Upton Tea Imports

1/25/14 Morning pot to fend of a chilly busy day. 3g/6oz/212F/5min. Fantastic aroma of roses both from the dry leaf and only slightly subdued in the brew. Drinking this first thing in the morning is giving it short shrift. Slightly sweetened with sugar, the rose flavors are present, but faded. More ‘old sachet’ then ‘blooming in June’. This would be largely the fault of the age of the tea – this was packed for me in ‘10. It’s been stored well sealed in my dark cool cupboard. The age detectable, but in a pleasant way. A summer afternoon in the attic above the rose garden kind of way.

I’ve had three cups of this today, testing how the leaves handle multiple steepings. The first steep (190 degrees for 2:30) was quite lovely – full-bodied, earthy, and I may have detected a small hint of sweetness, not sugar-sweet but almost the natural sweetness of white tea. The second steep (190 degrees for 3:00) had less body and more of a bitter taste than the first steep. The third steep was actually quite disappointing. It was bitter and incredibly weak, and the liquor was so close to clear that I actually double-checked to make sure that I had actually added the leaves to let it steep! Since the first steep was quite good and the second was acceptable, I can let a less-than-desirable third steep by.

Overall, I was very pleased with this tea, which I got as a part of Upton Tea’s sampler set “Introduction to Oolong Tea”, but I will definitely only do two steeps with the leaves.

It’s Chai Time!
I used to drink a lot of chai, but since I gave up the soymilk & soy creamer (& am allergic to real milk), I haven’t been drinking much of it. It’s not the same without some kind of creamy goodness involved.
So I steeped this in minimal water, combined it with some of my homemade almond milk, & a little coconut milk keifer, & it’s pretty tasty.

I have an older supply of Upton Tea Imports Makaibari Darjeeling, but it still tastes fresh and good, so I’ll just pretend that I acquired this lot more recently than I did.

The liquor is peachy brown, and the flavor has the characteristic complexity of a fine darjeeling. I have not been drinking darjeelings lately because I had a carton of light cream in my refrigerator which took forever to empty. To my amazement, a quart lasted something like a month, and it did not spoil. My impression is that light cream holds up better than half-and-half, and I also discovered that it does not dilute the tea in which it is added, so that’s another plus. With the end of that carton, I’m putting my Earl Grey binge on pause for while…

Well, all of that was only barely relevant to this tasting note, but for the next few weeks, I’ll be focusing on no-cream-added black teas, with the darjeelings at the top of the list!

This Makaibari Estate brew has the dried grassy smell and taste which I have come to associate with darjeeling, and the flavor and scent are also very slightly smoky. Neither bitter nor scratchy, this is a very good black tea for drinking au naturel! No adulterants, please!

Short Note: I’ve been drinking teas for a couple years now, but I am just getting into the process of learning and appreciating the subtle tastes and nuances in tea.

Having said this, I do enjoy this robust green tea.

Preparation: As per the suggested instructions from upton, I used water @180F and (using an old teavana 32oz infuser) measured out 4 level teaspoons [2.25gram/cup; 1 level teaspoon, a unit of volume, ~= 2.3 grams, a unit of mass, for this tea; 1 cup = 8oz, therefore, I used 4 level teaspoons for my 32oz pot].

The tea pours a brazen amber-yellow color, and creates an earthy aroma with hints of a floral or vegetal undertone. Taking a quick sip, the tea attacks the front of the tongue but if you were to let it sit for 10 seconds on your tongue you will find that the tea morphs into a blank, viscous substance in your mouth akin to warm salt water. Upon swallowing, the tea regains its full flavor and the tastes impact the back of the tongue, providing a long smoky finish.

Therefore, this tea is a comfortable drinking tea but it may sour the palate after a longer session. The special grade gunpowder is best appreciated in smaller and longer sips, letting the tea rest on the tongue so that you may experience the fullness that this tea has to offer.

Thank you TeaExplorer for your generous sample. This tea is sweet, bold, cocoa and stone fruit notes. I like it. I was drinking it side by side Yunnan Dian Hong Golden tip by Teavivre. I find these teas similar but Teavivre’s has honey notes more pronaunced.

1/21/14 Afternoon tea while cleaning my kitchen. 3g/6oz/190F/4min. First impressions. This tea is befuddling me. It brewed dark, and had an aroma, and trying to find the words for the tastes or scents is just… befuddling me. I"m glad that I still have a few more grams of it for some more cups. I like it, I think.

This tea reminds me of that good tea – I worked at that place for years, earned my up from kitchen/dishwasher drudge to second wok, and got promoted to good tea as well as cook. What is befuddling me is that the good tea was a fairly light jasmine oolong, and yet when I drink this dark utterly non-floral brew, that good tea is what rings in my tastebuds in my head.

So many words to try and explain how my reaction “this tastes like restaurant tea” isn’t insulting to this tea.

1/22/14 Morning pot before travelling. 3g/6oz/212F/5min. Milk and sugar. Happy with this tea as always.

1/21/14 Pot for the morning. 3g/6oz/212F/5min. Brews a dark red/mahogany, with a rich heavy scent. I drink this with milk, lightly sweetened. The taste is a brisk comforting tea-ish taste, with smoky tones. If a Red Rose teabag could reincarnate 500 times, become a bodhisattva, and achieve nirvana, this it what it would taste like when you finally brewed it. One of my favorite teas.

This is an easy going mellow tea with a flavor like molasses/oak like the tasters at Upton Tea imports say. It is a great choice for the price.

