Upton Tea Imports

I’m drinking this now and I’m disappointed. The Super Grade was so flavorful I thought this Superior Organic (BA20) would be heaven in a cup. It’s not. In fact, I think my old store brand Red Rooibos tea bags had more flavor than this. This will go in the trash with the tea bags. I’ll stick with the Super Grade (BA14).

My former Red Rooibos was a store brand tea bag. I always drink this when I’m not feeling well. It never fails to make me feel better. I knew the loose leaf would taste better, but I never expected it to be as flavorful as it is. I’m in love with this tisane! The tea bags are going in the garbage. ;)

Trying this one iced today…….yep, pretty good. I am thinking I would like something a little bit smoother, but it is good to know this one works well for me as an iced tea….refreshing without additions.

5 tsp in 40 oz teapot, brewed for 4 minutes. cooled to room temp and put in the refrigerator. At some point I need to try the cold brew method!

Bargain Basement Time-

Onto my cup #9. (I just have to thank Upton for having such a vast variety of teas for sampling! Huzzah!)
This one is probably the cheapest of the bunch. It is one of their Season’s Picks, so the minimum you can order other than a sample is 250g. But is it only $4.70 for 8.8 ounces of tea, or 53 cents an ounce! Yes, truly a bargain. To break that down even further, using the average of about 12 cups per ounce, we are talking about 4 cents a cup. When I make a pitcher of iced tea, I use about 6 tsp, so my whole pitcher is about a quarter. Now that is a refreshing number.

All of those numbers sound great, but how does it taste? Really, it is pretty good. I am positive it would beat Lipton easily for taste. There are no roasty, toasty, notes, or hints of chocolate, but it is a good solid, smooth tea. Upton describes it like a Keemun without any smokey notes. If I did not have about 20 varieties in my cupboard to make iced tea (meaning teas I bought and did not really care for them hot), it would be on my shopping list, because I do like this one hot, too. Maybe next season.

(Better go make something iced ASAP.)

Tea of the morning……

It has been quite a while since I last had this tea. With all the new additions to my tea stash and all the samples I have been trying, this one simply just got buried in the back of the tea cupboard. It is always good to get reacquainted with an old friend.

This tea is so smooth. I get notes of apple and honey, plus just a dash of cocoa. I do have last year’s version, and it looks like it has gone up just a little in price. I recall 125g being about $16, and now it is $20. I do think I would take a chance on the new version when this is gone.

Usual teapot method.

Tea of the afternoon.

I have been out running errands today, and am very glad to be home sitting here with my tea. I think I am addicted. But I am not looking for any reason to overcome this particular addiction!

Smooth, cocoa-ey, good. I have not had this one in so long that I forgot about the honey and appley notes in this one. Yum.

Steeped by the usual parameters.

My tea of the day. I got three steaps out of this one today. Yum! Definitely a favorite.

The Three Golden Monkeys….

I must be on about cup #8 for China black tea sampling. This one is a good choice, because I currently have three varieties of Golden Monkey in my posession. On smelling all three, this one smells the richest and sweetest, and the other two smell more floral in comparison. (The two in this comparison are Harney’s Golden Monkey, and Adagio’s Golden Monkey.) I do think this is definitely the sweetest and smoothest of the three. It is the apple notes in with the honey and cocoa notes. Really, though, I am pretty much smitten with any Golden Monkey, but this one has me rethinking buying my next bunch from Harney.

Cost comparison: This one is $16.20 for a 125 gram bag or $18.20 for a 125 gram tin, resulting in a cost for the tin of $2 (and it is your choice!) and $3.68 per ounce. Shipping is a flat $4.20 in the US.

Harney is out of stock until Septemberish. They sell 4 ounces for $17 in a tin. Cost per ounce is $4.25. But you can usually find a shipping deal at $25 purchased. (Which is awesome to have such a low minimum for free shipping!)

Adagio is 3 ounces for $15 without a tin. That works out to $5 an ounce. Free shipping starts at $50, or is $3.75 flat rate in the US, unless you live in what they consider a rural area. Then I think it is more like $5.75 flat rate.

Prices might be related differently with greater volumes purchased, but I tend to stick with smaller amounts to make sure it is fresh. I have too many other tea loves to monogamously commit to one Golden Monkey. Really, they are all pretty close, and you are just better off to choose your favorite, or where you are shopping this week! I rank them for taste from best/best to least/best (weird name, but they are all good!) Upton ZP85, Harney, Adagio.

Oh wow. Oh my. How do I even begin to describe the experience of trying lapsang souchong for the first time?

It’s the type of tea about which I was intensely curious, but intensely afraid of trying. I don’t really know why I was afraid – the worst that could happen is that I didn’t like it and moved on.

I needn’t have worried.

The first thing one notices about the tea upon getting it ready to steep, is the intense smell. Smokey, like a barbecue, but without the acrid edge one might expect from something burning. I can imagine why some note that it’s a good tea for cooking. I would probably use this when making some sort of ham soup.

I have to say that it smells lovely, but it was still intimidating to drink. I didn’t necessarily feel like ingesting a barbecue, taste-wise. However, the taste is quite distinct from the smell. Yes, it is smokey, but the over-all flavour is smooth. Maybe a little peppery towards the tail-end. The after-taste is pleasantly smokey, like a satisfying drag from a barbecue hookah.

I’m not skilled enough at tea-drinking yet to identify distinct elements, so the best way I can describe it is that it’s evocative of a good smoked food, say gouda or ham, while still managing to taste distinctly like tea. It’s a soothingly full taste that lingers even after one is done drinking.

