Upton Tea Imports
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This tea is probably one of the best examples of a Vanilla tea that we’ve encountered. It is a standard black tea, very much in line with the generic term, “China Black”. That said, it is a good quality tea base with a full black tea flavor.
The tea is advertised as a full-leaf tea, however, when wet, it reveals itself as a machine processed tea. The leaves are broken, cut and relatively small. This is in line with the tea being a standard China Black. Even though it does not appear to be a proper full-leaf tea, the base is still substantial enough to support the vanilla flavor.
This tea uses actual pieces of vanilla bean along with some artificial flavoring. The beans are exactly as they appear in the image, chopped pieces. In a sealed container, no doubt the oils from the bean pieces infuse with the tea. The flavoring is added for extra punch and works wonderfully.
Some drinkers may flinch at the use of artificial flavorings, however, Upton makes clear that the products they use are labeled according to FDA regulations which are fairly specific. However, Upton’s marketing material states, “…the so-called nature-identical flavorings which are used on most of our flavored teas, must be listed as artificial.” In other words, nothing to worry about here. Drink your tea.
The vanilla aroma is strongly present in the dry tea, and the liquor is properly infused with it as well. The subtle sweetness that vanilla offers is found throughout the sip and even lingers in the back of the mouth. The bean pieces really solidify what the added flavoring may not add, thus this tea has a creaminess to it.
We would go so far to say that this is one of the best Vanilla Teas available.
Note: Upton Tea is an importer, they repackage and sell teas from around the world. They are not blenders. This tea is a product of Germany and is blended there. Some members of the Leafbox staff are familiar with numerous German tea blenders and merchants. Vanilla tea is a standard tea in Germany available from numerous sources, this one ranks among the best of that segment as well.
Our tasters found this tea to be complimented well with a bar of good chocolate nearby.
Preparation
How strange that they have to label nature-identical flavouring as artificial! Our teas are either flavoured with natural, artificial or nature-identical and are just labeled as ‘flavouring’. I realise it will vary country to country, but its still odd considering people are so turned off by flavouring labelled as artificial these days!
Everything is better with chocolate! ;)
Okay…so…same case here…finishing up my stash of this stuff and had too much for a regular cuppa and too little for another cuppa…so I infused 2 T or so of loose leaf for 3 minutes or under. I sure can smell the cocoa today…which is really, really nice! Even with the severe amount change this is pleasantly YUMMY. I can taste just-enough Cinnamon/cardamom and the cocoa is great.
So…this one is supposed to be the Shiz-nat, eh!? :)
It smells a little like snickerdoodle and black tea. I’m just finishing up the infusion now.
It’s a reddish-brown in color, medium.
It doesn’t taste like snickerdoodle. It is a like a paler chai…cinnamon but not over the top, thankfully…it’s the perfect amount! This is pretty good…will be trying again!
Thanks J for sending this to me! :P
Thank you Jacqueline for sending me a goodie bag or BOX of tea!!!! YOU ROCK! This is the first one I have tried! It was nice…great morning tea, I think. Dark. Starts semi-smooth ends pretty bold.
I made the first cup in the Zarafina, so I’m not sure how long it brewed for. It was very light and tasted slightly of apples. Okay, but mildly disappointing. I’ll probably try in the triniTEA next time so I can make sure it gets the full recommended 8 minutes to brew.
Beautiful, curly greenish brown leaves!
First steep: Woody and nutty. I don’t taste sweetness or bitterness (and I didn’t add anything to this tea) – very even. So enjoyable to sip. I could see this being great with a meal.
Second steep (4min): Sweeter and just as nutty.
Third steep (5 min): Tastes very similar to the 2nd steep!
Fourth steep: (6 min): Just a tad lighter tasting. Incredible! I’ve had enough for this afternoon, but maybe on another day I’ll find myself going for a fifth, sixth, seventh!
I need to take this home with me because I could really see steeping this all day on a day off – how pleasurable!
