Upton Tea Imports
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Twiggles was my SweeTEA and she spoiled me with an Upton Valentine’s Sampler! YAY! I wasn’t going to have this one first because this is the only one of the 4 in the sample that I have had before but you know what…I had a hell of a week and I think all rules should be thrown out the window! I know I love this one and it brings me the comfort I need today! Ahhhhhh! So glad to have this one back in my cupboard! Can’t wait to try the other three!
Don’t know what you have until it’s gone!? Perhaps! This is the last of my stash and I am already sad to see it go! I needed the tin for matcha tho! LOL
Check out my other tasting notes for more info on this…as for this time around…it’s bold and dark but I can’t taste the floral or chocolate as much as last time(s). Still a great cup tho!
http://sororiteasisters.com/2010/09/07/chocolate-earl-grey-te13-from-upton-tea-imports/
Starting my day with this and LOVING it! Bad thing tho…I’m almost out of my stash! After Today I am thinking enough for one more serving!
Today I reviewed this in greater length over at SororiTEA Sisters! Check it out! And I hope you will become a fan on Facebook!
See my other review for a more in depth look at this one. :)
This time around I just want to say that the aroma is still awesome and the taste is still very good. Not as much chocolate this time around but the lemon is lovely and a nose ahead of the bergamot. This one is still on my REALLY ENJOY List!!!
2nd infusion…
I totally agree with LiberTEAS that this tastes completely different on the 2nd Infusion!
It’s still good, however.
It smells like a gentle earl grey and cream.
The taste is still very smooth with a bit of sugary-ness to it and orange, floral, and cocoa hints hiding underneath.
This is a great infusion. Still a lovely tea overall…a nice treat!
Have I mentioned that LiberTEAS spoils me!? :P
This smells AWESOME! It’s pure chocolate and Earl Grey! WOW! Just what I had HOPED it would smell like! Or…in my case…orange chocolate/Earl Grey-ish even! YAY!
I’m just finishing up the infusion…
I’m told I need to try 2 infusions with this so I will – here’s what I found with the first one…
The aroma changes completely after infusion is complete. It’s still pleasant but not as awesome…I guess you could say. I can’t pick out each flavor like before. This doesn’t bother me too much because this often happens with flavored teas – as you know.
It’s infuses very dark brown and has a bit of cloudiness to it…I am assuming from the sugary-chocolate bits.
The taste is different but very good. I would say I can taste the cocoa type taste first then it quickly changes into a chocolate…so almost first being hot cocoa taste but then more of a chocolate bar taste. From there you can taste the black tea but then quickly changes into more of a bergamot and chocolate type taste. It ends more of a chocolaty-black tea flavored taste. Thru-out the entire sip it’s very smooth and the flavor changes intrigue me.
This is the first cup in a long time I have had to think about it with each sip (more than just a few sips, that is)
This one kept my attention going strong the entire time.
I continue to type and think as I write this…
As it cools at room temp for a few mins I can taste a chocolate-woodsy-black tea type taste for the after taste more. This certainly isn’t a bad thing (in my book).
Again, very smooth and creamy thru-out the cup!
This tea is much like an adventure! I like it!
And so it begins.
A dear friend gifted me one of these http://camellia-sinensis.com/teapot/fiche/Mr.+Chen+teapot+CH-5 and it arrived on Wednesday afternoon. I used the last of my Upton Tea Celestial Tribute shou pu-erh to season the pot using the method that David Duckler enumerated here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wzsBNHO6C4
My car had a series of unexpected problems over the past two weeks, only a small fraction of which was covered by insurance, and so my plans to order lots of unusual and exotic teas is on hold until my checkbook can recover from the trauma. Meanwhile, my usual order from Upton of black dragon, yunnan gold rare grade and wang pu-erh will have to keep me sustained.
The great news, of course, is that this means I have a shou seasoned yixing and I have shou tea leaves!
I have to say, this brand new pot should be greedy, stealing most of the flavor of this first steep (after a rinse), and yet, the flavor and mouth feel of this cup are as full and lovely as they ever are.
Does anyone know if any real development actually still goes on with the Steepster code base? It seems to me they need to separate actual tasting notes from our daily drinking logs. We’ve made this into a very social space, and a kind of “tea journal” but all that information ends up cluttering up the pages for the actual teas and makes it hard to find new teas to try when you have to read through all the bits about someone’s day.
