steeping produced more of the cut-wood notes with the sweeter flavors more subtle. However, it is still a great drinking tea that has proved enjoyable all day.

I will probably continue drinking this tea in the afternoon, and probably up the initial steep time to 3 minutes.

4.15g in 4.5oz of water.

Malty and mellow with sweet, almost fruity notes.

Backlog:

A very hearty flavor to this tea. It’s one of those teas that I’d like to have in my teacup first thing in the morning … something with a little bit of gusto.

A strong roasted flavor to this: a nice, rich, roasty-toasty flavor that I enjoy. Hints of smoke and earth. There is a backdrop of spice to it too. I like the way the spiced notes meld with the roasted notes. This is one you want to keep an eye on when you’re steeping it because I could taste a subtle bitter tone that suggests to me that it could become quite bitter if oversteeped.

A bit too much muscatel for my taste, with coppery aftertones and bitterness on the tip of my tongue. Not my favorite tea from this box, but it was better than the jasmine.

Sample sipdown of the day. I love being able to get these samples from Upton Tea. It’s a great way to try new things, without spending a lot of time or storage space on teas you may not necessarily want. It’s one reason I’ll always be a customer of theirs. I just got the spring catalog and there are so many things tempting me but I really need to focus sipping down what I have while I’m not working.

I’m really not a big keemun person but I like this better than many I’ve tried. It has gentle winey notes as well as a bit of tobacco and smells like buckwheat bread baking. It is definitely very flavorful and is easy to sip on plain but also takes additions ok. If I had one keemun to keep around, this might be a contender. I raised the rating a few points today…

I must be a glutton for punishment but I keep trying keemun samples to find a few that I like. :)

I steeped this for 3 minutes and am finding this is one of the most gentle keemuns I have tried. I definitely get the cocoa/roasted notes but not much tobacco/smoke that you find in some keemuns. There’s a few interesting fruity notes in here that are reminiscent of wine. I’d recommend drinking this straight in order to appreciate the delicate flavor. it is lighter in body than most other keemuns I’ve had. In fact, I might try steeping this a little longer next time.

Not destined to be a personal favorite, but I have enjoyed the cup. This morning I’m thinking about going back to bed after I’ve had my tea and breakfast!

Bready, tea-like, and sweet: that’s how I’d describe this tea. I can’t remember why I grabbed this (the description probably attracted me in some way), and I have to say it’s a solid straight tea, with lots of lovely qualities to it. Do I love it so much that I’d order it again? Nah. Still, something really nice to enjoy this evening.

I have decided to start a new craft project that will take an eternity to complete: I am going to make perler bead sprites of all the Pokemon. Yes, I want to create all 718 (for now, I am sure there will be more before I get close to the end) of them, I started last night and not counting all the Eeveelutions I made months ago I have created the first six. I predict I will get the first 50-60 done before I run out of beads! Also, in the art department, I have taken up sketching and created a flash diffuser for my camera.

Today’s tea is Rose Congou from Upton Tea Imports, a Chinese Black Tea scented with rose blossoms. Interesting tea fact of the day, Congou is more of a description of tea rather than a specific type, coined in the 19th century from a translation error, specifically from the Hokkien dialect pronunciation of Gongfu. So basically the Chinese exporters were saying that it was tea made with great skill, and the American and English importers thought it was a type of tea. To be fair there are black teas that have Gongfu (or Congou) in its name, Keemun, Chaozhu Gongfu Cha, and Panyang Congou, and conviently all three of these have been identified as Congou at some point in tea’s history, so at least the misunderstanding is understandable. The aroma is sweet and heavily rosy, reminiscent of an English rose garden during high summer. Perfumed and heady with a hint of muscatel and earthiness, so it is like having tea in said rose garden.

Once the leaves have been steeped the aroma becomes a bit more earthy and muscatel, but with hints of oak wood and cocoa. There is a subtle sweetness, and of course roses, however the roses are no where near as potent as their dry leaf counterparts. The liquid smells both rosy and a bit malty with a creamy after quality. It has a subtle sweetness as well and is quite delicious smelling.

