Upton Tea Imports

My attempt to get off of omeprazole failed…for the time being. I have been on it for twelve years. When I started it, I had h. Pylori and was really suffering and I think a lot of it was caused by the stress of some of our closest friends divorcing. It was a really ugly divorce.

It took two attempts to get from 40mg to 20mg but I did it, years ago. Now I am having rebound reflux when I try to go off of it – at least, that is what I feel is happening. Since I was burning up, I went back on it but I bought some empty gel caps so I can make some reduced doses to get my body tapered off instead of trying to quit cold turkey. I was told you can not just cut the tabs in half because of a time release coating, but I think you can still buy the kind with the little pellets in a capsule and split those up.

Meanwhile, I have run out of omeprazole and am only a few hours late taking it, yet I have reflux and burning in my stomach.

Unbelievable I know, my family never really used ginger for ANYTHING when I was growing up. We didn’t even eat gingersnaps. I didn’t know until a few years ago how hot it is! I have occasionally grated a bit into black tea just for the flavor and I put 1/4 tsp. into any soup or chili that is spicy. So this is my first ginger tea, sent by the amazing JacquelineM!

On top of having a bit of reflux this morning and no time to go get more meds right now, I have been feeling a little nauseated lately. I suspect that is from something I ate or from dealing with hundreds of people face to face at early voting on the days I work.

So….the tea. I would not choose this based on taste, but it is definitely drinkable if you need the benefits. It is hot and spicy in the mouth, but doesn’t make my lips burn and I do believe it may be helping my tummy. As hot as the roof of my mouth is getting, my tummy is not burning. And this time I am drinking it plain. I suspect it may be better with honey.

Thank you, Jacqueline! This may have saved me today to make it through my short work day!

Lovely sweet almond scent upon opening the packet! Yum! You can taste both the almonds and the green tea base in this one, but I don’t find any cinnamon- that’s fine by me though! I’m having this one plain, no added sweetener, and it’s really tasty. Light, bright, and with a sweet aftertaste. My only complaint is the amount of ‘crumbs’ left after I take my tea ball out- there’s a fair amount in there. I’ll finish this one quickly though, so it shouldn’t be a huge problem.

A great starter for Lapsang.

This is a dark orange tea, but the taste is lighter than the color would infer.

The smell of this one was surprising when I opened the packet. It’s very apple-y, with cinnamon and orange and sweetness. I love the smell! It’s almost like apple cider, but better somehow. Hopefully it doesn’t disappoint after steeping.
Well, I’m pretty disappointed. It’s nearly flavorless. I’m wondering if I somehow didn’t put in enough leaves? I’m going to reserve my number rating until I can try again with a stronger infusion.

Nearing the end of the sample pack. This one, throughout my sampling experience, has been consistently good, and wishy-washy as I am, I don’t think I need to revise any adjectives after multiple cups. Spicy wood grain personality still holds. Still haven’t tried it with milk…I’d hate to mask its key characteristic.

As bleary as I am this morning, probably could’ve used something a little stronger, but this is a good tasty basic if you like Yunnans.

Been on a Yunnan kick this week … this one is still a lovely compendium of sweet-savory-smoky. Sufficient for a day when one must drive to work in the dark in the rain; would be even more sufficient if I could have stayed home in my jammies :)

Slow Sunday morning … ample time to check out a new tea … ahhh!

This one has autumn written all over it. (According to my son, there are really two mini-seasons, fall when the temps dip for the first time, and deep autumn, when there’s been a frost and the leaves are past their prime.) So by his seasonal calendar, I’m a few weeks early.

At any rate: nice leaves with plenty of blonde in them. The steeped color is absolutely gorgeous—deep reddish mahogany. Flavor leads off with some smokiness, but once that wears off, there’s a rich woody taste. Not sawdust; old oak and maple planks with a bit of cinnamon bark. Enjoying it plain too much to mess it up with milk.

You know, the fun thing about tea tasting is that it’s so crazily subjective…I could’ve said this tasted like a gym floor that had been mopped with Worcestershire sauce…and it still would’ve been accurate (who are we to contest the accuracy of each other’s taste buds)?

Enjoy whatever it is you’re tasting today.

Last of a sample packet. This one has been a bit different each time I’ve had it, little fruit here, little cocoa there. Final observation—a little too light for my breakfast preferences, mighty tasty otherwise, it’s a nice little kaleidoscope of flavors that would appeal to Darjeeling lovers.

The only thing I can figure is that I must have not been very generous with the leaves when I first tried this. It does have some Darjeeling/Oolong personality—I won’t retract that—but it has some really nice bass notes. (I’m a sucker for a good bass—Oak Ridge Boys and Statler Brothers come to mind.)

This is the one I made with my eyes closed yesterday. And reading Note #1 that I wrote, I still can’t figure out where the cocoa-ish flavor came from. Hmm. Maybe I’d better scrub my steeping basket a little better ;)

A new one, since I had a lovely leisurely hour to enjoy it.

Had to refer back to the Encyclopedia Upton-ica to remember its origins—it’s a Nepali tea. Pretty cool, because I just finished writing some kids’ curriculum about Nepal.

This is definitely a Darjeeling-style tea. Lots of light greeny-gold tips in the dry leaf, a very white-wine personality—that is, if you’re drinking it with a mouthful of melba toast. Dries your mouth a little, but not much.

Sandalwood, as in the description, I don’t get, but it does have a really fruity, spicy scent.

Took a second steep well—even when I got sidetracked and left it easily 10 minutes. Still not bitter.

