Upton Tea Imports

l like the “hints of apple skin” in the product description … this is light, lip-licking tart, and dry. Not enough left in the cup to ice down, but I bet it’s good cold.

Many thanks to Lady Londonderry for this tea!!!!!

I had a wee bit of this before with Rose Scented, but this morning is the first time I’m tasting its true character.

It’s really nice! Wine-y, a sweetness – I’m getting that pastry cinnamony flavor I get with some teas – but it’s a little thin. I think I was wimpy with the leaves. I also let it brew a little longer than I usually do (5 min) and I’m getting the teeniest bit of astringency.

I need to make this again with a bit more leaves, and stop the steeping at 4 minutes. If I can preserve the pastry notes – mmmm! This would be a super bargain, and it’s organic to boot! I could see this as being a wonderful everyday drinker!

Oh! And before I forget – completely unrelated to tea – I have another guest post at the blog I wrote the Bronte tea post at. This one is about John Adams and…mushrumps!

http://unputdownables.net/2011/06/10/life-liberty-and-the-pursuit-of-mushrumps/

Last time I reviewed this was—good grief—six years ago? How forgetful I am…didn’t think I’d ever tried it. Oh, well, I liked it then and I really like it now, although I’d use a different set of adjectives this time around. Such as crisp and bright and peppery and I need more than a sample size.

This one has such a nice, strong, bright character on its own I believe I made a mistake by adding milk this morning…it didn’t clash, but it toned down all the nice kicky stuff. Ah, well, live and learn.

I love the deep dark Assam taste paired with the brassier Yunnan. Nice match, and the combination is stout enough to take ice really well. Huge improvement over the from-the-tap restaurant tea I had earlier today.

This is smooth and excellent; nice and thick and hefty. I prefer breakfast teas minus milk and sugar, and, straight up, Mincing Lane needs none. I’m not sure if it’s the Yunnan that keeps the Assam from biting too much or the other way around, but in any case, it’s a wonderful morning tea.

A post-storm gift from SimplyJenW that was much appreciated on my new, hopefully very temporary, 40-mile commute. I don’t know if research can confirm that trauma messes with your taste buds, but I’ve been having trouble picking up subtleties in what I’ve been drinking. Can sure tell there’s some Assam in here, which was a real treat.

I am not very good at picking out the flavors of Darjeelings, yet. It may be getting close to time for another round of palate training! I do think the bergamot is light, and there might be a light hint of vanilla. It is good, but not a keeper for me.

Not great, but not terrible. I think I have come to the conclusion that Upton is not my first choice for flavored tea. Hot it was a fine berry tea. It was kind of nice to have both blueberry and strawberry flavors going on. By the time it had cooled enough for iced tea, it had turned slightly bitter. I guess it could have been my brewing.

I am breaking out of my usual black tea variety. I think this is my first straight up Nilgiri. While it is not as honeyed or cocoa-noted as what I normally drink, this really is a good tea. It is nearly a perfect balance between the tea I usually drink and coffee. No real bitterness or astringency, just good, basic black tea. This one also comes in at a bargain. It is $5.20 for 200 grams or about 75 cents an ounce.

Note to self……pass on this one. I am thinking it was some version of passionfruit tea, but not one I would consider owning. Brewed to specifications on tag. As far as a rating goes, I am not qualified to rank this one as it did not appeal to me at all.

Edit to add…..It was too much fruit flavor and not nearly enough tea flavor. It was kind of like drinking dried fruit except wetter?

I had a sample of this from several months ago that I never opened. It is amazing what you find when you are trying to downsize a little.

The apricot is pretty pronounced in this tea, and the base is light. I think it requires at least one more taste…. ;)

I’m trying to restrain myself from placing a Harney order (new Chinese tea available! free shipping code! Discount code! I have a $5 points thingum! wait – that’s encouraging me – slap my hand!) so I am having another Keemun which Lady Londonderry gave me a very generous sample of (so sheesh! I can certainly hold out a little longer because you KNOW what is going to happen. The minute I place my order some more Harney Chinese teas are going to come out and I’m going to to be mad at myself).

