Upton Tea Imports

Sipdown no. 63 of 2018 (no. 419 total). Sample tin.

A very tiny bit left in the tin (1.5 spoons full) so I dumped it into a mix for cold steeping along with the Tea Table Keemun Hoa Ya A and some Leland Tea Snickerdoodle to see what that would do.

It’s a truly odd black iced tea, neither fish nor fowl and not as strong as I would have expected.

But I have nothing of interest to add to my original note on this one.

This is the fourth and last of the teas in the British Blend sampler. I have to say I really like the little tins Upton uses for its sampler sets. They’re very cute.

The darjeeling owns the smell of the dry leaves here, along with a little smokiness that must be from the Keemun. Fruity and smoky. Yum. The Ceylon seems to be coming out more in the steeped tea’s aroma. I am getting that sort of berry undercurrent I’ve found in other Ceylons.

The tea is flavorful and medium bodied bordering on full with a mouthfeel that is thicker than water but not thick enough to feel like it’s coating your throat. I didn’t try it with additives yet. It doesn’t really need it, at 3 minutes of steeping. There’s nothing harsh or bitter about it. It has some astringency.

It’s deceptively simple tasting. It seems to me sort of a Rorschach inkblot of black teas. If you want to find a chocolate note in here, I think you can. Vanilla, probably. Fruit? Definitely. Nut, I think so. Smoke? At tad. Wood? Some. Earth, probably. Name some other things you typically find in tea and if you let your mind wander during the tasting you can probably convince yourself it’s there. At least until you’re more highly caffeinated than I am this morning, as this is my first caffeine of the day.

Finished my sample yesterday. I ended up drinking it just to get rid of it rather than because I liked it. It’s not bad, it’s certainly drinkable, but it’s not to my tastes either. I’ve got myself a lovely new tin of the CTC Irish Breakfast and I will be sticking with that! mmm.

Tried this again with cooler water, and I’m still not a fan. It’s just got too much ceylon in it to really be an Irish Breakfast to me. I’d accept it as an English Breakfast maybe, but it’s just not making me too happy. I’ll finish my sample but I don’t plan on getting more. I think it’d probably suit other people just fine, but for me…not doing it at all.

Short steeping time and fairly hot temp — because I couldn’t wait to try it. I’m thirsty and so it might not be the best time for me to drink a brand-new tea, but I wanted something plain black.

It’s pretty nice, but not quite what I want for an everyday tea. My first impression of the similar Upton offering, the CTC Irish Breakfast Assam tea, was much nicer. It may be the hot temperature but this one is a little more bitter and astringent — this reminds me more of English Breakfast or English Afternoon tea than the malty taste I want from an Irish tea. That said, despite not suiting my tastes, It’s quite a good blend and well worth a try, and I definitely look forward to finishing my sample using lower-temp water.

Doulton’s Shakespeare: A Tasting Note in 5 Acts
Act IV scene 3

Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Julius Caesar, Act II scene 2

I’ll be the first to admit that I have a very limited experience with Darjeeling teas. I couldn’t find any other Namring teas by Upton on Steepster, so I went ahead and checked out Upton’s website and they’re onto the 2nd flush of this tea. I’m drinking first flush. So I kept the heading for this tea basic and if it does indeed need some clarification on the tea name, then by all means adjust it.

Er, it seems like a Darjeeling from the dry leaves to the steeped. It walks like a Darjeeling tea, it quacks like a Darjeeling tea, therefore it must be a Darjeeling tea. I agree with the descriptions of “woody” and “nutty.” I could possibly squint my tastebuds and give it a “fruity.” Finishing with a sweetness? Not so much. It starts off quite pleasant and soft, but as the cup cools it gets more “bitey.” I only did one steep which is quite a rarity for me, but a big reason for that is that I have to be at work early tomorrow and needed to switch to tisanes STAT.

I dub this tea the character Julius Caesar. It seems a bit cockey and sure of itself. It believes that it’s entitled to a 100 rating. That it’s a tea god among tea men. I am its Brutus, stabbing it with my pointy knife saying “yeah, you’re not all that and a bag of chips.” It’s a fine tea, but nothing that has me wanting to back it up when the Ides of March rolls around. NE

The unintended consequence of opening sample no. 3 from the Upton British Blend sampler today is that I now have Gerry Rafferty doing the backstroke through my brain repeatedly. At least the saxophone is awesome.

