Upton Tea Imports

This one makes a really damn good London Fog, The Vanilla and Bergamot in this one is quite gentle but the flavor is quite nice. I don’t think of it as a Darjeeling but as an Earl Grey version, I usually like earl grey with really strong Bergamot but I appreciate the subtle bergamot in this one, its lovely.
I like it :)

Dry leaf smells like hay. Steeped for about two and a half minutes in boiling water.
Taste: bitter, slightly smoky, almost citrusy. Very high quality. Good, solid breakfast tea.

It is tea party day AND my middle daughter’s birthday! Youngest daughter made a chocolate pie for the celebration. (We had Hershey Bar cake last weekend and will have it again this weekend as we celebrate with different parts of the family!)

This was served with the pie. It has nice, natural cocoa notes, didn’t compete with the pie, and definitely complemented it very nicely.

The medium body was hefty enough to stand with sweets, and the flavor was great classic Keemun, not too smokey, not overly fruity. I think it made a great pairing.

My eldest daughter gave me this for Mother’s Day. I have been having it for breakfast nearly every day since. I love Keemuns and this is a really good one.

Today I especially noticed the fruitiness, rather similar to Grace Rare Tea’s Winey Keemun. There is a tiny bit of briskness that makes me think it would be loved by people who add milk and/or sugar to their tea, but it is still smooth enough for someone like me who likes their tea sans additions. The dry leaf has the hearty tea scent that evokes a little grunt of appreciation when measuring the leaves.

Delish.

Packaged a bit up to send off yesterday, and wanted to try it (finally). Really, truly beautiful leaves, and smells absolutely divine. My crop seems to be more of a malty, rich, creamy batch than anything fruity – I discern zero fruit, but there are a lot of layers to this. Something to definitely savor and re-steep… which will have to wait, as I need to go send out some packages and then grab a plane.

I feel like I am coming up for air.

For a long time we have been helping to take care of my dear precious mother-in-law. Sometimes this meant 24/7 having someone by her side and sometimes it meant having a meal schedule to help feed her. I was in charge of ordering her medicines and delivering them, helping with the schedule, and all doctor appointments and discussing hospital procedures, along with a sister-in-law who attended part of the appointments and did lots and lots of bedside sitting. Lots.

She passed away last Wednesday and now there is a big hole. All the things that used to be hard to fit into the schedule are gone, but now we are in the phase of getting everything reported which is a little harder because her husband was retired military so there is a bit of government paperwork to do as well.

But for now, I can sit and drink tea and see my best friend for the first time in quite a while.

This tea had gotten lost in the jumble of a big box, but it is going to be a frequent tea for while because I really like it. Easy to steep, adorable gold-wrapped heart-shaped tuo cha, and delicious mushroom and rice flavor.

I raise my cup to Mima, a great mother-in-law, a dream grandmother to my children, and a wonderful woman.

This was one of my Mother’s Day gifts from my daughter, Superanna. She didn’t know that the tuo cha were shaped like little hearts and wrapped in gold paper until I opened it, and she was delighted! As was I!

My experience with this tea was little different from the other two reviewers, but my opinion of the flavor was nearly the same.

I used my 21 ounce Kamjove with the 7 ounce steeper basket. I was a little worried the tea would be weak because the tuo cha are so small, I was definitely going to be combining a number of steeps, and I like my puerh fairly strong.

The tuo cha began breaking up almost instantly when the water hit it which meant it would steep pretty quickly. Six minutes? For reals? I gave it maybe two if we are generous. Then I resteeped for about five to seconds, over and over, and got a really dark brew. It was almost inky in fact.

I think I made a total of eight steeps and I could have gotten more. The first steeps had the strongest rice flavor and aroma and the latter steeps had a nice hint of it. The overall flavor was mushroom. This is a pretty full-bodied tea, giving the impression of being thick.

This does not taste a great deal like the Teavivre Rice Ripened Puerh, which has a lighter body and more of the rice water flavor, quite strong. I wish Teavivre sold theirs as a loose tea.

This is a nice puerh and so pretty it would great to repackage in little cellophane or tulle bags tied with ribbon to give as a gift, like wedding favors for puerh lovers! Or Valentine gifts!

Brewed Western-style in a ceramic teapot.

A palatable, every day shou, especially for a beginner. I recommend letting it steep only once, for 10 minutes. The leaf doesn’t yield much flavor in the second infusion, following a 6 minute steeping. This way, the broth has as much flavor as it can have. The color is very dark brown, like coffee. Has a one-dimensional flavor profile, but delicious: cream of mushroom. Very mushroom. No qi effects, but it is soothing on the tongue. The dry leaf aroma is very earthy; wet leaf aroma, damp wood.

Wow no one has logged this yet? This was the tea of the morning here in my house. I loved the cute little heart shape of the tuo cha. As with most pu-erh’s this one smelled really earthy, with hints of sticky rice. I employed my handy little mouse yixing pot for the honors. I also managed to spill some of it all over the place as I tried to record pouring my tea…it’s harder than it looks!

The tea itself smells and tastes like the yummy rice used in sushi making and I am in heaven. My only complaint is the directions call for a steep type of 6 minutes…which I thought was pretty long for a pu-erh. So I opted for 2 minutes and I thought it came out perfect.

Ordered this one from Upton as I needed a decaf night time tea. I was a little nervous seeing other’s reviews of the tea. But I kept an open mind here. The dry leaf smells like vanilla and very yummy. While the steeped leaves (in a natural tea bag) smelled a bit like a drink with booze in it (then I remembered there’s bourbon vanilla in it). But I liked it. Very soothing and slightly sweet, perfect for an evening cuppa.

