Upton Tea Imports

Oddly…hot…I wasn’t sure about this one…it had an ‘odd’ overly filling flavor that somewhat tasted of Lychee but also tasted artificial and chewy but not in a good way.

BUT…cold…this one I prefer cold over hot. It seem tolerable cold and more fruity and less ‘odd’ tasting for some reason.

This is alright cold.

Thanks for send my way LiberTEAs!

My dad decided to add mint to the infusion. I would have preferred it without, but it was still pretty good.

this is the second time I made this tea. The first time, it was just ok. Nothing special. Today I boiled my water and waited only 2 minutes for the infusion. It is better, but still nothing special. I added raw sugar and milk to cut the boldness of the assam. I am anxiously awaiting my GM order!

I love yellow tea. I love it so much that I bought a designated yixing mug just for when I have yellow tea.

This yellow tea is lovely. Complex. Delicious. Sweet and refreshing. Nice mouthfeel. Nutty character to it. Very pleasant indeed.

Nice mellow tea with hints of cinnamon flavor and an aroma that includes cardamon (slightly chai-like). Not too terribly sharply flavored (I brewed my small pot on the high end of the recommended steeping time), but has nice subtle flavor for those who don’t like powerfully strongly flavored tea.

Good holiday tea; nicely rounded flavor and aroma with hints of cinnamon being predominant, although some secondary hints of vanilla and almonds coming through, also. Very nice with milk and sugar.

What a beautifully warm tea! Nice cinnamon aroma and flavor, enhanced by adding milk/half-and-half and sugar. Well-rounded, smooth, relaxing tea with a good moderately strong flavor – not overpowering, but not weak and therefore lost if adding said milk and sugar.

This is one bright radioactive green tea in my mug! I was a bit worried that I used water that was too hot, but I think it turned out decently enough. This tea has a fairly strong flavor but it isn’t overly grassy. There is a nice, sweet seaweed note that denotes the initial taste followed by a smooth nutty flavor. The aftertaste is on the grassy side but since the rest of the sip is pleasant I’m able to deal with it. I don’t think I would drink this often let alone purchase it, but it seems to be satisfying my green tea craving tonight.

Is there crack in this blend or what? I’ve recently (over the past 6-8 months) gone through several sampler sets from Upton (all black teas) and so tasted more than 20 different varieties. The Bond Street English Breakfast is far-and-away my favorite…like by light years. I don’t understand why, either. When I ran out, I tried to blend Ceylon and Assam several different ways with several different types of each and never came close.

Also I should mention that I only just started learning about tea this year. I couldn’t tell an Earl Grey from a FTGFOP Darjeeling when I started;).

Cheers!

Ken

Let’s first be clear about one thing: the dry tea smells awful. The last ingredients here are “genuine bourbon vanilla” and “artificial flavor,” and at least one of those is dissolved in some kind of unpleasant solvent. Seriously, I imagine that there are teenagers huffing this stuff somewhere in a (presumably vain) attempt to get high.

When it’s actually brewed, though, things are much more pleasant. The vanilla flavor actually mostly fades away, leaving a reasonable (if unexceptional) fruit tea, nice for chilly autumn/winter evenings.

Surprisingly, this is not vile. I know, I know. I’ve turned out to be so anti-Upton. I don’t mean to be. I’m just constantly disappointed by them. For the most part I’ve either not liked their teas or liked them enough that I would pick them up at a grocery store but not go out of my way to order them online. (There are a couple of exceptions that I would possibly order online but there are better versions at other vendors so I’d ultimately go to the other vendors.) Anyway, enough Upton-bashing (I seriously don’t mean to, it just happens.) On to the tea.

Without additives, I was kind of prepared to have to add sugar and milk to it to make it drinkable but nope, drank the whole cup straight. It’s surprisingly smooth with zero bitterness and a decently full flavor. The only problem I really have with it is the main flavor was kind of… fresh, young tree limb. I think it was the Darjeeling in there but it made me think of a Nilgiri (though a bit smoother) and that’s just not a flavor profile I’m in love with. It makes me think I’m munching on plant-life.

It’s definitely a mellow tea and that’s kind of nice but it makes me wonder how well it would truly hold up with milk and sugar. Though I gave some to the husband steeped for 4 minutes with milk and sugar and it was good enough that he was surprised when I told him it came from Upton. So apparently it can hold up to sugar and milk. Though I’m the type that likes to pee on the electric fence myself so I’ll try it later just to be sure. Until then, this rates as a decent tea that I would have no trouble drinking but would only buy if 1) I could find it at the grocery store and 2) There were no other better options there.

A very enjoyable smoky aroma with a pleasant and smooth liquor. Do not be afraid, it does NOT taste as it smells, the two senses conflict for an interesting and not unpleasant experience.

Amazing herbal tea. I will definitely have to add this to my permanent stock…
So relaxing!
(By the way, I love the name. Holy basil!)

Tiny tiny little CTC leaves. Once steeped, they don’t look like fun GrapeNut tea bits. Instead, it just looks mushy. So unfun CTC + Upton? Yeah, I anticipated lots of not greatness. So I used a generous teaspoon of sugar and a good sized dash of half & half in my 12 oz…. and it was good. Like, really good. The tea wasn’t covered up by the milky or the sweet, instead it was a great breakfast tea with just a bit of astringency hanging out at the end of the sip (but not so much as to make it feel bitter – though that could be the glop of half & half I put in).

