Upton Tea Imports

Evidently it’s unearthing old Upton samplers day for me…

Usually I’ve liked everything from the Temi estate and this is no exception. Very similar to a darjeeling in aroma but in terms of flavor it has a definite woody flavor and seems more astringent than I would normally prefer. I should have brewed it at a lower temp, but a touch of stevia perked it right up!

p.s. I brought a new tea strainer to work and hope it doesn’t disappear!

Tea of the morning here, I just got a sample of this to try. In the past I’ve really liked teas from the Temi estate, in the state of Sikkim.

This tea shares a lot of the same good qualities as some Nepali teas I’ve had. It’s noteworthy that I accidentally steeped this for 7 minutes and it’s still quite lovely. Mellow, with notes of sandalwood and a muscat aroma/flavor. Very smooth and elegant tea for anytime. I think I might like this as an afternoon tea. Also would be good with a touch of sugar, although I drank mine plain.

First try of this and I’m not really getting much out of it. It’s rather a bland white, to me.

It does have a faint sweetness in the back of the throat as its finish, but I’m getting no citrus, no floral… It takes like a bland sort of musty white. Not one I’m impressed with. Perhaps future sweepings will bring out more in the flavor or another day of tasting it again. But so far this isn’t a white I’d buy again.

a simple tea. probably perfect for the afternoons. even if it’s not quite hitting the spot this morning.
not a problem. nice tea. easy to drink fast. i just proved it.

Tastes less vegetal than the Tie-guan-yin I tried.

I have a bowl of samples packages on the counter that I would really like to get through by the weekend. Only time will tell!

This sample came from Tasty Brew who, if you haven’t had the pleasure of trading with her, has the cutest stickers for her baggies. Because what could possibly be wrong in the world when you have a beer bottle in a teacup?

The dry aroma is very vanilla, and there’s definitely a creamy/milky aspect…with maybe a touch of homemade caramel sauce. The wet leaf has less vanilla smell and is more, well, tea-y.

The taste is a nice vanilla. The bean pod pieces seemed to impart a smoothness and a creaminess I wasn’t expecting, but really like. The depth of flavor isn’t quite what I was expecting (and I really need to review Periwinkle because it is awesome for this) but the base is okay and holds it’s own. I think the smoothness here is what I like most about this one.

I’ve got some low-key jazzy piano going and it really pairs well with this mellow cup.

I’ve had this little sample lying around for some time, briefly forgotten about. It came to me from Shmiracles

I did a bit of a longer rinse on it because I was expecting the leaves to need a few extra seconds to break up, but they didn’t. It broke up really quickly and the leaves are itty bitty.

The taste of this pu-erh is like sour dirt rather than the sweet earthiness that I am used to. I’ve head that mini cakes aren’t the best quality pu-erh, but the mini cakes I got from Butiki were a lot better than these IMO.

okay, here’s another ff darjeeling sample I picked up from Upton earlier this year…

I do tend to like ff darjeelings, a LOT and this is no exception. The aroma of the tea reminds me of roses and sandalwood with tropical fruit and the flavor is delightful. Their tasting notes say citrus rind and grape, I’m definitely getting the grape but not sure about the citrus. This does have a light pungency but overall not too bothersome. Sometimes pungent teas make my stomach a bit queasy. This is pretty good but I might try steeping it a lower temp next time around and keep a better eye on my steeping time.

I’m finishing off the rest of this sample this morning, sort of feeling like it’s a green tea day for some reason. Light, nutty and sweet. See previous notes for more details.

I got this sample from Upton Tea Imports a while back and was curious to try it. I’ve had Mandala Tea’s version but that’s about it for me and this leaf.

The other taster here was not too fond of it, but I rather liked it. It’s a mild green tea similar in appearance and flavor to a dragonwell. I’m definitely getting the light chestnut flavor here and it’s sweet and mild, with vegetal flavors similar to corn. Very gentle character which is great for the first afternoon cuppa.

I’d like to try this side by side with Mandala’s version but overall it was very enjoyable to me.

Foremost this is a very smooth black tea. There is no acidity or bitterness and only this lovely bright black tea flavor. That sounds very generic I know, but I really can’t think of any adjectives that I usually use for tea. No fruit or spices that I notice. The mouth feel is similar to a mild less smoky Keemun or a less complex and fruit forward Golden Monkey. The leaves are quite large and twisted and expand to a deep chestnut on brewing. I admire the quality of this tea, and I will definitely drink up my sample, I’m just not tempted to buy it. I get a hint of apple skin and dried fruit in the aroma of the leaves. A very mild and nice afternoon or morning cup.

Too bad Upton doesn’t seem to carry this at present. I thought it was very nice! Brewed longer at a lower temperature, it was smooth, with a clear clean lively gently floral taste. Fine hot and warm.

