Upton Tea Imports

Another goodie from my Upton order!! The scent of the tea reminds me so much of the Chocolate Oranges you can find around Christmas and I LOVE those! The taste is initially chocolate with the orangey bergamot not far behind. The lemon is a nice addition also because it helps the bergamot from being overdone (which I don’t usually mind, but it would bother many). I’m getting more citrus in the flavor than chocolate but it ends up being a nice twist on an Earl Grey without losing the fact that this is an Earl Grey tea.

Am I having this tea for breakfast with a delicious peanut butter cookie? Maybe :)

I’ll probably have an everything bagel later on – but no worries because this tea is amazing with just about anything. I love the sweet smokiness. It is definitely filling my craving this chilly, windy morning.

My precious- while this tea may not be that perfect for summer in Texas, it sure is great in the AC watching a Star Trek marathon. That reminds me, I need to start my Fall/Winter tea shopping list…
But this tea- very smoky and full-bodied with a nice sweetness lingering in the background. If you like smoky tea, you need to get your hands on this.

Perfectly smokey and sweet. This was the perfect choice for a dreary rainy afternoon.

I was having trouble deciding which tea to have this morning, but Jim Marks had a great idea with the Black Dragon! This is really hitting the spot this morning – it is oh so smoky with a slight sweetness that is really appealing. Yum!

Ahh, my precious…you are finally back in my cupboard. I have so missed this sweet and smoky flavor! Even though it is the middle of a hot Texas summer, I am loving this tea. So, so good.

I’m finishing up the last of my sample today and it is a sad time. I really enjoy this one and it is definitely going on my shopping list for a big container next time. So smokey and sweet and perfect!

This is the second infusion from earlier today. I got up the nerve to try this plain and I actually like it without additions. It is just sweet and smokey. Really nice actually – I would never had dreamed that I would enjoy any type of Lapsang! Maybe this will help me get up my nerve to try a pu-erh tomorrow…

I once again wanted this tea. I think I’m going to have to put this on my shopping list. I really, really like it. Now I wish I had taken the chance and gotten a bigger size, but oh well, I will enjoy it while I have it. Today the smoke is really building across my mouth and I like it. I kind of feel as though I could breathe fire like a real black dragon. Definite ratings boost!

Oh, the second infusion is just such a sweet smoke that I am really digging this tea. If I start craving this tea, a rating increase will be in order. Yum!

I got my Upton order today!!! Super quick shipping also which was nice. I put a sample of this in with my order and I am excited to try it. In fact, this is the first tea I’m trying from my order. I’m also extremely terrified of this tea. I have started to develop a taste for smoky teas, but I’m wondering if this will be too smokey, too soon…. The scent is straight up smokey almost bacony….but not off-putting.

Okay, I’m too much of a chicken to try it straight up so I added a healthy dose of cream and a bit of sugar. Here goes…..wow, this is actually pretty good. I don’t know about drinking it plain but as a milk and sugar tea this is good. Perhaps even great, but I’ll have to see if this is something I crave. The tea initially hits you with a whisper of smoke that blossoms into more sweet smoke. Even though I added stuff to the tea, I can tell that there is a natural sweetness. I’m liking this.

It’s been so long since I had a plain rose tea! I saw this sample in my drawer and decided to finish it off. I actually didn’t have quite enough for my usual cup, so I rounded out the rest with some China Rose from ESP imports. It’s a pretty similar flavored tea, and I don’t think it was enough to make an impact on this one. It still retains it’s lower-key rose flavor, a bit more herbaceous than candy-sweet in profile. It’s nice to just sit down and have a nice rose tea once in a while.

Rose happens to be one of my favorite flavors, especially when it comes to sweets. It is odd, then, that I only have ever tried one straight up rose black tea, though I often choose teas with it in other blends. Happily, JacquelineM was kind enough to send me a small sample of a couple of rose black teas (even though she got them as samples herself!), this being one of them. Thank you!

