Upton Tea Imports

This is one big ass piece of sheng for a pot. The compression of this must have been amazing because it would not open after 6 brews… I eventually was a jerk and stabbed it a bit to break it up.
Overall the leaf is beautiful, the aroma is almost unnoticeable, and the taste does not offer anything that would qualify as great in regards to taste of tea. It may be decent, but doesn’t stack up to it’s appearance.

I remember this tasting like nothing but slightly green water when I first tried it. I had followed the directions on the package with one heaping teaspoon of leaves, but these leaves are really broad and long, making it a thin teaspoon. I think I super underleafed the first time, so I didn’t review it.
Today, I finished the sample off with a gong fu session, but I still didn’t have quite enough leaf, so I’ve only been filling the gaiwan half full. It’s still going much better.
My rinse was originally supposed to be a first steep, but 15 seconds was just too short and tasted like nothing again- over the fat-fat horse it goes!
First steep, 30 seconds: White sugar sweet and mid-hi floral flavors. Lilacs in the aroma cup! Reminds me of Verdant’s lilacy Spring tieguanyin, with added sugar.
Second steep, 45 seconds: Slightly green, but sweeter and lilac-ier! Very nice session with this one today!
Third steep, 1 minute: Still going strong, a bit greener, still so sweet! The nose is just amazing on this one, so thick and floral!
Fourth steep, 1:15: Still sweet! I’m really enjoying this! Fat horse isn’t getting any!
Fifth, 1:30: Greener, but still sweet! Fading just a bit.
Sixth, 1:45: Fading, but still so saturated with flavor! If this was still for sale I would consider it.
It’s basically like a nicely floral bao zhong, and I’m super into it!

Black tea is a taste that took me a long time to acquire (I am a longtime drinker of greens and oolongs), but after thoroughly enjoying my last several cups of a tin of Prince of Wales, I decided to order samples of several other black teas. Upton Tea included a bonus sample of this tea in the order, and I decided to taste it first. In general, my impression of the first tasting was of a palatable but very ordinary black tea—inoffensive, but not particularly memorable.

The dry leaf had a pleasant, slightly fruity, but rather weak scent; the scent of the wet leaf was overly sour when hot, but became enjoyably sweet and fruity after cooling. The cup was very dark and quite strong, but not at all bitter. My palate did not detect any unique flavors that would draw me to purchase more of this tea, but that may change with a second tasting.

This is a nice, floral fruity Darjeeling. I don’t think I like it as much as the toasty oaky tasting Darjeelings, but it’s a nice afternoon cup.

a decent tea

when i smell the leaves dry, they have a dark chocolate smell.

when i smell the leaves wet, they have a dark chocolate smell as well as a roasted/toasty smell

when i smell the brewed tea, i smell a dark chocolate smell as well as roasted/toasty smell.

when i taste the brewed tea, i taste dark chocolate as well as a roasted/toasty taste. also i taste grapes, but its so minor its hard to tell if it is me or the tea.

now, the dominant taste is the dark chocolate. also i was told by Amanda ‘SoggyEnderman’ Wilson that this tea is a lot like “Shui Hsien” from Sea dyke brand. if i were to say which is better Shui Hsien or this tea, the former wins hands down.

i rate this tea a 75, as i was kind of disappointed.

i grabbed the wrong tea when i meant to grab an oolong…

im just going to say, im fed up of being unimpressed with black teas :(

i have one left to try and i doubt i will like it.

an ok tea

when i smell the leaves dry, i smell peach and floral.

when i smell the leaves wet, the smell is intensified.

when i smell the brewed tea, i smell (again) peach and floral.

when i taste the brewed tea, i taste peach and floral.

i rate this a 50 because I’m not too keen on the floral strength and magnolia taste. i don’t mind the peach but it seems like a bad mix. :(

an awesome tea too!

when i smell the leaves dry, i smell peaches.

when i smell the leaves wet, the smell is intensified.

when i smell the brewed tea, i smell peaches and spices.

when i taste the brewed tea, i taste peaches and spices.

i rate this a 100 because it tastes like peaches and is not too strong

this is an awesome tea!

when i smell the leaves dry, they smell floral.

when i smell the leaves wet, that smell is intensified.

when i smell the brewed tea, i smell some floral and frutyness.

when i taste the brewed tea, it tastes a little like iron and some frutiness and just the right amount of floral.

i rate this a 100 because this is the best green (unroasted) oolong i have ever tried.

