Upton Tea Imports

I can’t believe I haven’t updated that I ordered this and have it in my cupboard! We have been drinking it a lot, but I guess I just didn’t get around to logging it.

This was the final tea of tea party yesterday. I think my guest was a little out off by the smokey aroma since she isn’t used to Lapsang. As soon as she sipped, she seemed very surprised and pleased. Though this tea has a strong, smokey aroma, the taste is sweet and smooth and the smoke really makes you think of being cozy by a crackling fire while cold rain pours outside of your window. My youngest daughter is going to finish this tin pretty quickly.

This is a gift from *SimplyJenW" especially for my youngest daughter, but I am sipping it, too! The base is so sweet, the smoke is light and does not accost the nose, yet still lingers so nicely. This is gently bracing, if that makes sense!

Youngest determined that Vanilla Black was strong enough for algebra but will not get her through geometry. We are out of Baker Street and my order to Teavivre has apparently been shanghai’ed because it STILL isn’t here.

Youngest says to say thank you and to tell all my steepster friends who sent her Lapsang tea that she would be dead right now were it not for them. As I have said before, she has a flair for the dramatic.

This one is her hands down favorite. She loved the Teavivre one when we tried it, but she says it has been so long that she doesn’t remember how it compares to this one. I find myself craving the smoky Lapsang flavor lately. I guess I will now forever associate it with sitting at the kitchen table doing geometry with my last homeschooled student. That will be a pleasant memory! We have a good time together!

She asked me twice if I had thanked SimplyJenW and I told her yes both times. She now insists that I tell Jen that she loves her. LOL! These kids have strong feelings about their tea, especially during school work. I hope they can drink tea in whatever jobs they get after college!

Thank heavens! Youngest had finished her lapsangs on Friday. How on earth could she do geometry without it? As it happened, we went in a different order today so this very generous sample from SimplyJenW arrived in the mail just in time for geometry!

Youngest opened the bag and sniffed. Ahhhhh! This smells heavenly! She was quite taken with it.

She made a pot of tea as I was running out the door to drive to Cary to pick up birthday worms for hubby. (He really loves his earthworms…he has two compost bins, one compost pile, and a Worm Factory 360. LOL! I told him we could harvest worms from the yard for him. He said no, they were to remain free range worms. He was going to get rescues. I think these don’t qualify as rescues. It’s a worm mill, for cryin’ out loud!)

I took a cup of the tea and told her to call me in ten minutes and let me know how she liked it. She loved it! She said didn’t the tea didn’t last nearly as long as geometry did.

As for my cup, it was very sweet and light, and the smoke is pretty light. It is very present in the aroma, but isn’t one that leaves a lot of lingering ash flavor in the mouth – whether that is good or bad depends on your love of

This is a great first Lapsang for people who are afraid of it, a good tasting tea base. And even if you love strong smoke and lingering ash flavor, this one has a lot going for it. It deserves the hype it has received on here.

Thank you, Jen! :) Looks like she will make it through the week! And in spite of the dramatic doodles, I am pleased to report that she made an A on her first geometry test last week!

Yes this does have an aroma similar to a Darjeeling. When I first tried this sample I was intrigued by the aroma. I must admit I was expecting something smoky. It was fruity and light after 4 minutes. I have to admit this is a nice evening tea….

Hrmm… kind of light, with a somewhat musty aftertaste to it. I jokingly referred to it as ‘attic tea’, because it kind of gives me that feeling of rummaging through old, dusty boxes of forgotten stuff.

Missy and I bought this sample from Upton because we’re very fond of the Vietnamese tea that SerendipiTea uses as the base for their Colonille vanilla flavored black. This one isn’t terrible, but I don’t think it’s something we’re going to want to keep around. As a straight black, there are just too many good choices that it would be competing with.

I don’t understand this tea. Maracuja is passionfruit, and this tastes like peach.

I mean maybe there’s a little itsy bit of passionfruit in there, but for the most part this is peachy. And no, passionfruit doesn’t taste like peaches, it’s like a pineapple and a guava had a baby that rolled around in citrus juices.

So, considering this now as a peach-passionfruit tea, it’s pretty delicious. I bought a sample and I’m glad Azzrian sent me a bit more because I will gladly drink it up.

I steeped it for 3 minutes after the fiasco that was the summer tea blend from Upton, which said 4 minutes. Even at 3 min, the black tea is showing a good bit of astringency.

I think this has to be far better iced than hot, and I am drinking it iced. It’s so fruity that I think the black tea would be entirely lost underneath the flavors hot.

