Upton Tea Imports

It’s refreshing to have another one of Upton’s African teas after months of running out of my last. The dry leaf aroma smells unpredictably – and pleasantly – of apricot. The instructions suggest to allow the leaves to steep for 3 minutes, but I’ve found that I enjoy the cup more when I let them steep for only 1. In case of the former, the liquor is rusty gold, clear, medium-bodied, and astringent. It’s also quite malty, but so much that I felt I had to add milk and/or sugar. Following the latter steeping parameters, the liquor is truly golden. The malt is much, much lighter, even barely there. A bright muscatel flavor is able to emerge, and it lingers lightly on the tongue in the aftertaste.

T&C TTB Tea # 18 Backlog May 28

I didn’t get any vanilla out of this, I guess it wasn’t strong enough for me. It was a boring old straight black tea with nothing exciting standing out. I drank it at night and promptly decided it wasn’t worth the caffeine. Zero vanilla coming out of it and the base didn’t impress me as being overly tasty either.

Very meh.

Butiki Taste Testing Traveling Tea Box – Tea #4
Not sure if this is the right tea.. I’m pretty sure it has a #66. Anyway, this is a decent Darjeeling type tea (but not Darjeeling since it is from Nepal.) I’ve found that these sorts of teas can either be the most amazing cup of tea or the most boring cup of tea. This is sort of middle of the road. These types of teas also have touchy steeping parameters. It’s tough for me to tell flavors on this one. A little sour, kind of tastes like autumn. The color of the cup is amber.

I brewed up another glass of this Namring Estate 2nd Flush Darjeeling from Upton by way of Steepster Select. I’ve been exploring the second flush darjeelings from Golden Tips and was wondering how this would measure up in comparison. I think that it’s not as good, but it’s true that I used only half of my envelope, so 2.2 grams (it contained 4.5 grams) for about 8 ounces of water. I kept the temperature cooler (82C rather than the Steepster Select recommendation of 100C—which is a big mistake, imnsho), and I brewed for about 3 minutes.

The resultant liquor was amber colored and pretty good but not great. I do not believe that darjeelings can be successfully re-steeped, but I tried last time (Steepster Select says on the envelope that it’s good for 3 re-steeps!). It tasted like dishwater, so I’m not bothering this time.

Does anyone in the universe, aside from Steepster Select, recommend that darjeeling be re-steeped? I’ve never read it anywhere. It seems like a ploy to make the program seem to cost less than it does. You do not, my tea-infused friends, get four 12 ounces cups of tea from this envelope. No, you do not.

I am surprised by some of the negative reviews of this Namring Estate 2nd Flush Darjeeling sourced for the Steepster Select February sample pack from Upton Tea Imports. Perhaps some of the reviewers do not like darjeeling? It’s also easy to ruin by oversteeping…

My batch tastes very good. The packet contained 3.6 grams, for the record, so perhaps that’s why the liquor was a bit lighter amber than the darjeelings I imbibed yesterday. No matter, I kept the steep time short and found no bitterness whatsoever in the glass. In fact, this was good enough that I am now contemplating placing an order at Upton, which I have not done in quite some time, but in truth they were the company which opened me up to the higher echelons of tea!

To be honest, I quit Steepster Select because 2 out of 5 of the samples of that pack were from Upton, which sells fully curated tea samples of 10 gram for $1 or $2! It seems wrong to claim “curation” credits for pre-curated teas. I don’t need samples which are smaller than the ones Upton offers for triple the price! I expect true curation to involve some factfinding missions beyond visiting the Upton Tea Imports website, which I am perfectly capable of doing all by myself. Steepster didn’t even bother to say whether this is FTGFOP or TGFOP or SFTGFOP1! This information is readily available at the Upton website for all of their teas. Go there and search for Namring, and you’ll find a whole slew of good darjeelings.

The good news is that I have been inspired by this Steepster Select “curation” to pay a visit once again to Upton Tea Imports, all of whose teas are fully and impeccably curated and sold at very reasonable prices. I used to love how the labels came printed with the customer’s name. I wonder whether they still do that? We shall see…

second infusion: I am not at all convinced that darjeeling tea is supposed to be reinfused, but it said so on the Steepster Select packet, so I tried. it tasted like dishwater, so I tossed it.

