Upton Tea Imports

This is OK, but barely. I use it to blend with other teas, but I will not buy it again. The real vanilla is drowned out by the fake vanilla.

I prefer the roasted yerba mate to the green. More coffee like and this was one I used to kick coffee. I rebought this one in a large size, it is quite nice. I really like to blend it with fruit teas though. And I recently hit on using it for iced tea, made cold with Upton’s
Strawberry Cream and it was like the best iced tea ever! On Upton’s site you will find the refrigerator iced tea method and it is awesome. Super easy, all you will have to do is strain it and better than hot tea turned iced.

A good Earl Grey; even though it’s a rooibos, it holds up well with milk and sugar. I let mine steep about 10-15 minutes, and it was still well-rounded. Not the strongest bergamot aroma or flavor I’ve ever come across, but quite good.

Well hello there friend. I received this tea from Ellen as my sweetea. Yes that was quite a generous package. Not a bad tea. Unfortunately Upton has discontinued this tea. Which to my dismay I’ve been finding some good teas that are no longer available from good companies. I should be content in being able to try this tea, and I am. Which is an overall outlook that I try to keep in life being content in my circumstances. This tea has the that nice flavor that you can pick out from the Yunnan providence, but has a little bit of a peppery kick. A very nice surprise.

I think I’ve finally found a blend that tastes like the delicious chai I get in Indian restaurants- but without having to simmer spices in milk for an extended period. This is… so ….good. With a touch of my vanilla soy milk it’s even better. I feel like I’m sipping a spicy Indian dessert. Most chais really do let me down, but I knew I was in for a treat when I opened the package and smelled a delicious waft of what seemed almost graham crackerish (I know, that may sound dubious.)

What are you doing still reading my pithy review? You should be on upton’s website adding this to your cart- at least one of the cheap samples’ worth! (That is, if you like chai at all.)

Just kidding, I like it when you read what I write :)

Backlogging…

Used up the last of this earlier in the week. This also makes a great iced tea – even the later steeps. I could very much see combining this with one of the golden teas to get a great toasted but sweet iced tea without having to add sweetener or citrus to it.

Spring in Texas is kind of odd. My garden already has blushing tomatoes, but the lawn won’t grow. When I go throw disc I always need a shower, but driving home from vespers I have to turn the heat on in the car.

Weird.

The good news is, this oolong tea can fix ANYTHING.

Surprise cold(ish) snap over night made me crave a roasty toasty tea for this morning.

We even had to turn the heat back on!

I’m on my third steeping of these leaves and it is holding up well, which is one of the great things about Formosan oolongs.

I did 5 minutes on the second steep and 7 on the third.

Is the Twitter connect working for anyone ?

Boy howdy do I love Formosan oolongs.

Roasty, toasty, with no sharpness, bitterness, astringency or anything to slow you down. This is the stuff you gulp in a dim sum house and then leave the pot with the lid up on the edge of the table and make dagger eyes at people until they fill it again because you just can’t stop drinking it.

I have this pipe dream of creating the ultimate tea blend with some subtle balance of fermented pu-erh, lapsang, Formosan oolong and Yunnan golden.

Maybe someday.

This is definitely my favorite of the goldens, for now.

And this is the last of it. sob

Today I learned that this makes an absolutely AMAZING iced tea. No sweetener, no lemon, no additives except ice cubes in the midst of a strong brew (that I let countertop cool).

So this gets a tasting rating bump up.

The dry leaf here smells a lot like a fine darjeeling or an oolong that isn’t darkly roasted. But the scent is very soft. The cut and color of the dry leaf makes it look for all the world like pipe shag.

The 4-5 minute recommended steep time is your first clue, however, that this is no fragile and retiring leaf of the South Continent mountains. No, this is the hearty leaf of the Eastern Chinese heartland.

The wet leaf scent prepares you for something like an Assam, strong and sharp. Like molasses and ginger. But the liqueur is neither, being more like honeyed cashews.

I want to be poetic about this tea, but it is 8am.

Interesting.

This golden tips the balance. Less sweet, more astringent. Still that same soft, covers your whole mouth kind of flavor, big aroma that lingers long after you swallow, but not an actual sense of sugar. Many of the others actually almost convince me they’re treated with sweetener they’re so sweet. This one is just shy of that.

I’d almost talk about this in terms of a roasted oolong that has a big finish and some sweetness, rather than as a soft, sweet tea that has some bite, which would be my short description of the other golden teas I’ve had.

This appeals to my tastes, because I’m not big on sweet. If you like sweet, go with the Yunnan golds.

This one is just a bit sweeter, I think, than the Golden Needles Imperial. The more I drink them, the more I think that the other is better as a stand alone and that this one really needs to be part of a blend. Unless you’re into sweet, then, give this a try by itself. It is surprisingly so for a completely untreated tea.

I did finally do it, a week or so ago. I blended the Wang pu-erh, the Black Dragon lapsang, the Choicest Formosa oolong and this Yunan Golden Tippy Imperial. It was AMAZING. But there was no way to make an entry about it. But wow, how brilliant it was.

The dry leaf here smells almost like malted milk balls. Sharply sweet. For someone like me, this is what initially put me off golden needle teas and had me skeptical about the final cup.

The wet leaf is less sharply sweet, but still has a powerful, vague fruitiness to it. I know I know what this smells like, but I cannot find the noun, right now.

Thankfully, the liqueur in the cup is unexpectedly dark, rich, toasted and malty with only a lingering hint of all that sweetness.

Initially, I was skeptical of these golden teas.

But they are rapidly becoming one of my favorites and this selection from Upton is right up the fairway (I’ve been playing a lot of disc golf) with that disarming combination of astringency and sweetness.

Such an amazing tea! Strong lemon aroma when I opened the pouch before brewing; brewed mine longer than the recommended eight minutes (about 15 minutes), and it was fantastic. Strong but not bitter lemon flavor, and as odd as this might sound, held up very well with milk and sugar, still being able to taste a LOT of lemon. This is really excellent.

I missed you, Upton.
I fell prey to the temptation of the delicious looking Earl Grey sampler, and I’m glad I did… I’m trying this one without any additives first to see what I think. The ingredients list is just amazing, and this manages not to taste artificial and cloying. It’s definitely an earl grey, but with a definite touch of cacao. I didn’t expect to like this one out of the otherwise appealing sampler options, but I do. I don’t love it, but I’m going to finish off the tin for sure!

This certainly smells strongly! Walking into my kitchen I thought ‘uh-oh, another jello-tasting tea’. Indeed, almost all red fruit in tea turns into hot jello. This, alas, isn’t much different despite its delicious sounding components. I am wondering if it’d be okay if I cut it heavily with some other kind of plain tea. For now, well, I shouldn’t have been swayed by the blackcurrant.

The package instructions say: 180F for 5-8 min ?! Surely this is too long to steep a green tea! On the contrary, I found that a 5 min steep gave a sweet and smooth cup. This is an exquisite, delicious green tea. Rich, fruity flavor. The leaves are so tender, I wanted to gobble them up afterwards.

A very light tea, both in flavor and in strength. Slight vanilla aroma, not much of a vanilla flavor. Didn’t hold up too well with milk and sugar, even when I steeped it longer than eight minutes. Not a bad tea, but a bit lighter than I tend to prefer.

Good strawberry flavor, slightly tart, even better with a teaspoon of honey, which brings out some of the subtleties of the strawberry. Lovely deep red color.

Forgot to log last week – see previous notes :)