Upton Tea Imports

Very smoky nose. The flavor and finish are dominated by the smoke. This makes it a bit one-dimensional, though I like the taste. A good enough tea, but not my favorite.

(ZK27) Smoky nose with undertones of chocolate. Taste has medium body, but builds into a big finish. Not big or spectacular, but in perfect balance with a fair amount of complexity. Not very tannic. I liked this tea a lot, but it isn’t quite as good as some of the other Keemuns I bought at the same time.

The dry leaves have rich aroma; they are longer and more curly than previous Keemuns I have tasted. Less nose than I expected, which was a bit disappointing, but the flavor is very big, with chocolate overtones and lots of complexity. Very smooth and well-integrated. The taste flows smoothly into the long, slightly tannic finish. I really liked this tea.

Just what I needed last night. It wasn’t cold, but the wind was strong, the rain was hard, and I was working on my novel. The smokiness is less pronounced than I remember, but I like it that way. It adds dimension to the tea without overpowering anything. I should probably buy more of this, since I have one teaspoon left! I brewed the leaves a second time, for longer, and it was still delicious! Mmm…

My first lapsang souchong, enjoyed on a rainy late-spring evening. Not so much tastes like a campfire, but smells like campfire mixed with smoked salmon. I can imagine drinking this WHILE camping, or any time I need to warm up from the inside.

Decided to get this Arya Estate Ruby to try, I assume this is from 2012 since I don’t think the 2013 sf darjeelings are here yet. I don’t tend to like sf’s as much as ff’s but that doesn’t mean I will ever stop trying. :-P

This brews up to be a lovely medium orange color. This is exceptionally fruity for a sf and even has a bit of sweetness to it. I’m also picking up a bit of rose in the finish, very nice. This is one of the better sf darjeelings I’ve had in a while – it was also good with a touch of rock sugar to help bring the sweetness forward a bit.

This is another first flush sample I picked out from Upton in my last order.

I tend to like first flushes a lot but this isn’t anything terribly special to me. I’m getting a light muscatel with a nutty element and a slight bit of bitterness in the finish. I might need to try steeping this at a lower temperature to see what happens. Also Happy Earth Tea mentioned cold brewing their ff darjeelings so I may try it out with this one to see what happens. It’s ok but nothing to rave about. Perhaps my expectations are too high but I want my darjeelings to be truly sublime…

not pear but pineapple (c.f.
http://steepster.com/teas/upton-tea-imports/6219-tda4-arya-estate-pearl-organic-ex-15)

>honeydew melon
it is a melon, but not yuubari melon.

the same tea has already been on the database:
http://steepster.com/teas/upton-tea-imports/35717-arya-estate-ex-12-pearl-organic

Straight up breakfast assam for when you’re bleary eyed and still dusting the cobwebs out of your brain. Takes to milk and sugar well.

I’ll be honest – I bought the ceylon tea sampler from Upton teas and this was one of the teas in it. Out of the 4 or 5 samplers I got, there was 1 that had a distinctive taste. This one tastes exactly like the other 3 or 4 other teas in there, so I really don’t know what to say without sounding like I’m regurgitating what I wrote 3 times already, which was…

- Its subtle and mellow
- Steep longer because their teas tend to be kind of weak?
- Nice aroma, would go well with some desserts to balance out the sweetness
- Not too acidic and smooth, good for people who want neutral tea

Another sipdown! While this isn’t a bad tea it is for sure a winter tea. I’m not overly a fan of black spiced sort of teas in the summer. Still though, a decent enough blend that i could take or leave from upton.

Did a side-by-side with the Sakhira Estate Nepal and preferred this one—it was sweeter and more easy-going. Both were yummy though. Would elaborate more but I was busy on the couch watching the rest of Arrested Development Season 4!

Did a side-by-side with the Mist Valley Estate Tippy and while I preferred that one (it was sweeter) this was no slouch either. More astringency, tannin, and bitterness, but also more woodsy flavor which was enjoyable.