Preparation
I was just telling Ricky how much I can’t wait to place my 1st UTI order. I was originally looking at theirs when I was looking at matcha sets.
I really like their teas and the company. They are fast, no nonsense, and a good value – and they send the orders with cornstarch packing peanuts which you can compost or even put water on and they will dissolve! That thrilled me :) I’m so silly!
Dissolve? Sweet! Is the water safe to pour down the sink drain then? (We have a well)
It says that they are completely biodegradable so I would think so – you can even dissolve them then pour it out on the grass somewhere if you are afraid. I have a compost bin so I put them in there :) I even put all my used tea in the compost bin. I like knowing that last years tea that I enjoyed so much will help this year’s veggies grow in the spring and summer!
I’d love a compost bin- but mom doesn’t want one.
My husband didn’t like the idea – he thought it would smell bad! But I talked him into it because our town was offering $10 compost bins if you attended a composting class – so I went and we’ve been composting since Earth Day 2008. No bad smells at all.
if you have a septic system, don’t flush the cornstarch packing peanuts!! I know someone who discovered that this is a very expensive mistake!
Thanks for the advice, but I’d put them outside or down the sink drain.
The sink goes to the septic tank as well. These will mess up a septic system.
Gotcha- outside it goes then.
fcmonroe – I’m glad you knew that! I would have felt terrible forever if I messed up Cofftea’s well with packing peanuts!!!!!!!
Haha JacquelineM, I’m sure my mom would have said something.:)
You say that you need to take this home with you, where were you enjoying this?
At work! I have a little hot pot, small thermometer, and tea-for-one pot on my desk. I have my tins of tea in my desk drawer with some fillable paper tea bags. It’s working out even better than I hoped! (I work at an art school in a really old building – we don’t have a kitchen or anything like that in our office so we do what we can :) Another coworker has a coffeepot and we have a little fridge in the area where we keep the student folders and we make do!).
Excellent tea that is full of magic…enchanting flavors, great color and as silky-smooth as a tea can get.
Unfortunately this tea leaf develops its great flavors only through a water temperature that is probably destroying its vitamins…therfore I do the first two brews with a water temperature under 85degrees Celcius. For the following 2 brews I go very hot and combine all 4 brews in on big tea pot. Stir it and I have the different flavors of four brews of one portion tea in one cup…fantastic
Warning: Very strong and awakening. If one drinks it after 5.00pm sleep becomes an impossible thing to find!
Preparation
Today is the first day of the Spring 2010 semester at the University I work at. I’ve been doing this for almost ten years, so I knew today would be GUARANTEED INSANITY! I took this tea from my cupboard at home because it’s such an even-keeled Assam: not too bold, not too weak. I hoped it would give me an even-keeled disposition to deal with these lines of students! I do feel much better after this delicious cup, even though it sat there getting cold as I dealt with student, after student, after student. Such is life in the Registrar’s Office!
Preparation
Oh yum! A very nice full flavored but light assam. I found it slightly…lemony? A reviewer on the Upton site said it tasted almost like a Ceylon, and I have to agree. I really like it. Milk and sugar!
Preparation
Cl/Spl. is also on my container – does that mean clonal I wonder? The leaves in the tin were especially golden looking to me – I remember thinking they were pretty but I had an Assam Golden Tips from Harney and it was good but not bold enough for my taste. I was very happy once I tasted it that it was very full flavored – had that Assam body but a pleasing Ceylon like lightness.
I should edit this tea to include those additional letters!
Thank you all for your comments. To purchase or know more about our teas, kindly contact us at [email protected].
This is extremely good tea. I make it with a fair amount of milk and a bit of sugar and find it very satisfying. It must have a high caffeine content as it really gets me going. Great stuff, I will for sure be ordering some more once I am out of my initial 125g stash.
