Upton Tea Imports

The good news is that it is a better balanced tea than many souchongs: the smokiness is not excessive and does not overpower the taste of the tea itself, which clearly comes through. The bad news is that that tea is not of a good quality and the taste is quite blah. Will not buy again.

Update: actually I changed my opinion after the second session. I guess I was conditioned by super-smokey souchongs to expect the bomb of a taste.Here you can actually taste the tea itself and the tea is not bad: large leaves, pleasant taste. The tea also has a nice lingering aftertaste. So, as a result I am increasing the rating from 63 to 78.

Got this Assam sample from Upton Tea and love it! This tea is rich in every way – deep copper color, satisfying and flavorful, and the aroma before and after brewing is wonderful. A great afternoon pot.

The best “non-tea” tea I ever tried. The taste is much richer and less medicinal than any pure rooibos I tried. It is also tastes much more natural and less contrived than any rooibos-based mix. I will certainly buy it again. Highly recommended.

P.S. Don’t forget to steep it for a while – no less than 5 minutes.

A solid but unremarkable daily drinker. The aroma is pleasant but not very strong. The taste is not particularly long lasting and rather uncomplicated: dry autumn leaves, some sweetness. It is OK for a daily drinker or with milk/sugar and is very affordable but there are way better teas at Upton if you are ready to pay just a little bit more.

Long time no steep! Don’t you hate how life and unseasonably warm weather mess with your drinking routine?

First, I think this is the correct tea title: I’m not near the packet and I don’t pay attention to product numbers. (Upton has lots of numbers :)

At any rate, this is a wonderful, bready, cocoa-y tea that reminds me greatly of the Assams I love so much. Got three decent steeps out of a pot-sized basket of leaves, one of which was great with milk. Nice mid-range price point; I think next order, I shall have to get more than a little sample packet.

For me, the smokiness of Lapsang Souchong has relegated it to an afternoon or evening cup. Until now. This Black Dragon variation from Upton Tea is worthy of the first-cup position in my day! The smoky edge is simultaneously subtle and evident, and the underlying tea is smooth and flavorful.

While I might generally describe Lapsang Souchong as “perfect for a cool, blustery day,” I would be quick to define Upton’s unique variation as simply “perfect”. No caveats.

What a treat! I was only recently introduced to Lapsang Souchong, and was warned it was a love-it-or-hate-it type of tea. We’ve had the opportunity to try several renderings of this unique tea, and the ZS20 from Upton proves to be the most mellow, but with no loss of flavor. The smokiness adds a nice edge to a super smooth cup. Trusting across the board assessments that souchong is naturally low in caffeine, I liked it enough to get on Upton’s website and order a tin.

Not especially sweet. Some notes of grass, a hint of chocolate and toast. Little or no astringency or tannin aftertaste. I can imagine this as a really good tea for a winter day.

This is the last of the Lapsang Souchong samples I bought with my Upton order. Again, I prefer the cheaper sample to this. It isn’t terrible. I don’t hate it. But it didn’t make me go weak in the knees, and I didn’t cuddle my cup.

The tea base is a little weak, and that is the first thing my Lapsang-loving youngest daughter noted when she tried it. The smoke is moderate – if you are accustomed to Lapsang. It is also a slightly bitter smoke. The smoke lingers long after the sip.

It isn’t the weakest base I have ever had but nothing about this tea sparkles for me. I will finish the pot as I look out on the gray day furnished by Irma, but I will be making a better pot of tea later.

Would re-buy. Simple and sweet tea. Beautiful golden color when poured. More substantial with later steeps.

November Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a smoky tea

Sample sipdown This came from Michelle, so many thanks to you!

I was surprised to see that I have had this one before. In addition to having some Lapsangs in swaps, I ordered a lot of samples from Upton many years ago when I was purchasing Black Dragon and Baker Street.

This was really nice today. Ashman doesn’t like Lapsang or even tea with natural smoky notes so I had this all to myself.

This is very smoky – he would have called it camp fire instead of smoked meat. The nice thing about this one is the base. It has a little more heft behind the smoke. Black Dragon was good, but over time I began to feel that the base was too thin on that one for me.

Thank you, Michelle!

I need to preface this review by saying that we drink a fair bit of Lapsang in this house and we love it. I see lots of bad ratings for Lapsang teas and they frequently come from people who have never had Lapsang and didn’t know what to expect.

I like this one, but I expected to love it. I thought yesterday’s Upton Lapsang was better, yet this one is more expensive and is supposed to be a higher grade. I wouldn’t turn a cup of this down, and I will say it resteeped nicely, and maybe the rain and dark clouds made yesterday’s cup cheerier and more comforting. Sometimes mood and company factor in strongly to one’s perception of a tea.

Bottom line – it’s good, but I am just as happy with the cheaper one between the two. I still prefer Dammann Freres Lapsang Souchong Crocodile and the now extinct Harney Wuyi Shan Lapsang. One more Upton Lapsang sample to go!

