Upton Tea Imports

Oolong literally translates to ‘black dragon’. Who knew!

Oolong teas, typically from China, are semi-oxidized teas meaning that after the tea leaves are picked, they are rolled and allowed to wither in the sun and thus oxidize in the aire libre. Oxidization produces the floral notes that characterize many oolongs. Se Chung Oolongs are oxidized for a shorter time than most other oolongs, thus lending itself more to a green tea style than a black tea.

The tea pours a golden yellow, constant throughout with grains of sediment collecting at the bottom of the cup. The tea shields its aroma through a floral coat like Poison Ivy, impenetrable yet irresistible to the casual tea purveyor. If you were to place the unfurled leaves onto a table and then roll your face in the leaves as if you were engaging with intimate areas of the temptatious super villain, you could better interact with the malty, almost caramel smells layered within the leaves themselves. Not that I would know, though.

Raising the mug to your speech-hole, you let the tainted water penetrate the cavity that is your mouth. The perverse liquid teases your taste receptors but, as the droplets trickles down the back of your throat, your buds on the tongue are left feeling unsatisfied. It has yet to be known whether this tea can finish or not. This is a sexual tea. Music pairing suggestion: the Yeezus album by Sir Kanye West.

Se Chung translates to ‘colorful variety’. How fun!

I’ve had this sample around for months, opened and clipped shut with a binder clip. As such, I wasn’t expecting much when I brought it out on a bit of a whim.

I was pleasantly surprised! Quite flavorful, with notes of honey and something floral or fruity that I can’t put my finger on. Seems to pack a nice caffeine kick as well. May have to bring this into the rotation.

Finally got it right! Don’t give up people. It is hard to get it to taste right (at least it was for me), but when you do, man is it good! A slight nutty taste and milky. Love it.

No. 1 Tippy Orthodox GFOP Darjeeling. What the hell does that mean?

First, “Tippy”: tips, or buds, are the small unopened leaves of the tea plant – they are considered higher quality than the larger leaves of the plant and thus may be more expensive.

Next, “Orthodox”: recognizing how the tea is picked – either ‘orthodox’ (by hand) or ‘crush-tear-curl/CTC’ (by machine).

Third, “GFOP”: meaning Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. -FOP signifies the highest grade of orthodox tea. The prefix Golden may be swapped with Tippy, Finest Tippy, etc. and usually depends on where the tea was grown.

Lastly, “Darjeeling”: simply a designation that the tea was grown in the Darjeeling district in Northern India. Darjeeling teas are usually, not always, black teas and may be categorized by their ‘flush’, which is determined by when in the year the tea was harvested.

Having said this, the tea pours an amber base with a golden gradient around the rim of the mug – a typical black tea coloring. The tea’s distinctive vegetal aroma reminds the taster of a time before the distractions and responsibilities of technology, a time when we took up our plows and returned to find a pot of this delicate, leafy tea on the woodstove next to the neatly stacked pile of logs from the prior day’s work.

Upon the first sip, the tea glides over the tongue, careful not to injure the tastebuds, and then leaks down the back of the throat. Akin to the popular Samuari chai blend at Teavana, the gentleness of this tea may appeal to a broad range of palates and may be comfortably used as an everyday breakfast tea. Lastly, the tea finishes just as neatly as it enters, providing a satisfying wetting to the mouth, and leaves the taster reaching for his next sip.

I received a free 15g sample from my first order from Upton Tea. Que buenísimo.
Note: I recommend erring on the smaller side of the teaspoons (if you use said units of volume to measure your tea) as the CTC tea is a little more dense than other loose leaf teas. Thus, the Irish Breakfast Blend can quickly become bitter if you are generous with your servings or steep time; furthermore, it may help to let the water cool to about 205F before steeping as this may relieve some pressure on the tea and save it from bitterness towards you!

