Upton Tea Imports

Emptied the tin today for a last pot this morning. Good breakfast blend, but it is time to move onto others. So long Mincing Lane. Perhaps we will cross paths again.

My first coffeeless morning (let’s hope, for my family’s sake, that I don’t get super crabby later)…so I turned to Mincing Lane. I don’t usually add milk to any tea, but this one seemed to be screaming for it this morning. The first cup was just lightly sweetened, and the Assam in the blend was just kicking my tastebuds. At that point, I was thinking it would not be on the reorder list. For the second mug when I added milk, the flavors mellowed out again, and I was happy. Hmmmm. Adding milk has me rethinking stronger morning tea…….

24 oz. pot, 4 1/2 actual teaspoons of tea, freshly boiled water, 5 minutes.

My morning tea. I love the punch in this one. It definitely is not like anything else I have (I have mostly Keemuns and Fujian blacks). This is a Yunnan and Assam blend, so it must be the Assam? I have not had much Assam, so I might have to look into other varieties. Anyway, this is great for waking up. But I think it is time to move on to something a little more mellow. I hear my Keemun Mao Feng calling…….

My breakfast cup…..brewed strong (2 tsp in 1 1/2 cups water) with sweetener and milk. Honestly, it tasted better than my coffee this morning…..

One day, I will kick that coffee habit. I am down to one cup in the morning. I think I could probably do without it now, but the DH needs coffee in the am, so I drink some, too.

The morning steep……this time I added milk and sweetener. Yum. Mildly hearty, and a good get you going tea.

Good Morning to my new breakfast blend! I wish I could concentrate on just you in the mornings, but my breakup with last breakfast tea was messy. I was ready, but my past love was not. I still have some things from the past relationship unfinished, which I will need time to work through. Please be patient.

Love this one. The smokiness is light, but definitely still gets me going in the morning. And I can even see a few afternoon pick me ups with Mincing Lane in my future.

On the search for a new breakfast tea. Yes, ever the bargain shopper, I was pretty certain I could replace my $10 for 3 oz. tea since I was not over the moon for it. This is my first breakfast blend sample from Upton.

I like this one, and can see it being the one, but I have to ‘date around’ a little more before I am certain. There is the very slightest hint of smokiness, but it really is perfect. My current breakfast tea smokes a little too much to meet the perfectly steeped bliss quota. Definitely in the running!

Tea of the monrning…..

I love this. It is a basic China black tea with notes of malt and cocoa, which is then lightly scented with rose. It is not the super floral variety, but there is just enough that you know what you are tasting. This is my favorite bargain tea.

Here we are pretty far into September. I know I set out to not buy tea for most of the Summer. There was at least one company that had a 2 year anniversary sale that got me twice, but other than that, there were very few new tea acquisitions. Just one or two that had been on my list to try for ages. Now that I am sitting here in September and perfectly able to try something new, I have to say, that I am so enamored just drinking my favorites. I will admit that it takes quite a bit to catch my interest to try new things at this point. Who knew I would ever get here? I like what I like, and I am tired of teas not living up to their hype for me. I completely think it is just where I am in my tea journey, and really not anything to do with the teas I have tried as of late.

I guess it is just time to enjoy what I have. What a great place to be. Content.

Usual teapot method.

Tea of the morning……

This is blissful. I keep two rose teas in my stash. One is from Harney (which is much more rosey than this one!), and obviously, this one. I love the tea base on this, I am guessing it is a budget panyang congou. I do quite like Upton’s China congous, and this one seems similar. The rose on this is light. Rather than adding a burst of rose like the Harney version, it adds such a interesting flowery flavor at the end of the sip. Really, it is delightful. It is also an extreme bargain in my book. This is one I can keep in my house without stressing over how much I paid for it, and I will blissfully drink it all. A perfect offering!

Usual teapot method.

Second tea of the morning…..

I just love it when we have a slow Saturday morning. It does not happen very often, so I cherish it when I do. I don’t crave rose teas all that often, but on occasion they are a necessity.