(Blazing New Rating #69)

This is a more like it. After an unfortunate bout with the Z11 Keemun this morning, I chose this one next. This is kind of the opposite end of the spectrum from the Z11. There is a barely-detectable smoke note, way way back – a nice antidote to the intense smoke/creosote of the Z11. This is far more delicate and well mannered. There is a hint of cocoa, a slight whiff of malt and a little yeasty graininess. I like the little floral, winey waft in the aftertaste. This is nice enough, but not very distinguished.

I am up far, far too early. I started off this morning (at 3 am) on a sweet cloud of Shang’s Golden Needle (thoughtfuly provided by TeaTiff) and then decided since I have all this morning time, I would dive into my Upton Keemun samples. I wish I had picked a different one to start with.

This is aggressively smokey- almost acrid. I don’t mind some smoke, but this is unpleasant to me – leaning toward tar/creosote. I might not finish this cup.

Toasty and sweet, that is this tea. I have loved every cup of this, and I love that this was my introduction to Jun Chiyabari Estate teas. I am partial to Single Origin Teas JCE tea more, but this one is still excellent.

Another happy sipdown.

September Sipdowns: 8

The description of this tea says that it’s complex, and I fully agree. Such a lovely tea with layers and layers of flavor. There is a toasty note at the beginning followed by a bright pear flavor. The fruit note is great. Muscatel and fruit flowers can also be tasted.

This tea is a gem from start to finish. I’m a big fan of teas from Nepal, and this one is my new favorite!

Dinosara thank you for introducing me to this tea!

I got this as a free sample when my order from Upton Teas came in. I actually decided to make a latte with this instead of trying it plain, like I usually do when trying a tea for the first time.

It was really smooth with no astringency and stood up very well to all the milk (I made the latte a little milkier than I originally wanted). A very good breakfast type tea. I’m looking forward to trying it plain.

This is a sample from Boychik’s Darjeeling Sampler. Thank you!

I finally got the opportunity to try compare and try all 4 Upton Darjeelings together. This was my top pick of the 4 Upton teas that I got to try. This was my favorite because it packed more of a punch of all the flavors. I could pick out the musk, the fruitiness, and there was a bit of astringency that made it have a little kick. I look forward to enjoying this one on its own with out the others to compare to. Hopefully I still like it just as much.

This is a sample from Boychik’s Darjeeling Sampler. Thank you!

I finally got the opportunity to try compare and try all 4 Upton Darjeelings together. This took second place of the 4 and to be honest the top two were pretty comparable to me. This offered a bit more musk to it than the other 2 below it. It was a tad more astringent, which is this case is good. This was a nice cup!

This is a sample from Boychik’s Darjeeling Sampler. Thank you!

I finally got the opportunity to try compare and try all 4 Upton Darjeelings together. This offered a bit more of a punch than the 1st flush. It was a tad more musky than the 1st. It was still very smooth and very light on the astringency. This was my 3rd pick from the 4 from Upton.

not too good of a tea. i have had better. sorta tastes like black tea too

This sample tea came from the February Steepster Select box, which shows how far behind I am in trying out the samples that I have — it’s now the beginning of June.

I couldn’t help but sneak a peek at the other reviews and I saw a lot of dismal thoughts about this one. I confess that 2nd flush darjeelings don’t tend to be a favorite of mine, but I’m up for trying any tea at least once.

I noticed the wet leaf smells very “woody” — almost like musk — when I took the infuser out of the teapot. The tea liquor steeps up to be a medium orangish-brown in color. As far as the flavor is concerned, Upton’s flavor description seems to be spot on. I would also describe it as woody with a hint of muscatel. There’s a slight astringency in the finish but it is palatable.

I liked this better than most of the other reviewers did; though I still don’t plan to put this on my shopping list anytime soon. A pinch of raw cane sugar makes a nice addition to this.

I started my writing class yesterday which is very interesting so far. Maybe I’ll get inspired soon to write some more blog postings. :)

A lovely tea :) tastes like flowers. The best white tea I’ve ever had

some what of a weak version of sencha and dragonwell tea mixed togeather. its an OK tea overall.

a bland black tea… not the best. i still prefer “TI69: Jolotigo Estate Orthodox Java BT”

A nice smooth tea :) simmilar to mao feng (or however you spell it.) kinda earthy and grassy in taste

My second time trying a white tea. This one is years better than the white tea pearls from Teavana. The flavor is light and very fruity. I would agree with the other review saying the fruityness does not resemble pomegranate, but it still is sure a tasty cup! It’s not overly floral but compliments the fruit flavor very well. Looking forward to drinking this again.