Upton Tea Imports
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After several weeks of scrimpily, scroungily sipping scraps of swaps and samples (say that five times fast!) I splurged with this sumptuous selection from Upton.
At 4 minutes, it steeps a deep burgundy-brown and tastes the same color. Rich and crusty-malty, and - just because I was very excited to open a new packet and was very generous with the leaf - almost on the edge of bitter. I think that can be fixed next time by backing off the measurements a bit.
Second steep was much better. The edge was gone. (Usually I don’t like that in a second steep.) The residual bread-crusty taste makes me look forward to a cup done properly.
Which raises a question…once you’ve fried a tea on the first steep, are the leaves ruined from that point going forward?
I think that depends very much on the tea. I wrecked some ginseng oolong a while ago with near-boiling water and didn’t even try a re-steep. Maybe I should have.
Guess it depends on how temperamental the oolong is. Good ol’ Assams don’t get their feelings hurt too easily.
Hahaha! They’re pretty sturdy.
Headed out the door for a massage, which I desperately need. Playing the harp & moving all that equipment is rough on the body, & I have to treat my body like a professional athlete: yoga, weights, massage, tai chi, chiro…whatever it takes to keep things from freezing up. Right now I have a kink in my left shoulder. Years ago I had a bursitis attack in that shoulder, so I don’t mess around. It it’s got a kink, I’m getting a massage!!
This is nice bold breakfast tea! I got it from the TTB A, & its a sip down now.
My sis-in-law played stand-up bass in a bluegrass band. Nothing like a nice, un-bulky, lightweight instrument to tote and transport! Enjoy your break!
People always say, “don’t you wish you played the flute, or some other small instrument?” My response to that is, “hell no!”
LOL
Harp is definitively the most romantic instrument
It is! And also, a flute player usually needs someone to play with, & I don’t. And harp players can charge more too! :)
The truth is, the real reason is I love playing the harp so much, & every day I’m grateful that I actually get to do this for a living!
You are blessed. Not many people can say that!
Breakfast: A Hearty bowl of Stew, leftover from last night.
A breakfast like this requires a hearty tea, & this Assam fits the bill! It’s bold, with a bright sensation up the center of my tongue. Not as malty as some, but very substantial. I got this sample from Traveling Tea Box ‘A’. Thanks to everyone who participated!
Second Breakfast: Leftover baked sweet potatoes, which I cut up, peel & all, & sauteed in coconut oil with cinnamon & a pinch of salt until they were caramelized. Sometimes I add vanilla, ginger, & nutmeg.
Today I kept it simple.
For tea, I had another cup of this Assam, only I doubled the amount of tea & then spiked it with stevia & french vanilla coconut milk creamer.
This is like crack for me, LOL.
I have a sweet potato habit that knows no bounds. I eat at least one sweet potato almost every day. My son Drew shares my habit, & we bake whole trays of them. They are good hot, cold, or reheated. Leif & Tony think we’re crazy. Sweet potatoes are just SO AWESOME, I can’t stop myself. I grow them in my garden & my crop is always huge! Luckily they are also SO good for you. I don’t use butter, just a generous sprinkle of cinnamon. That’s all it takes. It’s dessert. Sweet potatoes taste the way winter squash is suppose to taste, & sweet potatoes make better pie than pumpkin could ever dream of. If you make the crust from pecans (gluten free), you have sweet potato pecan pie.
Oh sweet healthy decadence!!!
I used to have a soy french vanilla creamer habit. (along with quite a few other habits, but that was a long time ago…). Lately I’ve been thinking of Chai & other teas that are so nice with a little creamer once in awhile, & I remembered how much I enjoyed my Assam brewed extra bold this way. I like it straight up as well.
I think I’ll have another cup.
OMG I have a sweet potato obsession too!
I’ve heard that in Japan, a cart goes around with the recorded call playing out: sweeeeeet potatoes!! And was like, really? That’s awesome! Like an ice cream truck! I love sweet potatoes!
I love sweet potatoes, it just seems like they take forever to cook in the oven – or am I doing something wrong? Sometimes I slice them and put a little sugar and cinnamon on them and bake them, yummy!
That is exactly how I feel about hummus. and zuchinni :D
Sweet potatoe rocks but its my treat!
They do take awhile to cook, that’s why we always bake 6 or 8 of them at a time.
bah, I just pop them in the microwave. great when in a rush! or lazy lol
Sweet oolong, how I love thee! It’s vegetal and sweet floral in just the right way, and it lingers into the aftertaste to. Sometimes, I find oolongs are “jasmine” floral, which I can’t stand… but other times its more of an “orchid” type note, and I love orchids! Funny though, I don’t taste the osmanthus. Perhaps that’s because I’m down with the flu, so I won’t rate this today… I mean, as much as I love this cup, it isn’t what I expected so that wouldn’t be a very fair assessment.
Thanks to Sil for the hookup!
Boring tea log tonight. My tummy is going through all sorts of chaos today. I don’t even want to put dinner in there. ugh. Mint is supposed to be good for tummies, so I busted this out. It tastes kinda funky today. Not sure if it’s the kettle. I’m on the market for a glass one.
Anyways, classic spearmint. sweet and fresh. Couldn’t ask for anything more.
I wonder if ginger would work for me or if it’s only good for nausea? I’ll try that next if this spearmint fails me. :(
Usually ginger helps settle my stomach. I would try that. Praying you feel better soon.
Em, you are sweet. :) I’ve experienced the power of ginger for nausea, but that’s not the problem I have. Let’s not get specific. haha Does it work for all tummy issues?