The leaves on this one are surprisingly lovely for such a mass distributor as Upton, complete with some noticeably long, pretty tips. Dry and brewing this smells surprisingly toasty and grainy—an earlier review mentions a vague resemblance to Laoshan Black of all things, and I can actually definitely see that (which is so surprising!); there isn’t the intense chocolatiness, but there is that barley-ish toasted chew feel. It isn’t like other Nepalese teas I’ve had, less woody and floral and more food-ish (I could be imagining it but I almost smell sweet cooked carrot). Some fruity perfumed astringency and tannin comes in at the end, giving it more resemblance to what I was expecting (darjeeling-ish qualities). Really surprised and impressed with this one!

The leaves are pretty onced brewed. The cup’s a lovely bright light orange-gold hue. Like most Nepalese black teas I’ve tried from Upton, there is a tantalizing sandalwood aroma dry and in the cup I’m just crazy about. That lingering sweetness that comes in, characteristic of these teas, is lovely.

A lovely “comfort food” darjeeling if you’re a fan of them. Sipped while watching the new Arrested Development on the couch late yesterday night with my husband, post-grillout (shrimp and watermelon and feta kabobs, buttermilk honey chicken kabobs with romesco sauce, cuke salad, leafy salad with blueberry dressing, yummy cookies!) game night (we destroyed the world playing and losing Pandemic, alas) with the neighbors. Nice evening, felt like a very appropriate beginning of summer.

Tea of the morning here, I am not wanting to get up today and was hoping this would help. This is a 5g sample from Upton tea Imports – the leaves inside are very dark, slender and curly.

I admit I forgot to set a timer so I have no idea how long this was really steeping for. I am getting some chocolate type notes along with spiciness in the finish. It would be interesting to compare this with the Imperial Bohea, which I really love. This isn’t as smoky as the I.B. from what I recall. I’m not sure I got the full flavor profile because of the timing issue but so far my impressions are very good. Definitely more on the mellow side of teas…

Upton tea recommends that you steep this for 3 minutes, but I thought it was a little too light and upped it to 4 minutes to bring out the aroma.

Its smooth and aromatic, but not too strong. would go well with some milk and sugar. I honestly don’t know what else to say about this because it doesn’t really stand out and is quite neutral. It reminds me of the tea you get when you have dim sum, neutral enough to balance out whatever else you’re eating. And that makes me want to eat dim sum…

Just got home from a long weekend at Harbin Hot Springs and I thought I’d relax with a nice cup of tea.

This is one of the 2012 ff samples I got from Upton, tried to restrain myself this year and did not buy any full sizes.

I smelled the leaves after steeping and they are so incredibly fragrant and fresh. The cup brews up to be a light orange and I am definitely getting the melon-like sweetness they claimed along with a slight nuttiness that reminds me of almonds or white chocolate. Excellent to sip on plain, needs no sugar at all and putting milk into this would be a crime. Totally devoid of astringency and almost broth like in texture.

When it comes to darjeelings people seem to either love them or hate them, but to me this is like a little bit of heaven in a cup!

I hope all my Steepster friends in the US had a great Memorial day weekend.

I steeped this for a good 3 minutes, but it may have not been enough. The taste is very subtle and cries for milk or sugar. Its definitely a neutral tea if you don’t have strong tea preferences, and would go well with desserts to balance out the sweetness.

This is the first time that I’ve consciously drank an assam tea so I don’t have much to compare this to. Its a very smooth tea, so its perfect for people who don’t have a strong preference for flavored tea. Someone else said that this tea is bold, but I’d say its actually quite subtle with a slightly malty aftertaste. I picked this up because it was one of the ‘best sellers’ on Upton Tea’s website, and I could only rationalize that people like this because its so neutral. It would be interesting to mix this tea with something really bold, to see if it would smooth out the flavor.