Upton Tea Imports

Nothing special. It doesn’t have any of the chocolatey hints you’d normally get in a Yunnan, just a generic “black tea” taste. Just something I’d drink when I don’t want to use any of my Black Snail or a flavored tea.

Golden monkey style teas have always been a staple in my tea cupboard and Upton always offers a couple solid versions that serve well as regular drinkers. This one has a nice aroma—raisin, plum and a little smokey tobacco. The taste reminds me of the brittle caramelized top of a creme brulee partnered with the earthiness of prunes. It’s very smooth, moderately dark, a tad smokey and has a great, long-lasting aftertaste.

Everyone has experienced that moment when you stand in front of your stash, ruminating over your choice for the day, saying to yourself, “I really should drink this one today; it’s been awhile.” But then you choose that same comforting selection that you reach for maybe six or seven times out of ten. This golden monkey is one of the latter.

This is a very nice tea. A definite must buy for me.

Very even, short, finely twisted wiry strands of tea – since I’m using my black Korean strainer cup, these are the only appearance remarks I’ll bother with for now.

The aroma of the dry leaf has a pronounced sweetness suggesting orange blossoms, vanilla, and rosewater. There are some subtler spice notes as well, hinting at pipe tobacco or even nutmeg. Unique and inviting.

Aromas largely dissipate in the infusion, though their signature remains coherent.

The flavor is very smooth, faintly malty; clean, yet rich. Arguably the platonic ideal of a Medarata Ceylon, where you get a wonderful natural balance between the nuance of Udarata teas and the strength of Pahatha teas. Slightly tannic woodsy finish.

Fairly creamy mouth-feel, this would likely take a splash of milk, and isn’t subject to excessive bitterness when brewed for longer than recommended. In my strainer cup, it yields at least two solid re-infusions when I increased the brew time by a minute each time.

Nutty taste with some spiciness to it. A pleasant morning tea.

Malty taste without anything else of note. I have always wanted to try Japanese non-green teas, so at least I’ve got that done.

Not loving this. It’s pretty smokey, though not as bad as the Mincing Lane Breakfast Blend I tried and gave away last week. I bought an absolutely (to me) enormous bag of it because there wasn’t a sample size — 4.4 oz. Will probably offer to send it to someone on the Discussions board, unless someone reading my tasting notes would like it :)

Brewed in my Korean infuser cup, roughly following the directions from Upton.

Auburn liquor has a delicate fall aroma, though I struggle to pick out individual scents. The flavors are likewise subdued – with vague river-stone and floral notes – though the finish is distinctly nutty, bringing to mind walnuts, apricot pits, almonds, or pecans. Muscatel presence throughout reminds you this is indeed a Darjeeling. Velvety mouth-feel, with just enough astringency to dry out the finish (though I’m not sure I’d call this a “brisk” tea).

While this has the delicacy I’d expect from a first flush, it is interesting to note how different in appearance it is, not only to other AV-2 clonal teas, but even to previous incarnations of Castleton Moonlight (e.g. the 2014 first flush, available from JAS-eTea, which is substantially greener).

Made at work, boiled water in microwave. 8 oz water, 1 tsp of tea, 3.5 min brew.

At first I really enjoyed this tea. Had a malty, cocoa-ish vanilla thing going on. Tasted comforting, which is what I’m looking for in tea! Then it started to either become kind of astringent tasting, or I started picking up on the mineral flavor that’s listed as one of it’s flavors on its Steepster page. I don’t think I’m capable of telling the difference between those yet.

Second steep I boiled water in the microwave again, then brewed for 4.5 minutes. I’m getting more of the astringent flavor.

I don’t want to count this tea out because I liked it so much at first taste, and my work set up is pretty crappy. I think I’ll bring it home and use with better water boiled in an actual kettle and see how that goes!

I’ve had this the last several mornings. I like it, but nothing about it leaps out to me. Yesterday I used 1.5 tsp with a 4 min steep and felt like it ended up a bit astringent. Today I used 1 tsp with a 4 min steep and was much happier with it. For a second steep I did 5 min, which I think I would increase to 5.5 or 6 min next time.

Hmm, I don’t think I like this one. It’s very smokey for me and that’s not really my thing.

I have been trying to find a loose-leaf version of Constant Comment that isn’t ACTUALLY Constant Comment.

This isn’t it, but it’s close.

It’s a little too heavy on the orange, tipping into the range where I can taste that it’s been added in artificially. It’s also missing the blend of spices I prefer, hitting clove and mostly leaving out nutmeg or cinnamon. Milk definitely helps with this one but it’s not one I’ll be getting again.

I have enjoyed Earl Grey for years. For ages, I would take it ‘british’, with ample sugar and cream. Once I started traveling more often, I started seeking a way to keep the soft creme notes in the tea without having to actually keep dairy around since it was getting very wasteful.

This tea is, by far, the best way to enjoy that same sort of flavor without needing creamer of any type.

Upton included a free sample of this with an order that was given to me as a Christmas gift. As others who have reviewed it have noted, the strong scent and dark color of this tea left me surprised at its mild flavor. For me, that was a good thing—I’m not a big fan of strong black teas. Nonetheless, although it was enjoyable enough, there was nothing about this tea that would compel me to want to buy it. In the past, I have been able to significantly improve my ratings of some black teas by adjusting steeping time and/or temperature. In this particular case, I feel like I hit a decent balance in the first steeping, and there’s probably not much I can do to extract more flavor without making the result overly astringent.

A favorite, go-to tea. Brewed strong with milk and sugar.

Lovely greenish-yellow infusion, bears repeated steepings becoming buttery by about the third steeping.

Meh. Nice enough flavor but not very strong. Doesn’t hold up well to milk.

I sometimes add a bit of Assam along with it. Towards the end of the package I sometimes need to supplement with additional cardamon pods. A great favorite. I brew it with sugar in the pot and add milk generously.

Makes a nice cup plain or with milk and sugar.