It’s worth a shot :)
So true! :)
Ginger is my miracle cure for any tummy ailment, I’d definitely give it a shot!
2 tsp for 150ml; finum basket in ceramic mug
A unique tea for the black tea that I currently drink regularly, which for whatever reason has been more Ceylon-oriented. I always look forward to pulling this one out.
Used to always brew this in a western style—not a huge leaf:water, boiling water, multi-minute steep—but upon finding that it holds a second steep well even then, I’ve been playing around with other styles. Lower temperatures and higher leaf:water yields some interesting results. This time I’m going in between a bit …
01 (50s; 200F): Infused leaves have a fantastic scent. Feeling the sandalwood mentioned in Upton’s description, plus sweet berry (near-floral?) and a touch of deeper wood. The liquor has a more reserved nose, more on the berry tip than the wood, though that’s starting to come through as it cools.
Nice amount of astringency for me, and nice finish, but in the mouth it’s not as exciting as it has been in the past. Definitely remember the “bass notes” mentioned by gmathis transferring to the flavor—this has the potential to be a wonderfully hefty tea.
02 (2m50s; 212F): Decided to up the time and temp. A little too long I think. Less complex infused leaf smell, much more darjeeling-like. Again, good astringency and a different, but still enjoyable finish. A bit of spice in the mouth, with a suggestion of acidity. Also a hint of bitterness which doesn’t seem to serve this tea well. Good body.
More work to be done with this one …
Preparation
Another from Azzrian…
So the smell of this dry, wet, and the taste is something I can’t quite put my finger on. Not almonds. Something like a lolly or a soda or maybe even cough syrup from when I was a kid. Weird. Odd. Confusing.
That is all for the moment.
Preparation
This was my first lapsang souchong and…it looks like they’re not for me. The smoky smell was too much for me to be able to sip it from a mug, and while the taste was pretty OK when i sipped it from a spoon like soup, it was nothing to fall in love with. Also, the smell clung really strongly to my ingenuiTEA.
No rating since I think this is a case of “it’s not tea, it’s me”. I might try this tea again another week, see if it strikes me better
Preparation
>The cup is exceptionally smooth,
Does the “smooth” refer to the lack of thickening related to pectin and oxalic acid or something?
I’m not sure about this description at all.
>with interesting muscat and fruity nuances,
Somewhere over the muscat? I will try the China one for this.
On the other hand, its unique fruity nuance was more apparent to me, which was close to a sort of acid taste somehow.
>along with the balanced pungency of a top quality first flush tea.
pungency… maybe?
>The cup from the China jat is slightly sweeter,
I think so, too.
At the same time, this clonal may be “just” sweet. The sweetness of these two was quite different to me.
That’s supposedly because I can’t distinguish sweetness from China characteristic.
> while that of the clonal variety is slightly thicker.
Probably…? Is this that important factor, by the way?
>For comparison, consider buying a sample of one and a packet of the other.
No need for comparison, indeed. Buy the China! lol
>exceptionally smooth
It’s a bit different from China darjeeling, say Castleton’s or Margaret’s Hope’s.
I like its “exceptionality”.
Both of China jat and clonal variety have a repeated sweetness which is as if your tongue tastes sweet every time saliva passes through salivary glands. lol
I’ve also experienced the same kind of “repeated sweetness” with coffees of SCAA 85pts above before.
Well I wish I had known this would be so smoky. In the bag it smelled kind of spicy, which was exciting because it is a Szechuan grown tea, so now I’m imagining everything grows into spiciness.
It tastes great at first, it’s the mellow taste that got me in the description on Upton, but then it gets smoky and to me it doesn’t match the rest of the tea, and so it’s kind of gross. It’s not like lapsang smoky but it’s enough to make me surrender drinking after three sips.
I purchased this as part of Upton Tea’s Premium Darjeeling Sampler. Since my experience with Darjeelings has been limited, this has been a great opportunity to check out generous sized samples in tins. Today, after the excitement of sending my 20 yr old daughter on a full semester Georgia Tech Pacific Study abroad trip (Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji), I came home with a few hours until work and decided I would compare this TD74 1st flush against the TD54, another 1st flush from Thurbo Estate. As a sidebar, I read that Tumsong is known as the “garden of happy hearts”. With the Tumsong Darjeeling,the brew is gold and there are notes of tropical fruit, almonds, and a citrus pungency that I find quite enjoyable, despite an ever so slight bitterness.I am sensitive to bitterness,and though I made this according to instructions (boiling, 2 1/4 gm, 3 min. steep), there seems to be a hint of bitterness that I didn’t detect with the Thurbo. Perhaps this would be remedied by using a little less leaf or time on the steep. So,to sum it up, my 1st impression is that I favor the Thurbo, but I will hold back on rating it, and try adjusting the leaf and/or steeping time the next go round.
Random observations
a) I have way too many open half-packets of tea and tisanes. I have got to do some serious sipping down. (Surely this does not happen to you.)
b) Probably not a good idea to have a caramel Milky Way snowman before I tasted this. It’s messing with tastebud accuracy.
c) Hibiscus in peach tea? Seriously?
d) It’s bone-cold, cloudy, threatening to spit snow, I’m freezing; at the moment, the only flavor profile that matters to me is WARM. This is.
Regarding ‘a’ – I resemble that remark
baha if I sent you my list, you might faint!
Regarding ‘b’ you do this a lot, don’t you? I’m pretty sure you’ve spoken of milky way’s and tea before…
Regarding C) Interesting how when you are trying to avoid something, there seems to be a conspiracy to put it in everything. I have a similar problem with chocolate, particularly now that it’s the new health food.