Maybe it’s my unrefined palette, but I’m having a hard time discriminating among the three Upton Keemuns I have recently sampled: Mao Feng, Mao Feng Superior and the Hao-Ya B. This one might have a little more body and a more prominent burgundy flavor but all three are smooth and fairly light with a nice sparkle in the cup.

This is one of the very best English Breakfast teas I have ever tried. No, really.
I like a STRONG, BOLD English cuppa (inherited from my grandmother!) and this one suits the bill. It’s got a great malty flavor, brews strong enough to get that delicious caramel color when I add milk.
This was my daily morning tea until I discovered I could buy P.G. Tips in bulk, but now that I’m writing this I’m thinking it needs to go back into rotation. It’s great if you’re a lover of bold tea with milk.

This Sencha has nutty and vegetal flavors that make for a refreshing and slightly sweet cup. The flavors are well-balanced, although it doesn’t finish as smooth as I expected it to. All in all, not a bad tea.

“I woke last night to the sound of thunder,” to quote Bob Seger, tremendously odd for February in Maine, and when I walked outside to 60 degrees, I knew I had to start my day with Spring Wonder. While this tea is less overtly honeysuckle-sweet than most first flush darjeelings, it is delicious nonetheless, with a buttery grape flavor and absolutely no astringency. I know spring hasn’t arrived yet, but for one day I can pretend it has.

It’s nice to take a break from my raw pu-erh obsession to remind myself that there are other teas I love besides sheng (and Yunnan black teas). Yesterday, I had a cup of the intoxicating shincha kunpu from Den’s tea and today I spent some time with my first love: Darjeeling! This first flush is beguiling, with initial flavors of honey and tangerine that cede to a heady floral perfume. I know first flushes can be a little challenging to steep but this one has no astringency or unpleasant bitterness.

I have 40 grams of this “wonderful” elixir that smells like fresh-cut grass and chestnuts and tastes like creamy orange, honey and muscatel. Is there anything better than a top-shelf first flush darjeeling?!

This is like orange-colored apple-flavored jello mix, with just a touch of whipped cream on the end of the sip. Bizarrely good.
I do get the slightly woody after’flavor of rooibos, but it is not bad or strong in this tea.
On an unrelated note, I have finally decided to add all my samples (since I just got two huge mystery boxes) to my cupboard, so my tea collection has “expanded” exponentially in the last few days. Unfortunately, they are but samples, enough for maybe a cup or two, but at least now I have some way to keep them in order!

The thing I love about the decidedly utilitarian Upton Tea site more than some of those glitzy tea sites that show beautiful color pictures of happy workers picking tea in lush China tea farms, is that a devotee of a certain type of tea can choose among an array of estates, grades, or types, while many of the eye-candy sites offer one Darjeeling, one Assam, one Ceylon.

The downside of Upton is it is often daunting to make a choice from the 15 or so Keemuns available, many of which are labeled some variation of Keemun Mao Feng. Luckily there is the 15 gram sample—so I decided to do some comparison shopping.

The “superior” is a medium-bodied Keemun with a smooth red wine flavor up front, a cherry tobacco and leather finish, and a hint of cotton-candy sweetness. As it cools it reminds me of cinnamon raisin bread.

A refined and elegant tea. Next up: Another Keemun Mao Feng, minus the “superior.”

I have to disagree with the lukewarm reviews of this tea. While it is reminiscent of a golden monkey, it has a unique flavor profile that includes the mace that Upton mentions and perhaps cinnamon. I’ll definitely order a bag of this and I expect it to move to the top of my black tea rotation, along with my Yunnan Sourcing blacks and Black Beauty from Mandala

Hands down one of my favorite teas ever. While it has very, very faint vegetal notes that are characteristic of green teas, the almonds and cinnamon combine to make this good enough to be a dessert substitute. I could drink this tea every day.

I just finished off the last of this tea, and since it was one of the first teas I bought, I thought it would be fitting to review it. This is my favorite oolong from Upton, it’s very smooth with a toasty feel to it. I’ve drank it both western and gongfu and can’t say I have a preference, but the western method brings out the toasted taste more.

For the price I think it’s one of the better teas I bought from Upton in general.

a nice tea :D

little glass pitcher, grandpa style:

when i smell the leaves try, they have a floral/roasted smell.

when i smell the leaves wet, i get a strong floral/roasted smell.

when i smell the brewed tea i smell a strong roasted smell and hints of floral.

when i taste the brewed tea, i taste a strong roasted/toasty taste and a hint of floral.

i rate it an 80 because it tastes nice but could use some more flavors.

many thanks to Amanda ‘SoggyEnderman’ Wilson for this nice tea :)