The aroma of the rose in the brewed tea is what I consider “herby” rose. While that rose sweetness is still there in part, the overall note is more savory, more… well, herby. I have to say, this is one delicious tea! The main part of the sip is really the black tea itself: warm, thick, a hint of peppery spice. The rose floats above it all and lingers in the aftertaste, but it’s not super strong. Just enough to remind you that you are, indeed, drinking a rose tea. Again, not really a sweet rose; this is not a rose flavor that brings to mind rose candies and sweets. I would have thought that this combination would result in a tea that might have not been quite right for me, but I actually really enjoy it.

Get ready to see a couple more rose teas from me in the upcoming days because I’m going to want to try them in rapid succession for comparison!

As always this tea always hits the spot. I love the robust flavor and complex character profile. It is a well made tea and I highly recommend it.

Wow, this one doesn’t mess around. Bold, brisk, astringent, a good slap in the face kind of tea. This is one of those teas I drink when I want something loud and in charge or if I am a girl on a mission and need a little liquid attitude. Welcome to my permenant collection. Delicious!

Yikes, I looked at the label on this sample and apparently I’ve had it since early March!

Well, I’m finally giving it its dues. This is my first yellow tea. I decided to shirk the Breville tonight and make this in my little ForLife tea pot and matching dainty cup because it’s fun and I need to make this study session more exciting.

This is supposed to be brewed for three minutes, but I was really looking forward to several short infusions, so that’s what I’ve done. This is very flavourful on the first infusion with a rather short steeping time, so I don’t think it was a bad choice. Nutty, clean-tasting, and sweet!

This was really, really boring. My husband said “tasteless”. I brewed it at 2 tsp/cup and still not good. I usually drink more of the top tier when it comes to single estate assams and while I wasn’t expecting it to live up to that, I was expecting it to still have good flavor. For a similar price, I think the Upton East Frisian BOP is a much better value. May not be single estate but I don’t want to just pay for a name. Ended up throwing out the tin.

Tea from yesterday morning: I want to like it, I do I do. But the smell of the dry leaf never lives up to what’s steeped in my cup! This is the second time I’ve tried this one as I thought maybe I had a bad batch the first time around….nope, still not good and nothing resembling either chocolate or earl grey. Bummer!

I really want to like this tea. It has two of my favorite things in it….chocolate and earl grey. What could go wrong? Well, it smells like chocolate when I opened the sample pouch. I even smelled the bergamot in the dry leaves. But once the tea is steeped it smells/tastes like one of those chocolate orange things you slam into the wall to break it into slices. Which isn’t horrible, but it isn’t what I was expecting the tea to taste like. Like I said it’s isn’t bad, just not what I expected when I started sipping on my tea.

I am sadly still not getting the chocolate flavor in this tea :(! I’m tempted to doctor it with a chocolate bar piece. Don;t get me wrong it’s still good tea, but I was hoping for more chocolate goodness. Will try a re-steep once this cup is done….

This smells interesting in the tin (I bought the sample set). I couldn’t tell what it smells like in the little perfect tea maker I have it steeping in. In my cup I get a hint of vanilla, the rest is all earl grey. Which isn’t bad, but I had hopped for more of a vanilla creme flavor as was advertised in the name on the tin. Still yummy! This is also the third earl grey (I think) in my quest to like this type of tea.

I’m finishing up the last of this sample and it is very biscuity today! It is a decent Ceylon, but not one to go on my shopping list. It just isn’t bold enough for me!

I’m reaching for this tea yet again this morning. I don’t usually like Ceylons this much, but I also usually find them a bit too weak for my liking. Well, Steepsterites, this is not your typical whimpy Ceylon. This one has some heft to it that is quite satisfying with a bit of milk and sugar.

After submitting an order today from Upton (which was filled with lots of goodies including Rose Congou, Chocolate Earl Grey, East Frisian BOP and a couple of samples!!!), I had a hankering for this tea. I actually like this a bit better today than the first time I had it. Robust, rich and delicious – I almost forgot about my new tea order for a second.