Pretty good, nice in the morning with some milk and sugar tho that made it a bit heavy on my belly.
Not sure if the caffeine or the milk and sugar but my belly kinda hurts now, It was worth it tho lol Yummy delish tea :)
I’ll taste it again soon without the additives

This is pretty meh. I purchased a sample on sale, and I probably won’t order it again. It’s just… meh.

Backlog:

This tea has a nice floral tone to it, reminiscent to honeysuckle. Notes of slightly underripe plum (sweet and sour), as well as hints of citrus. There is a nice earthy undertone to this cup, with notes of wood and leather.

Overall, a refreshing cup. I enjoyed it. Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some!

I just discovered Kundalini yoga a little while ago and it is changing my life, my lower back pain is getting much better and I feel more energized overall. I suggest giving it a try!

This is my post yoga darjeeling tea. I bought a few samples from Upton to try this year.

I tend to use water that is below boiling for my ff darjeelings because I find this helps to curb any astringency which might be lurking about. I used 2 tsp of tea in my beehouse teapot and I think this is really divine!

The color is a light yellow and the grape aroma is just wafting out of my glass cup. This really packs a flavor punch, is slightly floral but has lots of sweet grape flavor with a minerality essence and a slight astringent finish. I’m not getting a lot of pungency but that could be because of the lower water temperature I was using.

I’d consider buying more of this but I feel guilty about the 2012 FF darjeelings which are still in my cupboard and may never be finished before they go stale… :(

I would recommend checking this out if you’re in the market for a nice darjeeling.

AHHHH. Steepster hates me. I’m so behind on notes and whenever I manage to get on it manages to be down.

This is the most recent tea I’ve had and I made it iced like before. It smells GREAT dry and it tastes good with the 4 tbsp. of sweetener to 1/2 gallon (my typical ratio of sugar to tea when iced) but it doesn’t quite sing. Not quite sure what else to do, except go a little heavier on the leaf next time – I used 15 g. so I’ll up it another tsp. or so and see.

I think I have enough leaf for a few more cups so I’ll be revisiting this one soon!

I am so excited for all the iced tea that is in my future. This one, however, is in my present because I don’t have enough peach tea in my life and it smelled DIVINE dry – a very authentic peach note, with black tea lurking beneath.

I brewed this hot, added 3 tbsp. of sugar to 1/2 gallon of tea and steeped 15 g. of the leaf at the below parameters. It reminded me a bit of the Crystal Light peach tea, but minus this artificial powdery aftertaste. In other words, just the good bits! This is the first of the 4 iced tea samples I got from Upton, and I’m off to a good start I think!

First impressions are not great. I feel like I “don’t taste anything” and don’t really love whatever flavors are present. It’s not a bad taste, so I’ll keep experimenting with different parameters until something comes of it.

Dry, brewing, and in the cup this has a weird unpleasant aroma I can’t quite place. It’s gross to say this but it reminds me of that sort of urine-y aroma some rooibos has. The chocolate only comes out enough to notice in taste, not aroma, and it’s behind that other gross mystery element. Needless to say this is sadly not a keeper for me—too bad because dry it’s lovely, studded with gold.

The longer it sits: I think the smell might be a synthesis of lemon with the dark chocolate? Because now I can taste the lemon, it gets stronger and more distinct. But initially, the way it combines with the other elements it translates weird, a little chemical-y like Pine-Sol plus something else—>urine. Hmm. I will say that as it cools the weird offputting element recedes (or maybe I just get used to it?) and welcome flavors of chocolate and lemon come in, but even then I’m not crazy about it (and with so many delicious EGs out there that’s not really a problem!).

EDIT: Just looked at Steepster reviews for this. I seem to mostly be an odd man out, eek, but one person described it as like chocolate-coated wet nap. Yes! Perhaps that’s where I’m getting my urine/Pine-Sol bathroom-y evocation from.

EDIT 2: And now I see lemongrass is on the ingredient list, along with artificial flavors. I adore lemongrass (Thai’s my favorite cuisine probably) but I have a feeling that might be what’s grossing me out here, because sometimes stale or off lemongrass can remind me of pee.

This is as delicious as Steepsters hyped it to be! Has the balance and multi-component loveliness of Zen Tea’s EGC. Smells glorious, wonderfully floral and bergamot-y like Zen Tea’s (that smell dry and brewing that just makes you go “ahhhh”) with a rich, creamy texture nearly as buttery as Della Terra’s EGC. A definite winner I could easily see being one of my go-to regular Earl Greys.

A bracing malty cuppa!
Another tea sample I purchased from Upton awhile ago.
Just getting around to trying it.
You can certainly smell the assam.
I made as recommended by Upton.
212 @ 3 minutes.
I did not think 3 minutes would be enough, but it is plenty strong.
It would hold up to milk or cream well.
A great breakfast tea to have on hand.

This currently is my favorite Keemun, and one of my favorite teas. It starts out with a smoky nose. The smoke dominates the taste initially but than hints of chocolate begin to appear. By the finish, the chocolate is the dominant note, but there are still hints of smoke. This is a fine, complex tea. The finish is VERY long, and powerful. Great!