I want us to keep the social aspect, but I think the site would be a lot richer if there was a static area for tasting notes, and review which you could update or leave alone, and then a tea diary that was tied to your profile, but not the tea pages. Hmmm…
Preparation
After a weekend of excessively rich meals (Teala’s seafood enchiladas, Backstreet Cafe’s lamb chops, Hugo’s Mexican brunch…) with the in-laws I feel in desperate need to get back to basics. This calls for many cups of pu-erh.
As much as I know about, appreciate in, and enjoy partaking of fine foods, I have to say that as I age, I find myself more interested in knowing about them and talking about them and less interested in actually eating them. Indulging leaves me feeling at the same time soft and stiff.
Many cups of shu will get me back to feeling firm and limber in a day or two.
Preparation
Anyone else find that frequent shu consumption has a heinous effect on the color of one’s teeth in spite of vigorous and frequent brushing? Anyone found a solution? I’ve been indulging in dozen steep binges of this stuff for three days and my blood stream feels fantastic and my teeth look like a nightmare clown.
Baking soda brushing. This works on my stainless steepers when there is a lingering odor also from Lapsang Souchong ultra smoky tea. I see you are a Chanter! Blessings for the upcoming Holy Week and Pascha! My brother is a Deacon in California (Antiochian) and I attend a Greek Orthodox Church in Loveland, CO (St. Spyridon).
Indeed, Bonnie! I mix baking soda with a tiny bit of salt. Sometimes I add a drop of peppermint oil.
Bonnie ~ Blessed Lent! I have an icon of St. Spyridon in my corner. He prays for the health of my ears (long story).
I’ll try the baking sode. I’d given up on a number of baking soda toothpastes, but I suspect that is because they are all hype.
And thanks for the reminder, Jim! I have been needing to brighten up the pearly whites myself and just haven’t walked into the kitchen to get the baking soda at brushing time! I will make a point of it today! I need to add a little salt for the extra scrubbing power. It has been a while since I have done this! I mix everything in a tiny cup and keep it by the sink for a few days.
We only have kosher salt in the house. I can’t see that going well.
Don’t scratch your teeth! You need a paste on your teeth and try to leave it for a minute then rinse and repeat. There are toothpastes for smokers that might work too.
LOL. No. Keep brushing
My dentist actually makes fun of me because they think I’m hiding a smoking habit by claiming I drink a lot of tea.
Give your dentist Pu-erh! Dentists should know that tea is actually good for your teeth. Helps prevent decay unless you load up with cream and sugar! I suppose a rinse after drinking the tea would be a good idea but I hate losing the taste that should stay for awhile. This is getting gross! Like my friends son putting a fish he caught in his sock drawer and forgetting about it. OOwwww!
I’ve heard that green tea is good for teeth. Is this true of all tea?
At the end of the day I don’t care about having sparkling white teeth (I never have cavities), but shu pu-erh seems to make them especially discolored and it would be nice to address it simply.
I’ll pick up an extra box of baking soda and try it.
I have indeed read that tea in general is good for your teeth, and our dentist recommends it. Apparently the naturally occurring fluoride is very good for teeth. So though the teeth may stain, they are less likely to get cavities. My two kids who love black tea have never had a cavity even though they put sugar in…more sugar than I care for them to have and I fuss about it! The two older kids did not used to drink tea and they DID have cavities! I don’t do any of the tooth bleaching, just brush and go to the dentist, but I have noticed lately a stain on one tooth and it is probably from puerh as you mentioned. The tea is well worth it! :) I just read an article from Wake Med that said green and white tea is best for helping prevent cancer and black tea is best for protecting the heart and arteries, so I guess we should drink any of it we like!
The only thing you must watch out for is if you take blood pressure medication, green tea lowers your blood pressure and you should not drink lots of green tea. I heard this from the Pharmacist!!!! Blood pressure can go too low!!! Warning!!!!!
I try to rotate my way through all the different varieties. Having a wife who studies Japan keeps me well stocked in green tea at any rate.
The only time I ever add anything to tea is I put a bit of lemon into black teas with strong astringency — but only if they aren’t particularly high quality tea.