This one is light on the rose (especially after eating a bit of chocolate! Yes, I am really treating myself.) I kept thinking I would be able to cut down to one rose tea, but I am not so sure, now. This one is good iced, and hot it leans more good tea, than frou-frou rose tea. I keep Harney’s Rose Scented around for my frou-frou rose tea as it is intensely rose. Why is it that I require so many specific teas for my staple stash!? I am so spoiled, yet, thankful that tea is a relatively simple indulgence.

Usual teapot method.

Tea of the early morning……

It has been a long time since I have had this one. Really, my cupboard is way to deep for comfort. All my favorites end up at the back, and the number of tins are getting a bit cumbersome. I either need to open up a tea house, or figure out how to use my tea in alternative ways. I am kidding, of course! Not about the amount, though…… I think I am at the stage in my tea journey where I mostly need to settle in with my favorites.

This is definitely a favorite. It is the perfect balance of China black tea and rose. It is also an incredibly good value at $4 for 125 grams. Love this!

Usual teapot method.

Tea of the morning for candy hangover (Happy Belated Halloween!)…….

Love this one. The perfect pairing of scent and base tea. Plus, the bargain price is a bonus. I always have room for this in my cupboard.

My stand by. I love everything about this tea. And it will always be in my cupboard.

The perfect blend of rose and black tea base. Not to mention an incredible price. Resteeps well.

I have finally decided that tea is not just a passing fancy for me, and it was time to make myself an actual tea cupboard. Unfortunately, that meant cleaning out a few cabinets.

This was the tea that rewarded me, and relaxed me, once all of my treasures had a permanent home. As always, the rose and the black base are in perfect harmony…neither over-powers the other. The 5 minute resteep was equally as good.

I ordered a sample of this because it was quite a bit lower in price than the China Rose Petal I had been buying at another vendor. Normally, I am not too concerned about a little cost difference here and there, but this time we are talking half the cost. Since samples were available, I figured it would be a fun experiment. The chemist in me took over, and I prepared them identically, using the same kettle boil, and duplicate infuser baskets (man, am I thankful for my tendency to overbuy on having two of the same infuser!) The dry leaves are very similar in appearance, down to the color of the petals in the tea. The smells are also comparable. In side by side tastings, they seem incredibly similar. I say seem, because I am not an expert tea taster having only been really into tea since last September.

All in all, I think I have found myself a new source for my rose scented tea. Price often is an indicator of quality, but not always. I am determined to find the exception where I can!

OK, so take this with a grain of salt because I don’t like earl grey/bergamot which smells like men’s cologne… why does anyone want that in their tea? Anyway, Lizbet sent me a sample of this (a tiny sample since she knows my feelings on earl grey) and I’m actually surprised by this one. It’s not great, but it’s not sink worthy either. I barely taste a hint of chocolate and a hint of lemon, and maybe if I try and think about it hard enough, I might get a hint of bergamot. Mostly, this one just tastes like black tea to me… with something. Thanks Lizbet for adding an exception to my earl grey rule.

This is one of my favorite night time teas that I get from Cha Yi here in beautiful downtown Gatineau (Hull). It is not as full-bodied as some, nor as dark but with its own distinctive notes of citrus.

Amazing, absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Tastes like the inside of a warm gooey Cinnabun, but with ginger and some woody tastes too! What makes this stand apart from most teas is the fact that the cup tastes exactly (if not better) than it smells. Probably going to buy this in bulk; I went through the 15 gram satchel in under 3 days.

Try it, all of you.. TRY IT. If you’re apprehensive, just spend a dollar on their 15g sample packs like I did. But be forewarned… you will crave it.

:)

Awesome green tea – nice and smokey, just like the name, haha! It’s very full-bodied; I would recommend this to anyone who wants to forage into green teas (like me).

This definitely has a fakeness to the flavor, but it is pretty good even so. Their cream flavor is just off, but this one somehow overcomes that. I now prefer the strawberry teas that don’t have that fake cream, at least for most things. I hit on making it as iced tea with the roasted yerba mate and it is fantastic! On Upton’s site you will find the refrigerator iced tea method. Super easy, all you will have to do is strain it and it is better than hot tea turned iced.

This was one of my favorite fruit teas, I use them to blend. But, I have since found others I really prefer. So this is still pretty good, but no longer a fav. Little bit of a false note, probably their fake cream flavor.