Drinking the tea neat:
The Irish Breakfast Blend pours a coffee black that emits a golden gradient halo along the concave meniscus of the cup. The tea, neat, produces a defensive odor akin to a lone cactus in the middle of the desert warding off thirst-hungry wanderers. The first sip aggressively fills to the roof of the mouth and seemingly attacks both the front and back of the tongue simultaneously. Waiting a few seconds, you find that the astringency of the tea swells the lips and inner cheeks – leaving you with a finish as if you had suckled on the Gumball seeds from the Sweetgum tree. The tea therefore tastes similar to coffee but with a more watery feel in the mouth. After having cooled down, the tea loses its biting potency and allows for a more gentle swallow.

Adding Milk:
Throw a splash of milk into the Irish tea and watch the thick liquid swirl as clouds do in a lightning storm until the reaction settles into a misty, ubiquitously caramel color. This tea with milk tastes just as coffee does with milk but retains its distinctive punchy smell.

Overall, this filling little tea when drunk neat may overwhelm those unaccustomed to black or assam teas. However, one or two teaspoons of milk helps to neutralize the astringency and bitterness of this tea and allows for a sweeter and calmer experience. Aside, this tea pairs perfectly with thick, creamy sides: I recommend a honey greek yogurt to go along with this breakfast tea for your morning.

It’s a lot less rosy than I thought it would be. There’s very few rose petals in the mix, and what it has are small. The taste is less rose more than it is just soft and sweet. That certainly doesn’t make it a bad tea, and the fact that it doesn’t turn bitter if you oversteep it is definitely a plus.

It’s nice if I want a subtle, mellow rose tea. If I want something that really tastes rosy, I’ll go for Adagio’s Summer Rose instead.

Backlog:

Yum! Some of you may have tried my Sweet Caramel O’Mine tea when I was a blender … and this one is good … maybe even almost as good as mine, but mine is (or was) better. :)

Sweet, caramel-y … this has a really good, clear caramel-y note.

I love Earl Grey, and I’m usually happy to try variants thereof (lavender Earls in particular I’m a sucker for). I’ve never come across a chocolate-flavored Earl though, so I purchased a couple of samples out of curiosity. Couldn’t hurt, right?

It’s certainly a tasty tea, even if it doesn’t seem much like Earl Grey to me, since I don’t get that much bergamot. More like a chocolate tea that’s a little citrusy. In fact, as far as chocolate teas go it’s one of the better ones I’ve had.

Purchased October 2013 from Upton. This was the only Pu-erh I ever had prior to finding Steepster. Now look at my cupboard! My taste buds thank all of you Steepster-ites who have since expanded my horizons. My wallet silently curses you.

Steeping Western style, per Upton’s recommendations, does not do this tea any favors. Gong Fu style at 10/20/30.. seconds, however, brings out a few interesting notes. The main aroma and flavor centers around shiitake mushrooms, with hints of wood, mineral, pepper and citrus making guest appearances in the cup.

Although this sounds interesting my final note reads “Overall not a bad shu, but not one I’d stock.” Compared to the various shu I’ve been introduced to here on Steepster this is just average at best and no longer holds my interest. As an entry point into the world of Pu-erh, however, it served it’s purpose.

Note: the crop reviewed here was purchased from Upton in late December 2013.

This tea is OK steeped Western style, but seems to really shine with Gong Fu treatment. All experiments used 1 tsp (2.3 grams) of leaf.

I tried two forms of Western steeping, both with 6 ounces of water. The more traditional 4:30 steep produced a powerful aroma of raw honey with an undertone of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven, but was somewhat less impressive in the cup with just a muddled note of the underlying sweetness that was hinted at in the aroma. Two subsequent 6 minute steeps brought faint reflections of the first cup along with a hint of pepper in the final steep. Modifying this with 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 minute steeps produced a better cup, especially in the early steeps, with the honey aroma translating into a nice honey sweetness in the cup. Pepper again made an appearance in the later steeps. The liquor varied across the spectrum of red-amber.