This page from Wikipedia is a pretty good introduction to the pros and cons of drinking tea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_tea
Most of the health risks seem to stem from drinking lousy, mass produced tea. Kind of like the health risks for red meat stem predominantly from eating “factory farmed” animals etc. etc.
It would be nice if the gubbamint would stop fluorinating our water given that all toothpaste now contains it and we’re find it in more and more of the things we consume in or with food.
Gongfu Madness returns!
Four steepings into a common pot. All 5 seconds.
The result borders on overwhelming in complexity.
This is why I love shu.
Preparation
I’ve always wondered if loose leaf puerh is as good or better than the cakes. I do want to order this one…….well possibly. I really do want to experience puerh cakes this year.
I’ve stopped trying to chase the “best” pu-erh. That way leads to madness.
Just bought my third loose puerh tonight. It tastes pretty good, but I think my tuo chas have had more flavor.
Which one?
I bought Rishi Classic Puerh tonight. I have Osmanthhus Puerh from purepuer.com and Ancient Puerh Classic from Southern Season. A long time ago I also had their Organic Five Year Aged puerh, and it was pretty good.
You are correct Jim. It leads to madness….
I can’t say with certainty, ashmanra, but I suspect you would find this one from Upton to be on a slightly different level than either a tea from Rishi or a flavored pu-erh.
I may be biased, though, because I find getting mini tuocha to break open to be a huge pain in the rear aiming for very short steeps.
You have made this one sound so tempting, and I am trying trying to be good and not order more tea but I have caved twice this week already! LOL! I have one tuo cha type that doesn’t break down until the second steep and even then it is slow, and I have another that falls apart instantly. The ones from A Southern Season are somewhere in between. Their loose puerh is pretty good, too. One of them has the fishy aroma, but it tastes okay. The other is really horsey, which I like! :)
I have to say, I think gongfu is far better suited to pu-erh than it is to a lot of other tea. On the whole I haven’t been super impressed with the increase in steeps compared to, shall we say, “leaf commitment” with most teas, but here I am on my third steep of this pu-erh that I made about 10 or 12 cups of yesterday — same leaves.
I was going to finally take the plunge on the wild arbor sheng today, but maybe I’ll hold off. After I milk this shu a bit longer, I’ll need to change up the flavor profile a bit more dramatically than that.
Preparation
I go a total of 6 or 7 steeps out of the da hong pao. I think I made one error early on that, when corrected next time will result in better cups, and more of them.
So, it has been quite a while since I have had this pu-erh.
And I have never done short steeps with this tea.
The dry leaf is richly loamy to the nose. The wet leaf is like a freshly plowed field (not fertilized ;-)
1st ~ The liqueur is actually amber in color and the flavor is much more “open” than what I would get in the past with much longer steeps. The profile itself is the same, just presented in a different manner.
2nd ~ This steep is already black as night and the brew is that heady, thick, earthy cave that surrounds you. Shu may be a cheap imitation to some people, but I will always love it for what it is, not what it is not. I can already feel my Yi awakening.
3rd ~ Off to the races. Complex, mellow, warming, a hint of sharpness lingers on the tongue after swallowing.
Lots more steeps to follow, clearly.
Preparation
“love it for what it is, not what it is not”, excellent words that should be applied to all kinds of tea.
True. Although I think it is especially important with pu-erh. There are people who get so into the serious nature of the process of this tea that they can begin to think of shu as a pale shadow rather than simply letting it be shu. I don’t find very many similarities between the two and see it more as a mimicry of process than a mimicry of results in a cup, so I don’t quite understand the compulsion to degrade shu because it doesn’t taste like sheng.
Well said….
There is almost nothing left in my cupboard right now, after a long Spring of many teas. Gone soon will be the lapsang, gone already are the Taiwanese oolong, the golden teas and all the other deep, dark flavors. Gone even is the decaf English Breakfast. I’ll probably replace them with bright, Japanese greens for the Summer months.
But I ordered 500g of this pu-erh and I’ve been making it in increasingly smaller and smaller pots as I’ve gone to these much shorter steeping times. So… this is gonna linger a bit. If I had it stored in ceramic instead of aluminum, I’d just put it up until October, but I don’t want it to taste like tin.
