Upton Tea Imports
Edit CompanyPopular Teas from Upton Tea Imports
See All 1009 TeasRecent Tasting Notes
Mus(･∀･)catel!!
>with aromas of spice and fruit, and flavor nuances
of dark grape, spice and wood.
mus━━ヽ(ﾟωﾟ)ﾉ━━catel???
Anyway, I don’t care if I’ve really experienced a kind of muscatel or not, which was a faint “flavor nuance” at very least.
<del>mus(･∀･)catel!!</del>
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)o彡°dark! grape!
Finished this off today. Upton’s description is on the money. Usually, Darjeelings are not my first choice, but this one is a nice change this morning. It is gentle but very flavorful, and I don’t find it to be astringent. The flavor is reminiscent of some leafhopper teas I’ve had, but since it is a 1st flush, not sure if leafhoppers are feeding on the leaves that early. Very nice way to start the day.
Preparation
>hints of muscatel
the problem is…that I need hints for the hints of muscatel at first. lol
While I think the puttabong FF may be more tasty(sweet? or mellow?), this tea gives me the feeling that I would choose this one if I’m having a cup of tea with my friends. I don’t know why.
Hmmm…this is probably the best first flush I’ve had, but I’m still not feeling it. I don’t like how thin it tastes. It’s too light for my tastes, I guess, since it does slightly remind me of the nutty notes I like in second flushes, but way sweeter, and of course lighter with floral notes.
Other than it not being something I really go for, it is a really, really good tea. And when I looked it up to add on here, it was almost sold out for the year.
>with an elegant floral aspect
sweet, mouthfeeling
>The liquor is light,
the opposite was the goomtee ex
>and hints of apple
esp. 2senme, which hinsts remind me of the jungpanaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh
(who bought the remaining 10-or-so jungpana samples at once?)
I’m surprised that I wasn’t crazy about this tea as I was so anxious to try it given all the rave review I’ve gotten about it from fellow tea drinkers.
The tea itself is gorgeous to look at and smells fabulous in the tin. It remindes me of a really good darjeeling in smell. When I first smelled it I was actually more excited to try it!
I may have oversteeped it at around 5 minutes?
It had an almost “green” taste at first, but then I did pick up the caramel. I didn’t think it had any maltiness and I didn’t find it to be a medium bodied tea, I would say it’s a lighter tea. It is smooth, not bitter at all. I didn’t think it paired well with the cookies I had it with.
I am going to try it again with a lesser steep time and pair it instead with fresh fruit.
Preparation
The good part about ordering from Upton is the option to sample everything inexpensively—I treated myself to a box of goodies to combat the winter miz’ries. The other part about ordering from Upton is that their selection is so huge, I forget what I have and haven’t tried. So this one’s an accidental rerun.
Didn’t give it much love the first time around, some years back. Upon further reflection, you just gotta know what you’re getting into. This is an Assam/Ceylon blend; heavy (to me) on the Ceylon side. Stout and sharp with a little bitterness at the end. Clouts you awake instead of coddling you awake. We’ll give it a whirl with some milk tomorrow, but clouting is what I needed to get moving today.
I’ve magnanimously said in the past that there isn’t a black tea that I don’t love, but I may have to recant. This blend, I guess, takes more fine-tuning than I want to devote to a morning tea. Smells just like I want a breakfast tea to smell; it’s fruity and starchy on top; but at the base is a bitterness that stays on the back of your tongue.
But if you like your breakfast blends at monster strength, here you go.
Psalm 111:2 says I’m not pondering enough. So I am basking in a slow and quiet morning of thanksgiving and pondering—-life, the unverse, and good tea. Conclusion: God is big and I am small and I am amazed.
I can’t reach as firm a conclusion about this Upton Breakfast blend. The smell in the sample pouch was deep and grainy—a scent to make Assam lovers swoon.
Steeped, well, I’m not sure what I’m getting. Feels good and thick in the mouth, but there’s a little off-center sharpness that’s making me scrunch up my face a little. That just may be my cue that this one isn’t to be taken without a little additive. (Off to get milk.)
Today, among many other things, I’m grateful for the funny friendships and conversations I’ve encountered here. Be thankful.
I decided to have some different breakfast blend this morning. This sounded interesting so I ordered a sample.
I steeped it for four minutes, and added a little milk. I’m not entirely sure I like it compared to just the Yunnan tea I’ve been having the past couple of days. I like it and I like Assam but together it’s just not a flavor I really would go for.
It comes off kind of smoky, not in a lapsang sort of way at all, I feel like this might be the spicy notes mentioned in the description. It is a pretty smooth, bold tea other than that note that is just a bit too strong for me. And I steeped it for a minute less than the bag called for, next time I might try 3. Or maybe the 5 min is the way to go, somehow.
I feel awake though so it does its job as a big, robust breakfast blend.
I have no idea why I ordered this. At all. That would also be why I’ve been holding onto it since May.
Nothing about the description of it even vaguely sounds good to me so I REALLY have no idea why I bought it.
I gave it a chance anyway because Upton’s BOP Margaret’s Hope is pretty good. But that’s a broken leaf…according to wikipedia, this is from the lowest level of the fanning grade.
Makes me sound mean and snobby but…tastes like it! I steeped it just for 2 minutes and it tastes like nutmeg mixed with malty dirt. Not a fan.
eeeek
I might have just ordered that!
Momo, you’re not being snobby, you’re just a good tea connoisseur!
While I’d argue that wikipedia is not always correct, and also that a small CTC or broken leaf does not always indicate that it is a low grade of tea (I’ve had some pretty remarkable small cut or broken leaf teas), if you don’t like what you’re tasting, you don’t like it, and there’s no arguing that. It doesn’t make you a snob. :)
I wonder whether I’m doing something wrong?
190, 4-1/2 minutes, 190 degrees, 2 slightly heaped teaspoons, and one additional ½ teaspoon.
Seemed weak, so I added another 1/2-min at 195, after which it became just a bit bitter/astringent. Not thrilled so far.
Preparation
I use about 4-5 grams per 8 ounces of water brewed Western style at 190 degrees for 2 minutes, increasing subsequent steeps by 1 minute each. Maybe you’d like this better with the Gongfu brewing method?
I need to get a scale, but I actually just tried for a 4th or 5th time, this time brewing for a much longer time (which I usually don’t do), and it made all the difference.
18oz of water, 5 full teaspoons of the tea, 205 degrees, 5 full minutes.
THAT was good! It’s apparently a very sensitive, finicky tea.
Yay! I’m glad you found something that worked for you!! I don’t think I’ve tried Upton yet, so I can’t speak to their teas. I know they’re popular here on Steepster. Every Tie Guan Yin I’ve tried has been awesome!! It’s one of my favs and not particularly finicky in my experience.
Wait, I’m mixing up the tes I’m reporting on. That was something else entirely! . And yet it’s almost true, because I was inspired by this to try again.
4 heaping teaspoons (I need a scale, of course), 15 oz., 190, 5 minutes. I might try 5:30 or even 6 minutes next time. It is almost syrupy, and clearly better, but… it’s as if it has all the “secondary” tastes, the ones you find in the background, but without any of the “main,” foreground taste. Odd stuff.
And you’re right that I might like the Gongfu approach, but it seems like a huge amount of work. Although that’s because I haven’t done i before.
I really like their zO80 “first grade” version.
I bought this sample awhile ago but hadn’t gotten around to drinking it.
It’s really, really light. I laughed that this is darker hued than a higher grade tea, because there is so little color to it I can’t even imagine.
The taste is light, but full of apricots and a hint of cherry. I like light teas but this is a bit too light for me.