It was the Gong Fu treatment, however, that made me order more of this tea. I pulled out my 90 ml pot, skipped the wash and jumped right into a series of 15 second steeps until the flavor started to fade around the eighth one, whereupon I lengthened each steep considerably. Early steeps smelled and tasted like raw honey, with Yunnan spice slowly increasing as I went. The sweetness morphed from honey to something less distinct out through the 16th steep (a hail-Mary at 10 minutes), but never left. The liquor was a beautiful golden color that seemed to glow in my little clear glass teacup. This was an outstanding session which I’ve repeated several times since.

I’ve never tasted legendary teas such as Golden Fleece. Until I get that chance this stands as one of my favorite Yunnan blacks.

1/25/14 Morning pot to fend of a chilly busy day. 3g/6oz/212F/5min. Fantastic aroma of roses both from the dry leaf and only slightly subdued in the brew. Drinking this first thing in the morning is giving it short shrift. Slightly sweetened with sugar, the rose flavors are present, but faded. More ‘old sachet’ then ‘blooming in June’. This would be largely the fault of the age of the tea – this was packed for me in ‘10. It’s been stored well sealed in my dark cool cupboard. The age detectable, but in a pleasant way. A summer afternoon in the attic above the rose garden kind of way.

I’ve had three cups of this today, testing how the leaves handle multiple steepings. The first steep (190 degrees for 2:30) was quite lovely – full-bodied, earthy, and I may have detected a small hint of sweetness, not sugar-sweet but almost the natural sweetness of white tea. The second steep (190 degrees for 3:00) had less body and more of a bitter taste than the first steep. The third steep was actually quite disappointing. It was bitter and incredibly weak, and the liquor was so close to clear that I actually double-checked to make sure that I had actually added the leaves to let it steep! Since the first steep was quite good and the second was acceptable, I can let a less-than-desirable third steep by.

Overall, I was very pleased with this tea, which I got as a part of Upton Tea’s sampler set “Introduction to Oolong Tea”, but I will definitely only do two steeps with the leaves.

It’s Chai Time!
I used to drink a lot of chai, but since I gave up the soymilk & soy creamer (& am allergic to real milk), I haven’t been drinking much of it. It’s not the same without some kind of creamy goodness involved.
So I steeped this in minimal water, combined it with some of my homemade almond milk, & a little coconut milk keifer, & it’s pretty tasty.

I have an older supply of Upton Tea Imports Makaibari Darjeeling, but it still tastes fresh and good, so I’ll just pretend that I acquired this lot more recently than I did.

The liquor is peachy brown, and the flavor has the characteristic complexity of a fine darjeeling. I have not been drinking darjeelings lately because I had a carton of light cream in my refrigerator which took forever to empty. To my amazement, a quart lasted something like a month, and it did not spoil. My impression is that light cream holds up better than half-and-half, and I also discovered that it does not dilute the tea in which it is added, so that’s another plus. With the end of that carton, I’m putting my Earl Grey binge on pause for while…

Well, all of that was only barely relevant to this tasting note, but for the next few weeks, I’ll be focusing on no-cream-added black teas, with the darjeelings at the top of the list!

This Makaibari Estate brew has the dried grassy smell and taste which I have come to associate with darjeeling, and the flavor and scent are also very slightly smoky. Neither bitter nor scratchy, this is a very good black tea for drinking au naturel! No adulterants, please!

Short Note: I’ve been drinking teas for a couple years now, but I am just getting into the process of learning and appreciating the subtle tastes and nuances in tea.

Having said this, I do enjoy this robust green tea.

Preparation: As per the suggested instructions from upton, I used water @180F and (using an old teavana 32oz infuser) measured out 4 level teaspoons [2.25gram/cup; 1 level teaspoon, a unit of volume, ~= 2.3 grams, a unit of mass, for this tea; 1 cup = 8oz, therefore, I used 4 level teaspoons for my 32oz pot].