Tippy leaves ranging from dark, almost black to light, almost tan, though mostly in the chocolate brown range. Dry, it smells smoky. I’m getting salted, charbroiled meat. Nice.

The aroma of the steeped tea is not very smoky at all. It’s fruity. Kind of a stonefruit mixed with grape smell. Very nice. The liquor is dark, close to a brandy color, but redder.

If you like smoky, this is really delicious. And if you only sort of like smoky, you should give this a try because it’s a pretty mild, smooth intro to smoky tasting teas. To be clear, I like smoky, I like piney. I like drinking campfires. The part I can live without is feeling like there’s smoke coating my nose hairs so that I continue to breathe it in long after the tea is gone, but I’m willing to do that to enjoy smoky tea.

Baker Street isn’t harsh or tarry, and it doesn’t make me feel like I’m going to be smelling smoke for three days after drinking it. The darjeeling contributes a brightness that keeps the blend from tasting like tree resin, and there’s a fair amount of the signature darjeeling flavor in the finish. There’s a hint of pine, but it’s mild. The smoke itself isn’t even the most obvious taste. The most obvious taste to me is a fruity woodiness.

I’m liking this one a lot. It’s got ooomph, but it doesn’t hit like a ton of bricks. Despite its name, I think it would make a really good start to the morning.

A good strong black tea. I’ve been drinking this every morning for about 3 weeks and enjoying it very much. Drinking it is reminiscent of drinking coffee, however I put down the coffee mug several months ago in favor of the tea mug. It is like coffee in that it has an aftertaste like coffee, and has a very heavy, oven-roasted flavor. (This could be an effect of my using nearly boiling water to steep it though)

The leaves are very fine BOP colored dark red/brown with golden pieces interspersed. My upper lip goes numb when I drink River Shannon, so I would say there is some caffeine in it, or cocaine.

I think the most important thing here is not to get the water too hot…I’ve only just started drinking this again after temporarily running out of filters and it’s quite pleasant, but it does seem to get bitter faster with close-to-boiling water rather than cooler fare.

Oops — steeped this one a bit too long this time. It wasn’t good. It wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t good. It steeps to perfection quickly, but that also means it oversteeps quickly! Be careful!

Perfect for breakfast — it steeps super-fast with great taste. I think it gives a fuller flavor than the Twinings Irish Breakfast teabags, but steeps in about the same time. I need to experiment with water temperature to find the highest it can stand.

I definitely like this one better than River Shannon — it’s pure Assam tea rather than a blend of Assam and Ceylon. I think it’s more a matter of personal taste, though, as I love the Assam.

My second infusion of these leaves was a different cup entirely! I now taste more of the citrus-y flavors. And the bergamot! The chocolate has developed into a savory cacao flavor rather than the sweet chocolate flavor that I experienced with the first infusion.

Both infusions are very delicious… and I think the fact that the two infusions are so different from one another makes this tea even more enchanting, so I am therefore raising the numeric rating just a bit!

This is one of the most unusual Earl Grey teas I’ve ever encountered, and yep… that’s just why I ordered the sample of it – I simply had to try a Chocolate flavored Earl Grey tea.

The chocolate in this blend is surprisingly strong, while the bergamot is a bit more subdued… I really expected it to be the other way around. A very pleasant blend! I may have to actually order more of this one. A very good chocolate blend.

Sipdown no. 17 of 2023 (no. 675 total).

I just had one of those little Fancy Feast sized cans that Upton sent out samplers in when I bought this, so it took really no time at all to sip down the last little bit.

In looking back at my original note, I expected smokiness but found none back when this was young. The same was true after it had aged. I don’t have a lot to add to the original note. It was a pleasant breakfast tea.

The second in the British Blend Sampler. The web site’s description for the plain Russian Caravan says it has teas from India, China, and Formosa, so this must as well. There is some tippiness to the leaves. Also some twigginess. I wish my senses were sophisticated enough to be able to tell what’s what from the sight and smell of the leaves. I looked up Russian Caravan and Wikipedia says it is a blend of Oolong, Keemun and Lapsang Souchong.

