Upton Tea Imports

Backlog:

This tea makes me think of Doulton – I miss her.

A slightly less smoky Lapsang Souchong for those who (like me) find that many Lapsang Souchong are a bit too smoky. I prefer a little less on the smoke when it comes to Lapsang Souchong.

This has some lovely fruit notes and I enjoy how the smoke accents them. Notes of pine and sweet caramel. It’s slightly lighter in body than a typical, heavily smoked Lapsang Souchong and I appreciate that too. A very enjoyable cuppa!

I could have sworn that I’ve drank this tea before, long ago, but I don’t want to blame Steepster for eating my note because it is entirely possible that I haven’t and just thought I had.

Anyway, my work tea buddy Equusfell got a sample of this in a recent Upton order, found it to be very bergamotty and thought of me, the bergamot lover. :) She described the scent of the dry leaf as bergamot and cookies, and I can agree with that. The vanilla in this really brings out the cookie-ish notes that I can sometimes find in Earl Greys.

This is both heavy on the vanilla and heavy on the bergamot. Whatever base they put on this can’t really stand up to it. It has a slight tendancy to go almost bitter on the aftertaste, like the pith of a lemon, and the sweet vanilla cream can’t quite cover it up. But overall a pretty tasty tea.

Im not really liking this one. It’s a mix to me of black tea acrid and fishy. And as I drink it it hasn’t grown on me

It’s just black in my mouth. That’s all I get really to describe, it’s black in my mouth. (Color, not referring to the type of tea)

Had in my huge mug for breakfast yesterday.

I went to afternoon tea with some friends last week and we had this fabulous Cinnamon Vanilla black. It tasted like Harney’s Hot Cinnamon spice but with an added creaminess in the background from the vanilla. I loved it, because it didn’t need anything added to make it perfect. The whole group loved it, actually.

As my friends fawned over it and tried to pick up some of that blend (which ended up being sold out, or this story might have ended here) I realized aghast that I didn’t have any Hot Cinnamon Spice at home to try my own hand at creating some for myself. And, perhaps even more disturbing, I really didn’t have any VANILLA tea to blend it with, as Butiki’s Caramel Vanilla Assam would have been my blending agent of choice and its ghost haunts my cupboard. :(

I did, however have a vanilla tea to drink at this moment, and this isn’t a bad vanilla tea a that. It’s strong and breakfasty, and is great with milk and sugar. I just can’t help thinking about how lovely it would be with Hot cinnamon spice in the background..

Sigh. Well, I’m ordering Hot Cinnamon spice at least, but I’m still sadly on the lookout for a good vanilla black replacement, as this is a sample that I will be out of soon. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know…

Today’s my 4 year Steepster-versary!

I had this tea because I have a bunch of tea samples that really need to go…but I really think this one will have to be restocked. Unlike my other favorite East Frisian tea, this one stands alone without milk and sugar. This tea has higher quality leaves, as opposed to the East Frisian BOP, so that’s probably why the overt bitterness isn’t present.

It is a nice strong assam-ish black with very subtle vanilla – neither taste overpowers the other in my opinion. I like both Frisian blends but on days where I just want a breakfast tea without the hassle of additives, this is a solid option.

My favorite, favorite breakfast tea ever with the addition of vanilla? YES, PLEASE.

I got a sample of this because it would have been stupid of me not to. In fact, I’m kind of surprised its taken so long for me to get the sample, but I guess I just haven’t needed to make an order until now.

Yes, I definitely like this one. I’m not surprised. I actually had it plain and the vanilla added an excellent creaminess that at the time didn’t need any additives. I may try it with milk and/or sugar at some point, too.

I’m not going to go with a solid 100 yet because I have a few more cups to play with, but the first cup was promising. I’m starting to think that East Frisian anything can do no wrong where I am concerned.

Biscuits and tea, my favorite weekend breakfast.

Assams make such a good breakfast tea. I try to keep it so black teas are the only teas I have with milk and sugar, and given that I’ve had this before and it became really astringent when it cooled, I added both right off.