The tea pours a brazen amber-yellow color, and creates an earthy aroma with hints of a floral or vegetal undertone. Taking a quick sip, the tea attacks the front of the tongue but if you were to let it sit for 10 seconds on your tongue you will find that the tea morphs into a blank, viscous substance in your mouth akin to warm salt water. Upon swallowing, the tea regains its full flavor and the tastes impact the back of the tongue, providing a long smoky finish.

Therefore, this tea is a comfortable drinking tea but it may sour the palate after a longer session. The special grade gunpowder is best appreciated in smaller and longer sips, letting the tea rest on the tongue so that you may experience the fullness that this tea has to offer.

Thank you TeaExplorer for your generous sample. This tea is sweet, bold, cocoa and stone fruit notes. I like it. I was drinking it side by side Yunnan Dian Hong Golden tip by Teavivre. I find these teas similar but Teavivre’s has honey notes more pronaunced.

1/21/14 Afternoon tea while cleaning my kitchen. 3g/6oz/190F/4min. First impressions. This tea is befuddling me. It brewed dark, and had an aroma, and trying to find the words for the tastes or scents is just… befuddling me. I"m glad that I still have a few more grams of it for some more cups. I like it, I think.

This tea reminds me of that good tea – I worked at that place for years, earned my up from kitchen/dishwasher drudge to second wok, and got promoted to good tea as well as cook. What is befuddling me is that the good tea was a fairly light jasmine oolong, and yet when I drink this dark utterly non-floral brew, that good tea is what rings in my tastebuds in my head.

So many words to try and explain how my reaction “this tastes like restaurant tea” isn’t insulting to this tea.

1/22/14 Morning pot before travelling. 3g/6oz/212F/5min. Milk and sugar. Happy with this tea as always.

1/21/14 Pot for the morning. 3g/6oz/212F/5min. Brews a dark red/mahogany, with a rich heavy scent. I drink this with milk, lightly sweetened. The taste is a brisk comforting tea-ish taste, with smoky tones. If a Red Rose teabag could reincarnate 500 times, become a bodhisattva, and achieve nirvana, this it what it would taste like when you finally brewed it. One of my favorite teas.

This is an easy going mellow tea with a flavor like molasses/oak like the tasters at Upton Tea imports say. It is a great choice for the price.

This tea surprised me, with its mellow easy going flavor. It does have a bit of a molasses/oak quality to it as the tasters at Upton Tea Imports claim. Its not an ordinary Ceylon cup to me, has more qualities of a Java tea. Excellent inexpensive choice.

Sipdown (199/201)!

Yay for an enjoyable sipdown that puts my number of teas lower than 200! I highly doubt that’ll be kept up for long – but it’s a nice feeling right now.

This was really good! I was quite impressed with how it managed to be fruity without being really tart, and how the cinnamon was not overwhelming, and more just enhanced the plum. I definitely wanted more once the cup was empty.

I pulled this one out early this morning but I can’t remember why, and now that I’m making it I’m realizing increasingly that I’m really not in the mood for yet another cinnamon tea – but I’ve started steeping it so I might as well finish now.

Anyway, I recieved this from VariaTEA who I believe received it from MissB. For the most part I like teas like this, though I’m relatively hit and miss when it comes to plum.

For my parameters I’m using 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in about 8 oz. of boiling water, steeped for 8 minutes. Dry, the leaf is strongly cinnamon scent with some light fruitiness that could be plum, although I’m getting more tartness than generally associated with plum. Probably from the hibiscus. Steeping up, the smell is more appetizing than I thought it’d be: definitely heavier on fruit than on cinnamon which makes me happy because I was regretting the choice of brewing yet another cinnamon tea.

Taste wise – I’m actually surprisingly quite happy with this tea! The cinnamon is there but despite not being in the mood for cinnamon at all right now, it’s actually really tasty. Even better than that, I did not get the hibiscus overload I was expecting and on top of that I could taste the plum (and it tasted good)! All that said, despite being very surprised with this tea I don’t find it exceptional and therefore wont be seeking it out. I am glad I have at least one more cup left though!