Preparation
Tastes like spinach veering into seaweed territory. More seaweed as it cools. It’s not bitter and I think it is of good quality – it’s just not my thing. (I don’t like sushi and don’t like seaweed at all!) I think this is going into the Traveling Teabox!!!!!! I think I may make some Earl Grey to get this taste out of my mouth!
Preparation
Are we measuring TTB excitement by amount of !s used? You must be pretty excited with those six. :p
Partially excitement about the teabox, partially how much I would like this tea in a box going somewhere else than my tea cabinet! :) :) :) and partially because I chronically abuse the exclamation point (!!!!!) It’s a good tea, just not at all my preference. If I had a tea that I thought was poor quality, I’d put it in my compost bin and wouldn’t inflict it on anyone!
I do hope people aren’t afraid of adding stuff they don’t like to the box. Chances are someone down the line will like it. Otherwise it would just go to waste.
Oh yes – I just meant that I wasn’t giving away junk :) It’s good stuff… for the seaweed inclined :) :) :)
Hee, yeah. After all I added the white cucumber that Ricky sent me. I know there are others who like that (or are curious to try it), so it’s going back across the water again. :)
So, you didn’t like it?
:P~ ~
(That is me spitting out the seaweed I mean tea!)
A delicious cup—definite caramel-ly aroma and flavor with the real caramel bits in blend. Creamy without added milk; lightly sweet. A luscious dessert tea or afternoon pick-me-up. 2nd infusion is cloudy with a slight reduction in flavor but still tasty.
Preparation
Ahhhhh. This is much more in line with what I like in a green tea. Sweet and peachy without a single flavoring or additive. There is a slight vegetal undertone, but it’s very pleasant.
I’m on my second steep now :) Slightly sweeter. Very delightful. It’s funny how tea experiences differ – even within a single tea in a single tin. Although I did what I thought was the same exact thing, this second steep is much sweeter than it was the last time I had this tea. I think that’s one of the reasons I find tea so enjoyable – the unpredictability and the elusiveness. We can try to set the scene just right, but just like life – you never know exactly what is going to happen. Sometimes the same thing is more delightful than at other times. Sometimes you oversteep and it’s forgiving, sometimes a total disaster – cup down the drain. This may make people uncomfortable – I guess they are the soda drinkers, literally and figuratively!
I think I’ll make one more steep :)
Preparation
Enjoy your tea notes a lot but also, I am enjoying the names of these teas! Green Snail Spring and another person logged China Hairy Crab Oolong!
Click on the photo of the tea – they look like wee adorable lil snails! So very aptly named :)
although I don’t think I wanna see a hairy crab tea leaf – ooooh!
I really like the prices of their samples. Its so easy to try teas.
I’ve not had a chance to try Upton Teas yet – something to look forward to!
OMGoodness, just took a gander at the photo of your tea and YUP, looks like SNAIL! LOL
Delightful! I taste peaches!!!!!!! THIS is the taste I remember from the delicious green teas I’ve had at tea houses! Also, the curly snail looking leaves are adorable. :)
2nd steep, resteeping for 4 minutes: No peach, but still very tasty. Almost tastes flowery, like a jasmine. Still very delicious and enjoyable.
3rd steep, resteeping for 5 minutes: Still some good flavor, but I think it’s done after this one.
I like to take a minute out of this review and THANK YOU ALL, Steepster site and Steepster participants! I’ve learned SO MUCH about tea in my short time here, and have really expanded my horizons. I didn’t even know you could resteep tea before joining!!! :)
Preparation
Another JacquelineM tea. This is a bold breakfast blend featuring Assam and Ceylon. The Assam is definitely more prevalent, and I’m coming to discover that Assams just aren’t my favorite black teas. They taste too bitter to me. Still, this is a good morning pick-me-up.
Hm.. so the last time I had this I had just come home from a workout and it dehydrated me quickly. This time I’m beginning to see why, as this is drying out my tongue something fierce. Lots of tannins. I like the cocoa and cardamom flavor, but it’s too harsh overall.