The dry leaf gave off the signature aroma of raisin and the taste right now is mostly hot water, so I guess I need to just wait for a minute and see what happens. I hope some of the raisin notes make it into the tea this morning…that smell was the main reason I picked it to drink…

Ah, yes, and now that its cool I have cocoa powder and raisins galore. A good start to a lazy Saturday.

I forgot that Upton sends you samples with your order!

They sent me this one when I replenished my beloved East Frissy and spearmint teas. Given that most of my teas from them are blacks I was not surprised (and was actually very pleased) to get an estate Assam. Assams make great breakfast teas, after all.

The dry leaf in this one was familiar in that in had the malt and raisin notes but also something I really had a hard time placing. I’m glad they mentioned red wine in the description, because – yes! That’s it! I don’t drink wine very much so that explains why it was familiar but not really, and raisiny but…different than straight raisin.

I went straight for 4 minutes with this one as that’s where I like my black teas, and since I knew I’d be adding some creamer to it I wasn’t afraid of how strong it would get. But I did try a few sips plain and I was surprised. While this was astringent, it wasn’t so much so that you CAN’T drink it plain. It isn’t unpleasantly bitter. Not at first, anyway. There’s a chewy malt texture and it’s quite nice for an assam.

Oooh kay. Good thing I got my creamer out though because as it cools it decides that yeah, the astringency needs to be punched up a notch. At this point it requires some milk and sugar to calm it down some. Ah, well, easily remedied, that.

This is still very strong with the creamer added, and is behaving like all breakfast teas should. Strong, bold, and a good start to the morning. East Frisian got to my palate first, though, and its proving to be impossible to displace – this one’s good but it’s not good enough to beat my current staple. It was great to get to try an estate tea, though!

Got this as I am still seeking the right Keemun Mao Feng for me.

This is nicely smokey and rich with underneath deeply below a pleasing black tea acrid feel in the back of the throat. Sweetness and honey colors at the roof of mouth. Moderate astringency.

This is a dark rich tea without being. Too heavy. In fact, I’d like a bit more weight so I may try later brewing with a bit extra leaves. But this may really be the perfect balance. Experimenting is good, though.

Very nice. Might be a standard for me.

Backlog from the past few days! Hmm, I had mixed feelings on this blend. Initially, I was tasting a lot of citrus notes, which I enjoy in a black tea. So it seemed like the Ceylon part of the blend was dominant, at least at first. Once I started eating the scone I bought to go with it, however, the taste profile changed pretty dramatically. I think the Keemun took over, because there was this dark leathery flavor that overwhelmed the other two teas. I mean, I like Keemun when I’m in the mood for it! But since I was enjoying the citrus notes from before, I was kind of disappointed.

All things considered, I like this tea well enough on its own. But if I plan to pair it with a sweet food, I’d probably have to add milk and sugar to make it work for me.

There’s a lot going on here: cinnamon, clove, cardamom, rose, orange, almond, and vanilla. I don’t taste all of those, but I do taste a surprising number of them and they’re pretty well-balanced. I don’t tend to like orange peel, but it doesn’t take over. The spices are strong and the rose is surprisingly robust, with just a little vanilla at the end of the sip to mellow things out. I wish I got more of the almond and cardamom, but this is quite nice.

Brewed with the Western method. (First steeping meant to be 4 minutes, but ran up to 6 due to a distraction at work.)

The dry leaf aroma smells of maple syrup and plums. The dark amber liquor is full-bodied, clear, thin-textured, and brisk with flavor. All at once I taste smoke, malt, honey, and fruit.

This is my first Keemun, and even though it is only my first, I think it served as a good introduction to this type of tea. A brand new and very interesting gustatory experience.

This was the free sample in my Upton order! I steeped this morning’s cup for a little over three minutes. It definitely has that strong scent of hay that I’ve noticed with some Yunnan black teas. The flavor is more complex; I can taste a strong hay note, similar to the aroma, but there’s also a sweet note of honey here, and a little bit of cocoa and spice. The mouthfeel is thicker than I expected, maybe even a little powdery, but very smooth. There’s a little dryness to it, but it’s smooth as well— I wish I knew how to describe it, but it’s not as sharp and bitter as the astringency in an Assam.

I’m still learning about black teas, so it’s hard for me to say much about the quality, or how this tea compares to other Yunnans. But I enjoyed my cup. I could see myself drinking it often, as a more everyday sort of tea.

