Upton Tea Imports

While I have enjoyed this tea in my past cuppings, I was never blown away by it or felt I would want to reorder it after my sample runs out. It partly has to do with the fact that it’s a fairly standard jasmine green; when I want a hot jasmine tea, I really want jasmine pearls and overwhelming jasmine flavor, so it could never fill that role.

However, that was until I cold brewed it. I am very impressed with this tea’s performance; I wouldn’t cold brew jasmine pearls because of the sheer cost, but this makes a fantastic iced jasmine tea that would be much more affordable. When I iced this tea after brewing it hot, the green tea was still the main player with a jasmine supporting character, but cold brewed the jasmine comes out way more (though the green is still definitely present), which is what I want. For whatever reason I had yet to cold brew a jasmine green, but with this one I can see that it will definitely make it into my standard rotation of cold steeps along with Earl Grey creams and Mango/Passion/Rhubarb-vanilla blacks.

It’s hot and humid today, and for some reason I find myself wilting in it more than normal. Since my morning involved a long walk across campus in the already murderous sun, I didn’t feel like drinking a cup of hot tea before I went. A nice cold tea for when I got back, however… I brewed this one like usual but let it cool and stuck it in the fridge. An hour wasn’t quite enough to make it cold before lunch, but it was cool enough to be refreshing. Cold, this tea is mostly a strong green with a light jasmine flavor. I found myself wishing for more of that jasmine sweetness, and now that I think about it I bet a bit of sugar might have brought it out (even though I normally wouldn’t sweeten this tea hot). All in all it was a nice glass of tea to have. And today I remembered to put a glass of black tea in the fridge to cold steep overnight for tomorrow’s lunch!

Jasmine tea has been on my mind for a while now. Specifically Harney’s jasmine pearls, but I didn’t want to have them this late in my work day since I wouldn’t be able to get as many steeps out of them as they deserve. So I went for this jasmine to satisfy my craving for the moment. Certainly not as sweet and jasminey as the pearls, but still with a good dose of lovely floral jasmine.

Of course it’s kind of not working because it’s making me want the pearls more, but oh well.

I brewed this one at a slightly cooler temp and a slightly shorter time than my last cup, and it has definitely improved it. No bitterness from the green tea, and a slightly more subdued flavor. It’s a nice, smooth, pleasant green tea with a prominent jasmine aroma and lighter jasmine flavor. This one is a good tea if you primarily want a green that’s been scented; I don’t get much of the jasmine sweetness or honeysuckle notes in this one like you might get from a more heavily jasmined tea, but the jasmine isn’t an afterthought either.

I was excited to try this one (also part of the sampler pack from twiggles) because I really love jasmine teas, and this is a “Chung Hao” grade of jasmine and I’ve read reviews of other Chung Hao jasmines that made me want to try them. The dried leaves on this one have a strong jasmine aroma with an underlying sweetness; I’ve seen a couple of jasmine teas described recently as having honeysuckle aromas, and now I can smell it in this one too.

I was surprised at how dark this tea got after only 2.5 minutes of brewing. The liquor is a dark yellow edging toward orange, and the aroma of the brewed tea is very similar to the dried leaf, except more well developed and “fuller”. This isn’t a wimpy jasmine; the taste is strongly of floral jasmine (not very perfumey, I don’t think, but I don’t tend to get bottle of perfume flavor from florals that some people do) integrating well with the green tea. There seems to be a touch of underlying bitterness from the green tea, but given the darkness of the liquor after 2.5 minutes I think the steep time could be dropped to take care of that. I’m not quite sure how this one compares to the other jasmines I have now; I guess I’ll have to go back and try them to see how they all stack up. In any case, I think this tea would match up well with the others I’ve tried so far.

Most complex Tuo Cha I’ve had so far. Just a hint of a Jasmine like floral quality, with a really pleasant aftertaste. Delicious!

I didn’t think about the fact that I had set this tea up to cold steep last night so that I could drink it with lunch when I chose the passion fruit black this morning… I guess it’s a tropical tea day!

Anyway, this was fantastic iced. I didn’t sweeten it, but I bet a touch of simple syrup would really bring out the fruity mango. As it was, it was delicious unsweetened. The mango was nice and fresh and juicy tasting, and the black tea was really nicely smooth but also slightly peppery. It wasn’t as floral as my experiences with the hot tea seemed, but definitely all around tasty.

