Upton Tea Imports

This sencha is ‘clean and green’ in flavor. I moistened it with cool water before steeping, as a buffer against my predictable lack of care in regard to water temp. I poured hot water and decanted after 30 seconds, yielding a pale green liquor which was only slightly bitter, with enough flavor to be worthwhile. I like spinach, which is fortunate when it comes to green tea. The resteep was also 30 sec, with almost no bitterness and more asparagus. Still, this is more exercise than enjoyment for me, as I continue my attempt to appreciate these fussy steepers. I kept wishing it were a white instead. I may never be big on greens, but this one has made it into my ‘okay’ category. It helps if I’m in a monkish, less self-indulgent mood and remind myself of it’s healthfulness.

Doesn’t really excite me but isn’t the worst tea I’ve had.

Decent Tung-Ting-style oolong, but not especially notable compared to Upton’s standard Jade Oolong (TT86) at ~30% less pricey. I didn’t really get the “creamy” notes.

Good, delicate white tea that isn’t too expensive but still tastes pretty good!

This is a good tea that is very smooth and flavorful

Dragonwell (Lung-Ching) is my favorite green tea, and this one by upton is pretty good, however I don’t think this one is the best offering around as it fails to completely capture the nutty accents that make dragonwell so good. It is best when steeped at 175 degrees for about 2 minutes.

One of my favorite breakfast teas. From day to day, I usually alternate a blend with a single-estate Assam. I prefer Irish Breakfast to English Breakfast, as it’s a little bolder, and I like to add a lot of milk.

Backlog:

thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea. You know how I adore Earl Grey!

This a very citrus-y Earl Grey, beautifully aromatic, it seems to have a stronger note of lemon than of bergamot.

Overall, this is not my favorite Earl Grey, I feel that the Ceylon base was somewhat overpowered by the strong citrus tones, and while it was a good citrus-y tea … I found myself wanting more distinct bergamot (and not just generic citrus) notes.

Good, but not great.

this one is from CHAroma and she sent me a lot and even though i have had great luck with upton overall I do think this one is weird. maybe after more tastes it’ll grow on me. that is definitely a thing that has been known to happen. definitely.

I’m a big fan of Keemun teas, so bought a sample of this as a special treat. And a fine treat it was.

The aroma is good: not overly powerful but with a strong chocolate nature. Magnificent finish: long, complex, and powerful. The taste is good and well-balanced, but not quite as good as the finish, which just goes on forever. Not a hint of bitterness anywhere. Excellent tea. Not as smoky as some Keemuns, but the smoke is definitely there.

I tried a 2nd steep(3m): Taste and nose are slightly weaker than the first steep, but the quality of the flavors was almost as good as the first steep. The finish was a lot weaker than the first time around. Still, if I had only had the second steep, I would have said it was an above-average tea.

I drank this in a series of cups with some other Keemuns. When I tried my previous favorite (Upton’s ZK25 Keemun Dao Ming) it tasted a bit coarse compared to this tea, which was really elegant.

Although this is a bit pricy, I think I need to buy a larger quantity, since it is definitely the best keemun I’ve ever had, as well of one of my favorite teas ever. I’ll use the fact that it re-steeped fairly well to help justify the price.

Fast on the heels of my post about weak two-cup brewing (http://steepster.com/discuss/5563-riddle-me-this-why-does-1-cup-always-taste-better-than-2), I tried brewing three cupweight of this tea in 12 oz water in my 2-cup teapot. Tea came out on the strong side but not at all bitter or tannic, and delightfully stout with milk added — almost as chewy as an East Frisian, but more subtle. If they were classical singers, the Mincing Lane would be an interestingly wide-ranged supple baritone compared to the East Frisian’s firmly planted, deep bass. I noticed after the five minute brewtime that the water temperature had dropped to 151F. Does anyone else take the temperature of their tea just before drinking? (Surely there’s another tea nerd out there recording this variable….)

This is pretty good – great oolong flavor of lightly grassy with lots of buttery. The magnolia floral is moderate – nice enough to taste it, but not overpowering, finishing off sweet and tangy. A very friendly floral tea that is easy to drink.
Later infusions I got a bit of grapefruit notes, but yet not bitter or tart.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/07/10/magnolia-oolong-from-upton-tea-imports-tea-review/

IMO this tea in no way can be called “gentle” or “delicate”. It is very strong to me for a white, very green.

I mean, to where I wondered if I’d put the wrong tea in and double-checked the bag. I was sure I’d accidentally used a green tea.

Vegetal, a fair amount of bitterness around mid and back tongue. Long finish.

Not particularly “nuanced”, either. It’s a pretty straight-forward and simple tasting tea.

Nope, not at all what I’d hoped for or expected from the description. I won’t be buying again and will likely trade this off.

Backlog:

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea. It’s a very fine chop on this CTC tea. It’s a pretty severe cut on these … it’s more like a superfine grind on a coffee rather than a tea leaf.

But despite the fine chop, it is still a really decent tea. The flavor is smooth and inviting. It is rich … with a mild to moderate astringency that develops to a stronger astringency by mid-cup.

Nice malty tone to this cup. Earthy, fruity with hints of warm spice.

It’s an enjoyable cup.

(3 min steep): Rich, dark color. Powerful smoky nose. The flavors are powerful, but the smoke component is a bit too dominant for my tastes. I might like this better if it weren’t so strong. No bitterness. Big finish also dominated by smoke.

The above note was based upon 1.6 gms in 5 oz of water, which is stronger than I normally steep, so I tried again with 1.4 gms in 6 oz water. The tea wound up slightly weaker, but still strong, and the smoke still dominated. The different steeping parameters didn’t change my opinion.

Another sample from Shmiracles!

I was surprised by how dark it was when the steep time was up! A little astringent on its own. Gonna add some milk and a little honey to see how it changes.

The milk gave it a chai vibe. I noticed subtle hints of dark chocolate, too. Next: a second cup from the same leaves.

Second cup is less intense. Possibly should have made two cups worth the first time.

Picked this sample up from Upton Tea Imports a while back with some others, I think it’s the last one I have yet to review. I’m always happy when I see someone else has added the tea to the database so I don’t have to. :)

As for the tea, I tend to always like Nepali teas so I figured this wouldn’t be much of a risk. The flavor is woody but has an astringency or tang that reminds me ever so slightly of lemon. In fact, I wish I had a lemon slice to put in this. It lacks the subtly of the Temi tea I had yesterday but is still quite tasty and VIBRANT. It smells of muscatel more than it tastes of muscatel.

Last night I had a great session at kundalini yoga – sat nam everyone…

Back of the throat and tongue green flavor… not quite grassy but light green, not something dark or bitter like asparagus or such. And a sweet tone..

…just thought of it: it taste’s sort of like wood sorrel without it’s acidic bite. Just that sweet green.

It also has that tiny bit of a musty taste that some whites have. In this it is a nice balancing richness.

I don’t think I’d call this a favorite at this point and am not even sure if I’ll buy more after the bag is gone, but I would recommend it and will enjoy having it.