Upton Tea Imports

Tea of the afternoon……

I have had this sample in my stash for a while. I am not sure why it took me so long to try it. Oh well. It is an interesting one. A Panyang congou with a hint of smoke. Very Keemun-like. Fun to try for someone like me, but I am pretty sure this one will not go on the rebuy list. It kind of seems to be in the same range as the Keemun at Joseph Wesley, but not nearly as good.

Usual mug method.

This tea is a good value and a good herbal tea for health benefits. I would say there is nothing outstanding with this tea its average for a green rooibos. This is not a review about Upton teas but I enjoy how fast they ship and have good experiences with Upton Teas.

I clearly don’t have the delicate palate that the below reviewers have. I don’t taste the notes others do…never have, never will. My palate is pedestrian. But what I do have to say about this tea is this: It’s a lovely black tea. It doesn’t have any bitter notes. It has a certain clarity to its flavor while still being full-bodied and complex. It continues to taste good, even when it cools.

Phwoo! Lots of jasmine in this. Flowers flowers flowers!

The jasmine I think may be a little more than suits me, but it rides that line to where it’s good and might qualify as a here-and-there tea.

Because this is very pleasant.

The white tea is somewhat overwhelmed by the jasmine, but again not to a bad level… Riding that line, as said. You can taste the underlying white but as a backup supporting taste, vaguely a base flavor.

This is very jasmine.

Note: after posting this I looked at the numbers and realized I put way too much tea in to my container due to Waking-Up Math. So that may be effecting the above review lol.

This is a sample I got with my last Upton tea order a little while ago. It sounds good on the package, definitely got bad reviews on Steepster though…

It’s a green rooibos blend with various fruits. I think it smells like cherry cought syrup upon opening the package. After steeping my impressions are pretty much the same. It’s got this sour cherry flaor which might have been more tolerable with a red rooibos or black tea base but the green rooibos isn’t doing much to temper it. I added a bit of sugar that helped mellow it out some, but I don’t think I need to order any of this or even finish the rest of the sample. Goes in the “ick” category unless you really like the flavor of cough medicine.

Wow, I downed this before I had a chance to log it. A very tasty vanilla tea. Soft, smooth and almost silky. Who was on a quest for the perfect vanilla tea? I should send you some of this, although I’d doubt it’ll win the top honor, it is pretty tasty.

Backlog:

I love a second flush Darjeeling, so I was happy to find one in my Steepster Select box from February. A lovely fruit note: black currant and grape. I am tasting sweet and a hint of tart from these fruit notes. Somewhat tannic, but, that’s something I tend to expect from a Darjeeling like this.

I taste muscatel, woody notes, subtle hints of earth, a wine-like finish. A nice afternoon cup.

Medium musty, more green than a white and less green than a green. It has a slight savory green-yellow in the back of the throat.

A sweetness in the noise that is very faint at the end of the swallow.

The finish is strong and throughout the mouth.

I’m only a little above so-so on this. Am gonna have a coupla more cups to see what happens over them.

On drinking more, there is also something a little zingy of to the upper right, diagonally, of the mouth.

But yeah, I’m meh on this one. But think others may dig it.

First taste of caramel dissolves quickly into bold tannins. At first I could barely taste anything but tannins, but as it cools I am able to find traces of citrus and a teeny bitfof spice. Not terribly jazzed about this one; it’s fine if you’re liking for a warm, full-bodied tea, but it was lacking some complexity and depth of flavor for me. 6.5/10

This tea had such a nutty roasted aroma that I was almost taken aback by the tangy tannins that hit me on the first sip. Was pleased when it mellowed into a malty finish, and actually find the tea as a whole to be quite enjoyable. A nice, medium bodied tea, but the tannins give a little pucker that I almost found refreshing on a warm day. 7.5/10

a nice green tea :) has a decent veggie/grassy taste

TTBC2 #5

Okay, among all the Upton’s Darjeeling FTOPFTGOPFTFOPs, I think this was the one I had.

It was pretty yummy. I don’t really have much experience with Indian black teas, and the only darjeeling I have had before was the one from thepuriTea. This one made a much better impression on me, though. It almost tasted like some of my favorite Chinese black teas, it was sweet, slightly malty, a little bit toffee-like. But then a sharp but tiny bit of bitterness, that I tend to connect with Indian teas, creeped in. It wasn’t an entirely unpleasant sensation, though. I guess it is something one can get used to and learn to enjoy.

I really have to order a whole bunch of Indian black tea samples from Upton and then compare them against each other and against Chinese ones. How scientific!

One of my new go-to teas; a good strong brew (I tend to nearly always add milk and sugar or creamer to my black teas, and this held up very well with the addition thereof). Be careful not to oversteep since it’s on the stronger side.

Tea #34 from Considering a new TTB
This is quite a unique oolong, I really enjoyed it. It starts out with a heavy floral flavor and ends with a spicy note that I can’t quite place. I’m not sure I’ve come across a spicy note in an oolong before, which is what made it really stand out to me. I’ll have to pick some of this up in the future since I can’t drink most spiced teas this is a great option for me.

This tea will not be continuing on

not a good tea :( too raw for me… but for the sake of oolong being my most favorite tea, i wont give this a very low score. (please note: i forgot to review this tea for a week or two)

although i prefer any degree of roasted oolong, I’m not much for raw oolong. however this is the best raw oolong I’ve had so for

Excellent decaffeinated tea (especially with milk and sugar or creamer); strong cup of tea doesn’t taste like you’re missing the caffeine. No bitter aftertaste, nice rounded flavor.