Three minutes is a much better steep time for this tea, at least to my taste, although I’m surprised to still get a hint of bitterness on some sips. It’s amazing how much this tea smells like a fresh, ripe, juicy mango when brewed. I could just inhale the aroma all day. Once again the taste is mangoey but surprisingly floral, with possibly even a hint of jasmine, although I think I’m getting that less so this go-around. I really want to get that bitterness out of the cup, because I really want to love this tea. I guess the steeping temp is the next thing to adjust!

This is another one from my Upton sampler pack that I got for the Easter HoppiTea from twiggles. It’s a nice looking tea, with tiny candied mango chunks and sunflower petals. Dried it smells strongly of sweet mango; brewed, the mango aroma isn’t so candy-like and becomes much more like mango juice, with the black tea base underlying.

My first sip (while still pretty hot), I get a taste of mango and surprisingly a jasmine note. I went ahead and brewed the full four minutes on this one, but that did cause a some bitterness, so I’ll definitely drop it next time. Nevertheless, I can tell that I really like this tea! As it cools, I still get an overall mango flavor but in a very floral way. I can’t help but be reminded of jasmine somehow. Definitely my kind of tea!

Strong, malty, more complex than the broken leaf version from Upton. Around 3 min steep seems about perfect.

This has woody notes all over – from the first smell of the dry leaves to the steeped tea. The leaves seem pretty all curled up inside, but they did not fully open when steeped in hot water. Will try next time with boiling water.
Perhaps my palate is not well trained yet – but I could not detect any memorable quality to this tea. Not bad, certainly, but I think it could be better as part of a blend.

Can you believe that the last time I had this tea was over a year ago? I realized that the sample tin of this, buried in the bottom of my tea drawer, was still pretty full of tea. And it’s a green tea, so it’s no doubt aging. Yes, I have a tea sample problem. Nevertheless when I opened the tin the aroma was just as pungent as the day I got it, it seems. It smells like cookies and cinnamon and almonds, but never as much like almonds as I would hope. This is one of those almond teas that reminds me of snickerdoodles, which as it happens are not almond cookies.

I have to say, I am impressed going back to this tea after all this time. It is sweet and cookie-ish, a little bit of cinnamon but not overwhelming at all, with a hint of nutty almond. When I look for almond in the tea I want marzipan-y almond, which is difficult to find, but if I divorce that expectation from this tea, then I enjoy it a lot. It really is a snickerdoodle with green tea, to me. Possibly due to age, the green tea in this is not really as vegetal as it once was, which honestly is kind of a good thing. I would love to see a blend like this using a really nutty green tea base to start with, like the base of Empire Tea Services Earl Green. It was good to revisit this one because I might reach for it more often now!

Steeped this one a little longer this time at a lower temp, and it really brought out the almond. Immediately after steeping I got a very vegetal aroma with an almond background, but as it cools the veggie slides to the background and the aroma is primarily almondy bakery/cookie.

It’s quite tasty, and if I divorce my expectations of a marzipan/almond extract-like almond flavor from the tea, I’m really enjoying it for what it is: a smooth green tea with a nice cinnamon cookie-type (almost a slightly almondy snickerdoodle?) taste.

This is part of my Upton flavored tea sampler from twiggles! I love almonds, almond tea—heck, almond flavored anything—so I was excited that one of the teas was an almond green, which I’ve never had before. The dried leaves smell almondy and vegetal, and when brewed the almond aroma takes over with a hint of the underlying green. It smells cinnamony too, which somehow ads to the idea of baked goods.

The flavor is definitely a green tea with almonds. I think I taste the green tea first with a very vegetal note, then the almond with a hit of cinnamon. The almond comes out a bit more as it cools; its a nutty almondy flavor, but not quite the flavor of almond extract or marzipan (I’ve yet to find a tea that really tastes like that to me, but that’s ok). I also get a hint of bright citrusy flavors I don’t taste initially but that linger in my mouth.

Oh this tea, the tea I want to love but never quite lives up to my expectations. It is neither chocolatey enough or bergamotty enough for me, and those jasmine flowers listed in the ingredients always tease me but never deliver. Actually now that I brew it at 4 minutes it’s probably chocolatey enough, but I want more of a sense I’m drinking an Earl Grey, not just a chocolate tea with some lemony citrus. Nevertheless, it’s still a perfectly decent cup of tea, and I have no problem drinking it. I just had such high hopes for it!