A sample plus what Azzrian sent will be enough for me! It’s good but not something I’ll feel the need to keep around.

MENOKA, not Menkota. I’ve been misspelling this for a month. Anybody know how to merge two tea listings, one which I created by accident?

Last of the sample pouch, so there was a little less than needed for a full two-cup pot. And that, I believe is the secret—lighter on the leaf, fruitier on the taste. And still enough “boot” to help me slam out 900 words…in time for a Monday morning deadline!

Only new observation after several cups of this one is that it is a lot friendlier with a little milk.

Very stout Assam…akin to the kick in the head that comes from waking up and realizing you are the parent of a college freshman. Life moves fast, gang. Choose well.

At any rate, brisk and pungent are good descriptors of this one. I’m a lover of all things stout and malty, but I may have to back off on the leaf or pop in some milk next time.

Decided to give my taste buds a weary Wednesday pick-me-up by trying something new. Dry leaves are small and thin, but they pack nice and densely in the pouch. Does that make sense? Lots of blonde tips.

First thing I noticed was this was a very “juicy” Assam. I can catch the tones that made the Upton folks call it raisiny. It has strengthened significantly since it has cooled and I’m nearing the end of my 12-oz. tumbler. I think it’ll take milk nicely. Pretty good caffeine kick, too.

I had this again today and upped the dosage and shortened the steep time and it was perfect. It was slightly numbing intially and very flavorful. I literally had this energy. This sense of purpose. A great tea buzz to say the least…. I am still buzzing hours later.

This was the last of my black tea samples from Upton. It brewed up strong yet it was not too bold. It was eye-opening and invigorating. As far as CTC teas go, this was a pleasant suprise. Rich and malty and very flavorful.

Thanks to BrooklynSheep for this sample.
This came in a silver baggie.
Processed on 10/19/2011 for Emily R——-
CO2 Decaffeinated Ceylon OP
The tea had a Kosher star
English Breakfast 1 tsp/3-4min/212 degress
Imported and Picked by Upton Tea imports
I had a very small sample.
I placed what I had in a half cup of water.
I didn’t get anything special, still tasted like hot H20.
For now I’ll check out more teas from www.uptontea.com

Trying to make my peace with this one before the sample runs out. This attempt involved a little sweetening with maple syrup—well, if you can call Mrs. Butterworth’s real maple syrup ;) Hey, it was all I had…

…which means that the not-very-strong blackcurrant became merely a holding mechanism for the syrup.

It was such a lovely, crisp, apple-peel fresh-air sort of evening, it didn’t matter what I was sipping. I sat out in the back yard and smelled fall and felt bountiful for a while.

I’m trying to like this one. I really am. It doesn’t like me back, much. Something about the blackcurrant flavor is—flat? stale? A little Sugar in the Raw did improve it enough to finish the cup.

Not much left in the sample; I may see if it’s blendable with something a little more friendly.

Win some, lose some. (Speaking of lose some, anybody seen my other brown sparkly earring?)

I’m going to have to do some pondering on this one. When I first snipped open the pouch, I could have sworn I smelled something sour, almost like vinegar. That set off an automatic uh-oh, but the scent dissipated pretty quickly.

I forged ahead and steeped it 4 minutes, water a little under boiling as prescribed. Net result is clearly decaffeinated (aka no punch whatsoever) black tea that hints at being somewhat berry-like.

Could be that a little sweetener will coax the blackberry out of hiding, but it’s been a long week, I’m in my cozy glider with my feet up, and I’m just too lazy to get up. Maybe next time.

This is a great way to start the day if you need something extra strong. Between the robust flavor and caffeine content there lies a very good tea. In all honesty I do not think I can handle another cup. This has me flying. I enjoyed this more than the East Frisian TGFOP. More than the River Shannon and the Scottish Breakfast. It’s raining here yet this tea has made me feel like it’s a sunny day. This is a perfect morning brew for those who can handle it….

This is soooo good, it’s probably from last year given I bought it in May so I will be all over a new round of this one.

I don’t even know what else to say about it, it just has that quintessential Darjeeling taste to it. A little astringent, a good bit of muscatel flavor, a bit nutty and citrusy. Pecans and lemons, that’s especially what I taste!

After drinking some fine Yunnans lately I was wondering how this would compare. It was dark and a bit spicy. I was also getting a slight cocoa sweetness. This was a nice way to start the day. For the price its well worth it. I am sure it will be better next time….