Nice for afternoons and, as my friend Dr. Cooper would say, pre-venings.

My bestie of 26 years came over for lunch today. I made stuffed baked potatoes with sour cream, sautéed onion, cheddar cheese, and bacon. For dessert we had fresh Snickerdoodles and Lapsang souchong. It was very yummy on this gray, rainy day! My bestie loves puerh, and she liked this, her first Lapsang, but she said it isn’t one she feels she must purchase. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that she craves it later, though. That is how Lapsangs worked on me and on my youngest daughter. They sneak up on you!

I can’t believe I haven’t updated that I ordered this and have it in my cupboard! We have been drinking it a lot, but I guess I just didn’t get around to logging it.

This was the final tea of tea party yesterday. I think my guest was a little out off by the smokey aroma since she isn’t used to Lapsang. As soon as she sipped, she seemed very surprised and pleased. Though this tea has a strong, smokey aroma, the taste is sweet and smooth and the smoke really makes you think of being cozy by a crackling fire while cold rain pours outside of your window. My youngest daughter is going to finish this tin pretty quickly.

This is a gift from *SimplyJenW" especially for my youngest daughter, but I am sipping it, too! The base is so sweet, the smoke is light and does not accost the nose, yet still lingers so nicely. This is gently bracing, if that makes sense!

Youngest determined that Vanilla Black was strong enough for algebra but will not get her through geometry. We are out of Baker Street and my order to Teavivre has apparently been shanghai’ed because it STILL isn’t here.

Youngest says to say thank you and to tell all my steepster friends who sent her Lapsang tea that she would be dead right now were it not for them. As I have said before, she has a flair for the dramatic.

This one is her hands down favorite. She loved the Teavivre one when we tried it, but she says it has been so long that she doesn’t remember how it compares to this one. I find myself craving the smoky Lapsang flavor lately. I guess I will now forever associate it with sitting at the kitchen table doing geometry with my last homeschooled student. That will be a pleasant memory! We have a good time together!

She asked me twice if I had thanked SimplyJenW and I told her yes both times. She now insists that I tell Jen that she loves her. LOL! These kids have strong feelings about their tea, especially during school work. I hope they can drink tea in whatever jobs they get after college!

Thank heavens! Youngest had finished her lapsangs on Friday. How on earth could she do geometry without it? As it happened, we went in a different order today so this very generous sample from SimplyJenW arrived in the mail just in time for geometry!

Youngest opened the bag and sniffed. Ahhhhh! This smells heavenly! She was quite taken with it.

She made a pot of tea as I was running out the door to drive to Cary to pick up birthday worms for hubby. (He really loves his earthworms…he has two compost bins, one compost pile, and a Worm Factory 360. LOL! I told him we could harvest worms from the yard for him. He said no, they were to remain free range worms. He was going to get rescues. I think these don’t qualify as rescues. It’s a worm mill, for cryin’ out loud!)

I took a cup of the tea and told her to call me in ten minutes and let me know how she liked it. She loved it! She said didn’t the tea didn’t last nearly as long as geometry did.

As for my cup, it was very sweet and light, and the smoke is pretty light. It is very present in the aroma, but isn’t one that leaves a lot of lingering ash flavor in the mouth – whether that is good or bad depends on your love of

This is a great first Lapsang for people who are afraid of it, a good tasting tea base. And even if you love strong smoke and lingering ash flavor, this one has a lot going for it. It deserves the hype it has received on here.

Thank you, Jen! :) Looks like she will make it through the week! And in spite of the dramatic doodles, I am pleased to report that she made an A on her first geometry test last week!

Yes this does have an aroma similar to a Darjeeling. When I first tried this sample I was intrigued by the aroma. I must admit I was expecting something smoky. It was fruity and light after 4 minutes. I have to admit this is a nice evening tea….

Hrmm… kind of light, with a somewhat musty aftertaste to it. I jokingly referred to it as ‘attic tea’, because it kind of gives me that feeling of rummaging through old, dusty boxes of forgotten stuff.

Missy and I bought this sample from Upton because we’re very fond of the Vietnamese tea that SerendipiTea uses as the base for their Colonille vanilla flavored black. This one isn’t terrible, but I don’t think it’s something we’re going to want to keep around. As a straight black, there are just too many good choices that it would be competing with.

I don’t understand this tea. Maracuja is passionfruit, and this tastes like peach.

I mean maybe there’s a little itsy bit of passionfruit in there, but for the most part this is peachy. And no, passionfruit doesn’t taste like peaches, it’s like a pineapple and a guava had a baby that rolled around in citrus juices.

So, considering this now as a peach-passionfruit tea, it’s pretty delicious. I bought a sample and I’m glad Azzrian sent me a bit more because I will gladly drink it up.

I steeped it for 3 minutes after the fiasco that was the summer tea blend from Upton, which said 4 minutes. Even at 3 min, the black tea is showing a good bit of astringency.

I think this has to be far better iced than hot, and I am drinking it iced. It’s so fruity that I think the black tea would be entirely lost underneath the flavors hot.

A sample plus what Azzrian sent will be enough for me! It’s good but not something I’ll feel the need to keep around.

MENOKA, not Menkota. I’ve been misspelling this for a month. Anybody know how to merge two tea listings, one which I created by accident?

Last of the sample pouch, so there was a little less than needed for a full two-cup pot. And that, I believe is the secret—lighter on the leaf, fruitier on the taste. And still enough “boot” to help me slam out 900 words…in time for a Monday morning deadline!