Ahem! You’ve had enough of my internal monologue – let me talk about the tea!

I went heavy on the leaf, and got a really nice cocoa-y, satisfying cup. Rich and delicious.

THEN I gilded the lily! I took Harney’s Chocolate Mint which Ashmanra sent to me into work because I wanted to taste it sans additions. I added a scant teaspoon to the Keemun Mao Feng leaves and had two more steeps of such a treat! The cocoa notes from the Keemun paired with the chocolate and mint was exhilarating! I definitely prefer the Chocolate Mint sans additions. This is so refreshing and chocolatey and Mmmmmm!

Thank you so much Lady Londonderry & Ashmanra! You both helped me keep a sound mind and pocketbook today, whilst having a delicious and decadent tea day!

Many thanks to Lady Londonderry for this tea!!!

It’s sweet, roasty, chocolatey – all the things I loved about Harney’s KMF. Delicious! but!!! it’s like they took the remote control and put the volume to, say, 5 or 6. Harney’s KMF goes to 11 ;)

I am totally going to enjoy every drop of this sample, but most likely will order Harney’s despite the fact that the price goes to 11 too. If Harney runs out, I would order this in a heartbeat, and be very pleased. It’s good stuff!

As soon as I tasted this, I said “Wait?! This is a Keemun? It tastes like an oolong!” Lo and behold, it’s supposed to :) Formosa – I see! Once I wrapped my head around the fact that I’d be enjoying an oolong, and not a roasty chocolatey Keemun, I relaxed into it.

This one is pleasantly woody, with a rich, complex, sort of tangy flavor. Second steep sweeter and less woody. I bet it would be great with food. We are actually out of water here at work (we get spring water delivered because our faucet water is so vile) but I am going to save my leaves in hope that we get a delivery some time today so I can have another steep!

Thank you Michelle, my SweeTea, for this tea!!!

Cup #10 in my tour of Upton’s China blacks. I have about two more to go, and I am sure I could find several more there to try. This one is what I would consider a mid range for price at a little over $3 per ounce.

This one is interesting. I think this is the first tea I have noticed to have a bite at the beginning, but a completely smooth finish. The needles are very fine and dark, like a Keemun. There is the slightest bit of smoke in the finish, but I am still trying to sort out the front notes….to my sissy sweet loving palate, it is kind of bitter, but it goes away. While this is not a tea I would purchase for anything other than sampling, it definitely has made a difference, because I never would have thought this combo of beginning and end existed. I have such a long way to go……

Today at tea party we compared Rose Congou and Harney’s Rose Scented Black side by side. My guest preferred Rose Scented Black, I think because she never adds sugar or milk and likes a naturally sweet and smooth tea. Rose Congou has a peppery aroma, so I am guessing the base is Yunnan tea. You get more tea flavor from this one, less rose.

This tea came to me courtesy of JacquelineM! Thank you!

I had this today in a side by side tasting with Harney’s Rose Scented. The results were unexpected for me as I thought I would prefer one over the other. I didn’t anticipate the bases of these teas being so different.

First, the rose scent and flavor is lighter in this one, though it isn’t overly heavy in the Harney offering. The tea base is a bit stronger, and I think that made this one take milk and sugar better than the Harney one, which I liked best plain. I expect that the Tuesday tea party attendees, who always add both milk and sugar to their tea, will like this one best, and the Wednesday guest who never ever adds sugar and only very rarely milk will like the Harney one best! As the Upton cup cools I can taste the rose a little more and it seems to get sweeter. Very good tea!

Back to palate training with Chinese blacks…..

This is cup #7 in my taste testing. This cup is nice and smooth with cocoa notes. It has a nice full taste, and is easy to drink. It really goes to prove that you don’t need to spend a ton of money to get good tea. It runs a little over $6 for 80 grams of tea (just under 3 oz.) That works out to a little over $2 per oz. and is in the low priced range for some of the teas I have been testing.

The leaves really are needle like, but not as long as the Imperial Black Golden Needles I sampled a few weeks ago. There is some golden, but it seems to be on the lower side at around 30%. Some of the others have been higher. Really this is a great tea for the money.