This tea has a nice soft, brothy mouth feel to it with buttery characteristics paired with spinach notes. It brews a light yellow color, instead of a neon green like most Japanese greens, which I found quite interesting. Still good quality regardless.

It’s rather gentle and light for a black tea yet the taste is smooth and full. I like this one.

Excellent light and toasty.

This tea…right here…? No this is mine. Yeah it does smell amazingggg. No you can’t have a cup, I’m sorry. No, not even from the third steep.

I’m starting to understand my tea preferences a little more every day. Also starting to understand why people like dessert teas so much. I only ordered a sample pack of this so I’m going to have to hide it. I will definitely be ordering a larger amount once I’m settled.

Right out of the bag the most amaazzing smell. Sweet cream and chewy caramel. The little pieces of caramel are cute. And they do not dissolve quickly. I still had a tiny piece left after the 3 steep. Very yummy with honey and natural cane sugar. The smell is a tiny bit muted after steeping but it still snells delightful.

Certain teas effect my acid reflux and this might be one of them. As there’s almost a coffee-like undertone. Anyone know the caffeine level?

Accidentally ordered again so as reviewing again! Realized by seeing I’d rated it before when I went to put it in my cupboard and rate it now. I saw I gave it a low score but decided to not look at the review itself and give it a clean go-over without past observations read and basing my perceptions. Gonna read afterward and see how they matched lol.

And if I like it better this time it certainly wouldn’t be the first!!

Weak bodied, with a fairly standard but less brown/black/burnt flavor of assam tea.

Very mildly astringent, around gum lines but mostly in mid-underside of tongue.

Extremely short primary finish. Almost non-existent. There is only a flat generic assam feeling in the back of throat and front end, little more than the tip, that lingers for a long while. Actual specific tea traits are gone during the swallow.

A bit of malty sweetness halfway through sip in almost the direct center of tongue.

This isn’t a bad tasting tea, but not a particularly pleasant one either for me. It just doesn’t seem to have much personality in any direction and leaves me going, “ehhhhhhh. No.”.

Like, I am gonna finish what I made of it but give the rest of the sample to my two roommates and make myself a different tea I received today. Maybe whoever uses the rest will like it.

Dark, thick molasses sort of initial feel and thought it makes. Top, back of mouth has a darkness, too, some of black.

The rich brown goes to the front bottom teeth and after a bit creates an acrid taste in the back of my throat.

Not much to this one. The flavor isn’t that complex and the feel is a bit flat after the molasses feeling passes a moment later. Not loving it.

2.25g/6oz

Orange. Very barely almost not there bit of floral with green underneath. Astringent but only mildly and it’s around the top of the back of the throat.

Blues and greens with a leek tone. Dark green vegetables like leeks, raw kale, but no taste at all of broccoli or Brussels sprouts. Not like those.

Finish becomes astringency behind the front teeth and lightly back of tongue, between there is none.

Fruit comes to mind but maybe apple. Apple that is not sweet, a dryer, blander apple taste..

It’s not bad but I’m not impressed. It’s a mid-level taste.

2.25g/6oz

Dark, heavy clearly Assam black tea. Black and dark oranges on back of throat. Apple reds around the middle sides of tongue. Moderate bitterness. Very astringent in the finish.

Dark and chewy in texture.

This is, indeed, a very heavy black. Not as much as could be, but Heavy.

Feeling of a round fruit in my mouth that presses against the roof of my mouth. Sort of like an orange in the back of my mouth. No orange fruit flavor, just that size and texture.

And yes, continued astringent finish.

2.25/6oz

Floral, almost jasmine. Crispy but not clearly noticeable black tea underneath. It’s rich and dark after a few moments before the floral flavors come back up over it. The taste flows and switches. It’s nifty.

A back of tongue/throat bitterness comes through after a while as a blackness. The floral is purples and yellows and poppies and petals. It’s a weird bouquet sort of flavor in the flower tastes.

The finish is long and the flowers stay on the front half of the tongue and wraps around the sides towards under it. The light black flavor seems to float inside the mouth above the tongue and throat as it ends.

This is a very good tea. But at the same time I don’t know what to make of it. Maybe that’s why it’s as good as it is.

2.25g/6oz water. Since the rating here doesn’t show decimal amount.

I just got a sample of this and I’m glad I did. Dry, this tea smells like bergamotty cookies!
The taste is pleasantly strong if you steep it for half the time recommended on the package. The flavor reminded me of lemon biscotti with vanilla icing on it, and was improved by a dot of sugar. It’s not a zesty or tart lemon, much more like lemon that has been baked in a cookie. The vanilla became more evident with sugar and when the tea had cooled.
Overall it is a pleasant experience, but it is so flavorful/robust that I have a hard time drinking it without milk, and I’m not a fan of milk in my tea!

Sipdown of this sample, which I have really enjoyed. If brewed improperly (too hot of water), it’s a bit too roasty (at least that’s what I remember from months ago).
This is a slightly roasted green and tightly-rolled oolong with a sweetish osmathus scent that tends more towards jasmine than did the Osmanthus Tea. The base is much better, though: a decent oolong with a nice long aftertaste that is minerally, like cucumber. A very pleasant cup.
I got two steeps out of it, just so the leaves would unfurl all the way, but the second wasn’t as sweet.