Which is fascinating because after it steeps, it smells like Darjeeling to me. Doesn’t taste so much like it, though. There could well be oolong in this. The mouth feel is soft and silky, and there’s a nutty/stone fruit butteriness to the flavor. I don’t taste smoke except maybe barely in the finish, so if there is lapsang in this it’s a very small amount. I am thinking that what I smelled as Darjeeling is probably Keemun. It has a sort of grapey fruitiness.

The aftertaste is sweet and slightly buttery. I’m in yumsville, liking this one quite a bit.

Sipdown no. 15 of 2018 (no. 371 total). Sample tin.

We did end up going away for the weekend. I put the last of this in the fridge to steep cold before we left, and I worried that it would be a mess when we got back — it wasn’t ready to strain when we hit the road. I was too tired to mess with it last night, which compounded the problem. Plus, I didn’t put as much tea in the pitcher as I normally do, because there wasn’t enough left to get a full 8 spoons. I hoped for the best because the leaves are so tiny and balled up, I thought the density might make up for the lack of spoons.

Still, I expected the worst.

But. This morning I strained it and tasted it and it’s a perfectly fine cold tea. The ceylon gives it a typical iced tea flavor which is a nice change since most of my iced teas lately have been chais.

This is the first in the Upton British Blend sampler, and I was having a feeling of deja vu when I read what’s in it. River Shannon Breakfast Blend, also an Upton tea, though not part of the British Blend sampler, is also a mix of Ceylon and Assam. I was wondering how they’d be different. Proportions? Estates? Both? Neither?

When I looked at the Bond Street, I discovered one difference. It must be CTC, as the leaves look like coffee grounds. Or very tiny pebbles. River Shannon is Orthodox, so one part of the mystery solved. I can smell the Assam in the Bond Street’s dry leaves, but it doesn’t have that bakey smell I don’t like, fortunately.

It’s has a fairly dark orange-brown liquor with some red in there as well. It smells and tastes like a brisk black breakfast blend tea. Like a pretty standard brisk black breakfast blend tea, though with more depth of flavor and a fuller body than a restaurant grade tea, and certainly better than any teabag black tea I’ve tried.

I must remember to do a side by side tasting of this with River Shannon and see how they compare.

It is amazing what a little roasting can do to yerba mate. Green, mate tastes like a strong green tea; Roasted, it is like a mellow, chocolaty black tea.

I’ve yet to try this tea iced, but I’m skeptical if the flavors will transfer over cold. I think it will probably work in a tea latte, though.

This is a good choice if you like oolongs with a toasty and sweet taste. It does not have an “earthy” taste. I am experimenting with Yxing teapots and I used 10 grams to make about 48 ozs of tea. I did this with a rather large teapot that holds 10.5 oz. This might seem a bit large, but the leaves did eventually expand and take up most of the volume. I started out with a 15 second steep (using water at 212) and added about 10 seconds to each succeeding steep. I got 48 oz after about 8 steeps, and the leaves would have yielded more. So this tea isn’t quite as pricey as it seems. The flavor was rich and delicious.

I ordered several samples from Upton a while ago, and the package arrived as I was sick so I had to put off trying them… and I’m just getting around to trying the first of them now…

Hmm… Breakfast Blend at 7:20 in the evening. OK!

I tried it first without any sweetener or milk… and it’s really good like that, but, I think I prefer it with a little milk and honey. Without the milk and honey: wine-like quality to it, hints of black currant. Also a woodsy note as well as a deep, yet subtle spicy tone.

With milk and honey: much nicer! the spicy notes come out to play a little more, the woodsy note seems to have been replaced with a molasses-y, honey-ish sort of characteristic. The wine note is less discernible but still present in the finish. It has a very tannic quality to it.

Nice! Now, I’m off to the TRB to submit a review of it!

Sipdown no. 3 of May 2019 (no. 65 of 2019 total, no. 553 grand total). Sample tin.

I have been drinking the Harney Viennese Earl Grey fairly regularly also given its rating, and I prefer this one. It’s mellower, and the bergamot isn’t quite as strong.

In fact, I think it needs a bit of a bump in the rating as I say goodbye.

In other news, I am seeing the light at the end of the chamomile tunnel! (At least for the pure chamomile, which is among the lowest rated items in my cupboard.) I need to learn that I am not a straight chamomile fan, try as I might. I kept thinking it would be nice to have around to round out my collection, but the truth is it just takes up space.

Also, I am down to 19 cupboard pages as of this sipdown! Huzzah!