This is a very smooth chai. The prominent spices here seem to be cardamom and cinnamon, followed by the licorice (although I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the best at figuring out which spices are which!). The vanilla is subtle, but it makes the tea sweeter—as does the cacao, which is a little easier to taste. I think overall I prefer a spicier, heavier chai (with more ginger!). But I can definitely appreciate this one, and it’s well-balanced.

This is a sample I got from Upton ages ago and am just trying it now, seems like fall is a good time for an apple cider tisane.

I steeped this for the full 8 minutes recommended on the package but it still doesn’t seem very flavorful. This tastes mostly like woodsy rooibos with a tiny hint of apple and cinnamon. I liked this a bit better after adding two drops of stevia, but this sample isn’t compelling me to buy more.

A little bit insipid. Nothing to write home about…nothing to complain about, either.

The first time I tried this tea, I couldn’t smell or taste the Bourbon vanilla at all. (Though I could smell some vanilla in the dry leaf!) So I steeped today’s cup for three minutes, instead of the recommended four, and added a little sugar. That seemed to help; I could smell vanilla this time, and taste a bit of its creamy sweetness mid-sip. That said, the vanilla here gets pretty overpowered by the tea base. This is a classic Assam black tea, the strong, dark kind with a lot of natural dryness. I think it would probably work best with milk and sugar, because of the astringency… I’ll have to try it that way in the future.

Not at all what I want from an Oolong. Too dark in flavor. Almost like a smoke flavored tea.

A package of this was included as a bit of laignappe in my most recent Upton order. I am partial to Yunnan teas; that slight taste of the “earth” is appealing. This was a lovely example . . .not too much smoke. A round and slightly sweet taste that is perfect for a cold afternoon with a handful of Dang;s fabulous Toasted Coconut Chips (Caramel Sea Salt flavor).

Not sublime, but very nice mid-afternoon with a slice of pound cake or a bread-and-butter sandwich made with whole meal bread. It needs a bit more than 1 tsp per 8 ounces of water I think. I wouldn’t steep for more than 5 minutes in order to avoid it turning bitter. A lovely color in the cup.

Floral, green, light playful bitter perfume taste on main flat of tongue. The tiniest tinge of sweet but not sweet in the back of the throat.

This so very does not taste light a black tea. It has a Darjeeling feel. Black but not black.

I wouldn’t call this a solid tea at all, taste-wise. Delicate, light,

It has some noticeable astringency that is stronger than the rest of the above flavor description but it doesn’t overwhelm those parts. It all ties together into a structure of greens and pinks and yellows. Light greens to the flowers and bitter greens to the astringency.

My first sip went, “yum”.

If I keep enjoying this sample packet I’m gonna order some of this. It is great for a day you want a black tea but not a typical or Strongly Black one.

Thank you Momo for the sale! Always like to try any keemuns since they seem to be never be the same. This one is certainly smokier than the keemuns I’ve been drinking. Not so smoky that it compares to a lapsang souchong, but it’s almost the only flavor I’m noticing. Keemuns usually have their own odd flavor that is tough to describe and whatever that is, this particular keemun doesn’t really have that. I don’t know what the “keemun flavor” is but I love it. It’s a tasty, tough black tea, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s a lapsang souchong. I’ll be trying to puzzle this one out again at some point.
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // few min after boiling // 3 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

I added a sample of this to my Upton order, because I’m still such a newbie when it comes to varieties of straight black tea. From what I’ve heard about Keemun, this seems like a good example. The aroma is pretty smoky (though it’s a smoother smoke than a strong Lapsang Souchong). The taste is strong and dark, and like others have mentioned, there are leathery and peppery notes. When I first took a sip, I thought, “Ah-ha! So that’s where the flavor in breakfast teas comes from.” I’d noticed the taste in a lot of breakfast blends, but didn’t realize it was Keemun, specifically.

Anyway, I like this! It’s the kind of dark smoky tea I enjoy drinking, especially in cool weather. So far, I think I might prefer Fujian and Yunnan black teas overall , but I would consider reordering this (and/or sampling other Keemun teas in the future).