Ok I really have no clue how long I steeped this tea. I had my timer set up for 4 minutes, and then I forgot to hit start. I’m hoping it was about 4 minutes anyway, but honestly I didn’t look at a clock or anything so who knows!

In any case, I think the steep time was relatively long, and it certainly brought out the chocolate. The Earl Grey is there, but fairly light, just providing a bright note overall. Is this my perfect ideal of a chocolate EG? No, but it’s pretty tasty anyway. I wish it was more bergamotty, which is my main issue. Those who prefer a lighter bergamot EG would find this to be a good blend, I think. I definitely prefer it with the longer steep time, which really brings out more of the flavors (but doesn’t make the tea get too bitter). And since chocolate Earl Greys aren’t exactly very numerous, I can see keeping this one around

I guess I’m in a somewhat chocolatey mood still, because this one called out to me and I decided I wanted to do another tasting of it. This time I steeped it just a hair longer than before, and I think some of the flavors are a little more robust without getting bitter. The aroma is very chocolatey with a floral bergamot undertone. The taste is a little more malty than last time, and predominately chocolate (a roasty, cacao-nib chocolate) with a bright, citrusy texture and aftertaste. I’m not getting a lot of bergamot/EG flavor with this one, although once again I get more as it cools. I’m adjusting this one down a bit because I’m a little less entranced by it’s offerings this time; it doesn’t quite deliver for me on the chocolate or EG fronts as much as I’d like it to. I still enjoy the cup, and it’s definitely unique.

I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while now; I love chocolate tea, and I love Earl Grey tea, so the two of them together was very appealing to me! And now, thanks to twiggles and the HoppiTea swap, I have a sample!

I might have expected this tea to smell like a chocolate orange or something, but the aroma comes together in a way that you can distinctly smell the roasty chocolate and the somewhat floral EG, and they also meld together. This tea doesn’t hit you over the head with either flavor, and considering how chocolates and EGs can both have a tendancy to do so, it’s impressive. I don’t get as much of a citrusy EG as a floral one (I think the jasmine flowers contribute to that), though as it cools I think I get a hint of lemongrass on the end of the sip. I brewed it for only 3 minutes, but since I get no hints of bitterness whatsoever I think I’ll go up to 4 next time as suggested. This one was different than I was expecting, but very good! I look forward to sipping through my sample!

ETA: The resteep on this is fantastic… the chocolate takes a backseat and becomes a supporting flavor (though still evident), but the bergamot comes out with a more citrusy flavor. The jasmine is evident here as well, adding a smooth floral note. Delicious!

I’ve heard people describe drinking white tea as being no different than drinking plain hot water. Normally I would explain that the white teas I’ve tried were more flavorful than green teas, but this tea is probably what they were talking about.

So boring. It’s sweet, kind of floral tasting, but it was still boring even after doubling up the amount of leaves per 8 ounce cup.

This tea requires double or more the usual leaf to brew the way I like a morning cup. I’m terrified of overbrewing, so I took several tries to be bold enough to go the recommended longer range time of 8 minutes. Bingo! The 8 minute brew with boiling water produced the sweetest, closest to cocoa flavor that I desired. This is an excellent everyday choice, I can afford to stock up on this one. And it is rich and strong enough for a work morning beginning at 5:30 a.m. (And no, I am so NOT a morning person…) I find Golden Moon’s Keemun the standard for cocoa goodness, but the cost is more.

Still finishing this one from my sweetea package from Ellen. I have this in my station stash. I can not buy more tea until I diminish the stash according to my future bride. So this and a bunch of samples I have are at the radio station. Straight black tea. Has an amber liquor like a good Assam. It’s good malty maybe even a little grainy like a wheat taste to it.

I just can’t get into this one. I may not be a Honeybush drinker. And the vanilla has a artificial note.

First: this tea is green. If Gatorade made a drink this color, I would refuse to drink it on the grounds that nothing in nature could possibly be that shade of neon green. But, apparently, I’d be wrong. Here’s a photo: http://flic.kr/p/9uqpuL

It tastes perfectly natural, though. Compared to other genmaichas I’ve tried, it perhaps tastes a bit more like green tea than toasted rice. And I can definitely feel the extra caffeine from the matcha. But, while it’s nice, honestly I don’t know if it’s different enough from any other genmaicha to justify the rather-high price.

I’m giving this one another try, but I’m still confused about it. It’s alright, but comes out tasting a bit murky to me. I think there’s so much going on it all gets muddled. Ah, well.