Well, this is a shocker for me. I ordered our much loved Lapsang Souchong Black Dragon and the slightly less smokey Baker Street blend, and I added on three samples of their other Lapsang teas to test.

I thought I wouldn’t care much for this one. It is the cheapest of the teas I bought, but I do love a Chinese tea base so I had a little hope for it.

I find that I really, REALLY dig this tea. So many Lapsang teas taste like half strength tea with smoke layered on top. I like them very much, especially on a cold or rainy day. But this one – I can really taste the base tea! And the smoke really isn’t lighter than the other Lapsang teas I have tried.

Thumbs up for me on this sample. And Comm Guy, I have saved the rest of the sample for you along with a couple of others.

When I first got this sample, I overlooked it, thinking it was a chocolate heart in its gold foil wrapper. Once I saw the label, I started plotting the perfect day to give it a shot.

Wow! This could easily become a habit. This smells exactly like sticky rice (a staple in my home). The aroma is so powerful I can’t help but taste it with each sip. There’s a hint of mushrooms or something similar, too.

Now I need to invite my wife to try it to justify an inevitable order. Ho-o-o-o-o-ney!

I have tried this tea with and without milk and steeped it twice, the first with milk. Both ways are terrific. Second steeping was without milk and went just over 3 minutes and it was perfect although I do not think it would hurt to steep a little longer the second time.

Overdue sipdown. I tried to be complementary of this when I first tried it, but it’s kind of a “neither fish nor fowl” hybrid: not much Assam punch, but not much oolong-osity, either. Mildly sweet, a little dryness at the end of each sip. Eh, that’s how we learn, yes?

Love me my good Assams, so this one piqued my curiosity. Has a very light texture and flavor, but it does have a hint of good ol’ Assam malty breadiness at the end of each sip. Tried it for breakfast and it doesn’t have the eye-opening strength required for my 7 a.m. cuppa, but it will make a very tasty afternooner.

Brewed in a ceramic Korean infuser cup using filtered L.A. tap water, just off the boil.

Sienna liquor emits a pleasant bouquet of muscatel, peach, and berry syrup. Fruity and floral on the palate, almost sweet, with hints of loam and cocoa in the finish. Medium bodied with restrained tannins offering only mild astringency; I might steep this for an additional minute if I was seeking a more “brisk” extraction.

The wet leaves have hints of purple, and smell faintly vegetal.

A 5 minute second steep is a bit lighter and more one-note, but by no means bland.

An 8-10 minute final infusion is lighter and sweeter still.

Well unified, with an above-average aroma, this is a pleasant afternoon tea and a reasonable value. This would also be an excellent choice iced or as the base for a kombucha.

Lapacho may have harmful health effects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapacho states eg. “The active ingredients such as lapachol have been found to possess significant abortifacient and reproductive toxicity effects for rats.” and “According to the American Cancer Society … using it risks harmful side-effects.”

As to taste, it’s unlike anything else I’ve tasted, but I didn’t like it at all. Reminds me of the smell of stale tobacco.

Outstanding tea with a polished, rich mouthfeel and fantastic brew.

Wanted a strong yet refined cuppa the morning of my first Father’s Day – found my sample of this Assam and thought I would give it a go rather than my usual CTC breakfast offerings.

Brewed this up in my 6 cup Chatsford teapot – 6 grams infused for 10 minutes before the first pour, on up to an hour+ for the final. A small touch of milk in a bone china cup, topped off by the tea throughout.

Floral and sweetly spicy aromatics – biscuity malt with a faint “baked goods” note on the palate – comparing some without milk, there isn’t much complexity to bury here, so no need to feel guilty for adulterating it. Not too tannic, not at all brisk, this survives a lengthy infusion without developing excessive bitterness, but the flavor doesn’t really intensify over time either.

Maybe this grade of Assam is the Goldilocks of tea for many, but I prefer either the potency and intense malt of cheaper offerings or the refinement of top-shelf leaves to the anodyne middle-of-the-road quality on display here.

I’ll try doubling the leaves next time (12 grams) to see if I can coax any more character out of the cup…will revisit this review at that time.

120 ruyi yixing
4g
190°

Dry Leaves: long black twists
Dry aroma: tobacco
Wet Leaves: army green narrow leaves long stems
Wet aroma: horse hay twigs sweat mild smoke
Tea aroma: horse hay
Liquor: dark caramel
Base: farm
Texture: light
Throatiness: cold smoke, dissipates quickly but leaves the impression of something slimey
Quenchless: round like glass marbles on the roof of the mouth & cheek pouches, slow descent against back of throat, warm marble in the belly
Chaqi: energy to the triceps

Brewing steps:
rinse
INFs 50s, 3, 5min

3g
190°
7min (circular agitation @2min)
Smoke. Huigan. Gauchos. Maté.

Good tea, hearty and strong

A bit too bland and smokey for my taste