This tea surprised me, with its mellow easy going flavor. It does have a bit of a molasses/oak quality to it as the tasters at Upton Tea Imports claim. Its not an ordinary Ceylon cup to me, has more qualities of a Java tea. Excellent inexpensive choice.

Sipdown (199/201)!

Yay for an enjoyable sipdown that puts my number of teas lower than 200! I highly doubt that’ll be kept up for long – but it’s a nice feeling right now.

This was really good! I was quite impressed with how it managed to be fruity without being really tart, and how the cinnamon was not overwhelming, and more just enhanced the plum. I definitely wanted more once the cup was empty.

I pulled this one out early this morning but I can’t remember why, and now that I’m making it I’m realizing increasingly that I’m really not in the mood for yet another cinnamon tea – but I’ve started steeping it so I might as well finish now.

Anyway, I recieved this from VariaTEA who I believe received it from MissB. For the most part I like teas like this, though I’m relatively hit and miss when it comes to plum.

For my parameters I’m using 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in about 8 oz. of boiling water, steeped for 8 minutes. Dry, the leaf is strongly cinnamon scent with some light fruitiness that could be plum, although I’m getting more tartness than generally associated with plum. Probably from the hibiscus. Steeping up, the smell is more appetizing than I thought it’d be: definitely heavier on fruit than on cinnamon which makes me happy because I was regretting the choice of brewing yet another cinnamon tea.

Taste wise – I’m actually surprisingly quite happy with this tea! The cinnamon is there but despite not being in the mood for cinnamon at all right now, it’s actually really tasty. Even better than that, I did not get the hibiscus overload I was expecting and on top of that I could taste the plum (and it tasted good)! All that said, despite being very surprised with this tea I don’t find it exceptional and therefore wont be seeking it out. I am glad I have at least one more cup left though!

1/20/14 Evening pot. 3g/6oz/190F/3min. This finishes off my sample of this. The tea brews a pellucid pale gold green, with a heady aroma of clover honey and spice. It is light in the mouth, smooth and with an astringency that fades as the tea cools. The changes in the taste as the temperature changed were lovely, from a bright ping in the first sips to a sweet dryness in the last.

I’m not usually one for English Breakfast but I gave this one I try because I wanted a strong morning tea.

I gotta admit, Upton did a pretty good job with this one. The blend of assam and ceylon was well balanced. I actually made it a good 1/4 or so into the cup before adding my half and half.

Like I said, I’m far from an English Breakfast connoisseur so I can’t say if this one ranks in the top, but for a strong wake-me-up tea it does the trick.

This is an interesting blend. Its a basic black with a whisp of acidity and the fruit comes through a bit in the smell and aftertaste. I taste and smell peach, mango, apricot and almonds. It is not however overwhelmingly sweet; just a bit refreshing and tart. Almost like the jammy notes you’d find in a big red wine. I would definitely drink again as the fruit notes are light handed which is hard to find in the fruit flavored teas.

Smells promising in the bag and on steeping, like good green tea (vegetal, woody,) yet I’m also getting a scent that reminds me of vanilla cake for some reason. Taste is pretty good, a little mild, no bitterness. Vegetal, with a faint note in the background that kind of reminds me of cinnamon. This is organic, which is always a plus. With the price, which is more reasonable than some similar teas I have tried, plus the easy drinking experience, this would be a decent daily drinker. (current upton # for this is ZG46)

1/18/14 Afternoon tea. 3g/6oz/190F/4min Just a plain oolong. To borrow a beer term, this is a session tea. Pleasant to drink when I want to drink a tea just as a background to doing other stuff. I’m almost out of this tea, which I got from Upton in 2011.

2/6/14 Morning pot. 3g/6oz/212F/3min. Pretty sure the descriptor ‘brassy’ was invented for this tea. It is bright and brassy, the way I imagine a brass bedknob would taste if it tasted like tea instead of brass. Don’t ask how I know what brass bedknobs taste like. This tea is good brisk breakfast blend, nice taken straight, and maudlin-makingly good with milk for those of us with deep “English Breakfast Blend” yearnings. If your gran ever served you milk toast made with tea/milk, she’d have used this tea to make it.

caveats: again, a tea in which I may taste more sentiment than Camellia.

1/18/14 A potful for the afternoon. 3g/6oz/212F/3min. Had a cup earlier, and had to make a potful. I was right, it is wicked good with milk. The fantastic smoky aroma and brisk liquor buddy up with the milk to make a cup that drives off the chill and makes the whole world seem a finer better place.

caveats – drinking this made me want to read Wodehouse

1/18/14 Noontime cuppa. 3g/6oz/212F/3min First impressions. A thick smoky/malty aroma. This tea is gorgeous in the cup, a rich red-gold. Brisk and bright to drink with a good punch of astringency – like most UK blends, this would be great with milk. A good eye-opener that’s making me wish I’d brewed more then just the single cup.

Great blend! My new favorite. It tastes like a strong Ceylonese tea or Darjeeling, without the astringent aftertaste. I keep waiting for it but it never comes. Very smooth and worth the extra price I’m sure.

1/28/14 Morning tea. 3g/6oz/212F/5min. I made a large pot of this, and it is drinking very nicely with milk and sugar. A great straightforward tea. The brewed tea is an attractive dark amber, a pretty taupe with the milk in. The aroma and taste are tea, with a faint masala like spiciness that boosts the drink from ‘oh its tea’ to ‘Ahhh, tea.’ I’m happy I have so much of this tea! I think I’ll try a stronger infusion next time I brew this.