Now, I can’t say how this is without additives (yet) and honestly, I’m a little nervous for it, but with? This blend makes for a nice stout and uncomplicated breakfast tea.

Yunnan and Assam — my two favorite regions tasting so great together. Mincing Lane has a permanent spot in my cabinet and my cup. That said, today’s pot finishes up my 250g tin. Time to reorder.

The Final Sipdown: Day 19
Decupboarding Total: 38

At first, this one didn’t seem as shiny as it did yesterday. But it perked up about half way through my cup. So I’m going to say that this is one that does best closer to luke warm.

Shockingly, my cupboard is nearing the 90 mark. It snuck below 100 without me noticing but seeing it so close to 90 makes me happy. So what am I doing to celebrate? Duh. Ordering more tea.

Upton and I haven’t been getting along much at all so I wasn’t expecting great things from this sample. In fact, I was planning on disliking this tea simply because I’m to the point where I just don’t like Upton. (Yes, I’m sulking about their general meh-ness and disappointing-ness. And I have no current plans to stop.) But, dangit, as much as I want to, I can’t dislike this tea. It’s good. Really good.

Boo.

The smell is strong but not overly thick – it’s all campfires, bark and crispy fall with no road tar or thick smoke syrup to be found. The taste initially seemed a little watery, which fell into my general “I don’t like Upton” plans. I don’t know if the flavor thickened up a bit as it cooled or if the flavor built upon itself as I continued to sip, but I that watery impression didn’t stay around for long. Instead, the taste is smoky but not overpowering or heavy. There’s a hint of sweet that flashes across my tongue every so often but I wouldn’t go so far to say it is a sweet lapsang. There is a taste at the end of the sip that’s a little warm and almost spicy. It blends with the bark-ish tea taste and brings to mind cinnamon. Not so much that it tastes of cinnamon, but rather gives a feel of cinnamon. It makes me think of unsweetened Snickerdoodles.

I’d say this tea compares pretty closely with Golden Moon’s lapsang, though I haven’t had that one recently enough to do much of a true comparison. I don’t believe this one is as sweet and it registers perhaps a little more on the autumn side of things. Regardless, it’s annoyingly tasty. Which means I can’t just dislike Upton across the board. Apparently, they do some teas right. Darn it.

This tea is smoky, but the flavor cannot follow the taste of the tea. The taste is too light then its flavor; weak balance. I put leaves a bit more than the standard (around 5g / 300ml). It’s not a perfect Keemun but I love it.

This is the first Keemun I have tasted from my sample stash from Upton. The dry leaves smell good – like it would brew into a dark, rich red and not earthy at all. However, when brewed it turns into a goldenish liquid with red undertones and somewhat an earthy taste. I did not get a chocolate-y flavour at all.
Not particularly memorable but perhaps mixing it with some Ceylon could be nice.

I have tried a few different jasmine silver needle type teas, and of the ones that I’ve tried, this one is my least favorite. I am not exactly sure what it is about this tea, but, it isn’t as good as it could be (based upon previous experiences).

The jasmine flavor is overpowering and too sharp and even bitter tasting, while the white tea flavor is nearly non-existent as it has been overwhelmed by the jasmine.

This is quite disappointing, actually. Not one I’d recommend to others.

The Final Sipdown: Day 10
Decupboarding Total: 18

Since I slacked yesterday (though not intentionally), I plan on decupboarding three teas today to keep my goal of two per day. So let’s all just pretend that it is yesterday for the next few minutes.

I was waiting to see how this tea went with additives before I rated it, hoping some sugar and creamer would help perk it up. Well, this morning I had it with additives and yeah, not a fan. It just tastes so flat and cardboard-y. Not even good cardboard but boring, slightly dirty, uninteresting cardboard. There’s a bit of a nutty-bitter taste at the end but it’s not even a strong enough nutty flavor to be interesting. It’s just flat and boring. I’m sure there is some caffeine content to it and if I think about it, I might be able to agree with the “clean” bit of the tasting notes so the tea isn’t a total loss. But frankly, I can pick up more interesting and tastier blends at the grocery store.

Oops, I forgot to log this one when I was on Steepster earlier (ironically backlogging last night’s teas). The bits of leaf are decently small so I was expecting a strong brew. And it is. I tried it first without additives fully intending on adding sugar and half & half after a few sips. And yes, the additives were desired but I was trying to get computer-related things done and ended up not going back to the kitchen for tea doctoring until I was over halfway through the cup.

It’s malty, nutty, stout and chewy with a little old-nut-esque bitter at the end (a note that seems pretty typical of the stouter Assams for me). I did finally add sugar and half & half but I added too much for the small amount of tea left so it ended up more like tea-flavored sweet milk (which was actually pretty good but not a good representation of the tea).

Currently, this reminds me a lot of Taylors of Harrogate’s Pure Assam, though with a bit less intensity to the bitter-nut taste. I’m going to hold off rating this until I can doctor it properly and then see how it floats my boat then.

Noooo its all gone for now =( must order more!!!