I’m not 100% certain I brewed it correctly. I will admit that there was a definite bite in the back of my throat with the first cup, and then it was definitely on the under brewed side for the second and third cup. Not the tea’s fault. Just learning curve on my part.

As an amusing anecdote – apparently now my breath smells like wood.

At any rate, this is a tea that I will definitely be drinking a lot more often. I’m glad I bought this sample.

Tasted three Upton CTCs today. The leaves for the Irish Breakfast were darker in color than the Upton CTC BOP Estate Blend Organic (TA15) and the largest in size of the three I tasted (Halmari CTC is the third tea). The Irish Breakfast leaves/granules also seemed to have the strongest scent. I tasted all three teas with milk.

The Irish Breakfast is a little malty, with good body, not bitter at all. While not as exciting as some of the single estate assams I’ve had lately, it is very good for a CTC tea. Would probably also be good blended with other teas. I tried adding a tiny touch of honey and it went well with the tea. It developed a creamy feel as it cooled.

I did try brewing (with fresh leaves) a second time at 5 minutes but while it was still not bitter, the flavor seemed better at 4 minutes.

Tasted three Upton CTCs today. Compared to the Upton CTC BOP Estate Blend Organic (TA15) and Upton Irish Breakfast CTC teas, the granules were much smaller and finer, and darker than the Organic. I tasted all three teas with milk.

The Halmari CTC BOP was watery tasting on the first sip, but with good body. No bitterness. Also, no malt. The watery flavor remained as I sipped it.

(Between the three teas, the Irish Breakfast was my favorite)

Tasted three Upton CTCs today. This one was my least favorite, and not worth the extra price over the other two. I tasted all three teas with milk.

Compared to the Upton Halmari and Irish Breakfast CTC teas, the leaves on this one looked more golden – a mix of gold and dark. The size of the granules were between that of the other two teas.

The tea seemed bitter at first, but this went away. It was dull compared to the Irish Breakfast. Good body, but no malt, just kind of blah.

Third tea in my tasting this morning (Golden Moon & Harney Irish Breakfast, Upton GFOP). While the GFOP is not marketed as an Irish Breakfast it is an Assam blend like the other two. My notes from the Harney tasting pretty much apply here “not much complexity. It has a typical “strong black tea” flavor but no maltiness, not much interest”.

I think I have been spoiled by the single estate assams and am just not finding these blends very interesting.

Wow, this is brisk. Bold, earthy, good amount of astringency. I think next time I might steep slightly less than 3 minutes, but this was just what I needed to help me stay out of bed. I am in that weird period between ending winter classes and starting summer classes and having nothing to do is making me want to sleep all day. This tea is kind of jolting me awake!

Yep, it’s earl grey. I’m not quite sure I can taste anything that the blue flower might be adding to this. It’s a good earl grey though, quite possibly a candidate to keep around when I just want a cup of EG. Oh, and my tummy hurts. I think I OD’ed a bit on the spicy kimchi-bean curd stew at the Korean restaurant last night. And the kimchi pancake. I’m trying to drink soothing tea with almond milk to make it better, but it’s not working so far. Anyway, good thing I like earl grey by itself…. I have had blue flower in delicious chai blends, and I thought it added sweetness? Eh? Well, I’ll finish the sample. I bought too much earl grey at once, and I may hate it by the time I’m done the 3000 lbs of it in my house.

This doesn’t taste at all like Earl Grey to me, and doesn’t taste at all of vanilla, or green tea either. It’s basically a plain ceylon tea. This turns out to be fine, because sometimes that’s what I’m in the mood for. When my allergies have been acting up due to pollen (oh god, so much pollen), this is pretty nice! I’m drinking it without any additions, just letting it soothe my throat. Too bad this is the last of my sample… but on the other hand, I have plenty of plain black tea in my cupboard. Also, this is heinous oversteeped, as you might expect.

i may have paid too much at $10 for 2oz but I do like it, again picked up at an local sushi shop same place..was selling from some website said maystea.com but looks like it’s gone now.

hope this was not an old batch they sold me..

I’ve tried both the Upton versions and like the BOP version much better. This one was a bit weak and didn’t have the depth the other version has.

Wow – I can understand why this tea gets high ratings. I’ve tasted three East Frisians recently (the two Uptons and also Harney & Sons). This one is a winner by a long shot. Awesome rich flavor. Added just a touch of honey and “wow”. I even noticed a hint of dusty chocolate.

Yum, this tea was an excellent choice to have waiting for me in the Breville this morning (last exam of the term coming up in a couple hours!). It’s nice and full. Smoky and pretty astringent. Very pleasant.

Cold brew overnight. This definitely has the strength to still give a flavorful iced tea when cold brewed. Very very vanilla-y, and the black tea base is nice and subtle but definitely present. I think it would make a good sub with added interest for plain black tea in a big pitcher of sweet tea (which would of course make the vanilla really stand out, I think!)

This is the final tea in the sample pack that I got from twiggles for the Easter HoppiTea. I do love a good vanilla tea, although I don’t have many examples that are just straight up vanilla black. The aroma of the dry leaves on this one isn’t just vanilla, but I can’t really place it. Like many vanilla teas, this one is made up of fairly small pieces of tea leaf. Brewed, the aroma becomes more definitely vanilla with the black tea base coming through. The taste is vanilla, but not creamy vanilla, just a warm vanilla on top of the robust black tea. It’s a solid, tasty black tea, though I can’t help but wish the vanilla was a tiny bit stronger (I am, after all, a flavor junky).