The taste of the tea is heady and heavily rosy. There is a very faint sweetness, not much of one until the aftertaste. This tea is quite bright and really wakes up the mouth, it also does not become overpowered by the roses, so it is a good balance of base tea and added flavors. I really love this tea with a splash of cream and sugar, making a tea version of one of my favorite drinks, Rose Milk. Adding the cream and sugar makes for a floral and decadent tea, and it brings out some mild muscatel quality. Delicious.

For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/03/upton-tea-imports-rose-congou-tea-review.html

I am back to review this tea for a second time, after initially disliking it and giving it a meager 15 rating. I learned some things about Darjeeling tea which I wish I’d have known the first time around and now that I’ve learned how to brew it properly, this has bumped my rating up to around a 55. That’s probably still a meager score to some, but I try to use the full range of the scale in my reviews, so that to me is fairly neutral, erring a bit on the higher side. In other words… it was enjoyable to drink, but I wouldn’t buy more of it.

But I do want to stress that it WAS enjoyable to drink. Brew this tea around 194F/90C and you are in for a treat! The flavor is rich and warm. There is an apricot-like taste up front, especially in the second steeping. It is backed by some darker bittersweet tones underneath. I brewed this tea many ways trying to find a good combination, and I can say that brewing it at any temperature above 194 made it have a very dry finish and a good deal of astringency. At 194 these are for the most part not present, though still there a bit.

This is a good tea if you treat it right! Don’t scorch it! Really, try it at a lower temp than the typical “black tea gets boiling water” and you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Another dark flavored oolong. Not my favorite style.

Much blacker tasting than I like in an oolong. I will try it as an ice tea when the weather warms up enough for drinking cold beverages.

I tasted no lemon or apricot.
It does have what I perceive to be a muscatel quality, but admit I am enough
of a newbie to state I am still very much learning about teas,
especially darjeelings, I was believing that I hated them all (darjeelings)until I tried this one.
By Far the best Darjeeling I have ever tried.
Very pleasant (muscatel? ) aroma…slightly dry, astringent tea…In a good way.
I could be persuaded to try additional darjeelings based on this tea.

Another one to try from MissB! thanks so much! I was confused as to which tea this was, since there are two from Upton that have the same name but different ingredients. I guess it’s this one? I don’t see roses but this also doesn’t taste like chocolate. I don’t think this one can decide whether it wants to be a chai or a black tea. There are spices here, but not many. (One big green cardamom floating in the infuser looks a little weird.) There is plenty of sweet cinnamon though. It’s like it’s trying to be spicy, but not really. I like the black tea flavor itself, there just wasn’t much of it. Not outstanding, but I enjoyed the cup anyway.

Tea of the morning here. I notice I am sleeping a bit better through the night. Yesterday I was trying to prop myself up with various pillows and notice I am more comfortable with my teddy bear propping my elbow up, lol. I’m sure it looks quite silly. ;-)

So I finally decided I like this one, 3 minutes is plenty of steeping time for it. Yes it has a bold malt note with chocolate and I do think “stout” is an appropriate adjective. I’m not altogether crazy about the finishing note which is a bit too brisk and winey for me, but it is tempered a lot with soymilk and a pinch of sugar.

Probably not a replacement for the resident assam, which I no longer have, but I’ve enjoyed the sample.

I’ve tried this a couple of times now and am still trying to figure out what I make of it. I wonder if I over leafed it this morning by accident because it seems really brisk and wine-y, more so than the first time I tried it. I think a few more experiments are needed…

Tea of the afternoon here and another small sample from Upton.

I wasn’t sure about their suggested steeping parameters since 4-5 minutes seems like a long time for a Chinese tea. I settled on 2 minutes for mine and this seems to have been a good choice. This is a little darker than some Golden Monkeys I’ve had in the past. It has some gentle malt and cocoa notes along with a bit of winey-ness but there’s not bitterness or astringency anywhere, just a nice flavorful cup! My favorite Golden Monkey is Red Blossom’s version but this is good too. I decided to steep the leaves for a 2nd time at 4 minutes and that was good as well. Equally good neat or with a splash of soymilk.