Upton Tea Imports

Cup #6 in SimplyJenW’s Tour of China blacks:
This one is kind of a side trip. I have been primarily focusing on Fujian black tea because the cocoa notes of tea from that region have me always wanting more. But this is a Keemun. I have only had a few of these, but the cup is generally more astringent, bolder, and smokey. It is more of a ‘wake me up’ tea than a ‘relax me out’ tea. I am not super versed in English Breakfast teas of all makes, but there are many that have Keemun as some portion of the blend, or they are a straight Keemun. Me personally, I can’t drink Keemun without additions. After the first several sips of this one, I had to sweeten. This one is in the mid range as far as price for a Keemun at Upton at a little over $7 for 125 grams. Now I am wondering how this compares to a more expensive one, but since it is not my black tea of choice, I may never know.

Day 2 of SimplyJenW’s China black tea palate training course.

This one is malty, and really kind of flat, in my opinion. What I find interesting is that this one gets stellar reviews on Upton’s site, where not many other teas do. It makes me wonder if I did something wrong in the brewing. For me it is kind of bitter on the finish. I could not continue tasting the tea without adding something. I know that all teas are not supposed to be smooth, cocoa-ey, and wonderful for my taste. We all have our preferences, but I find this one a little harsh, even lightly sweetened. It reminds me of the days when I liked Beck’s beer….which is bitter to me now, but when you are used to the bitterness, it is pretty good. Perhaps that is the same with tea….. This one would appeal to those who like bolder tastes in their tea. And I am at the sweet and subtle stage. Sorry, but I have to dump this one….

Woe is me. Why is it that when you find something unique and interesting, it is sold out. But then I wonder, is it the fact that it is sold out that makes it so desirable?

I had enough left in my sample of this for a pot and a cup. It is definitely somewhere between a black and oolong in taste, but leaning black. It is definitely large in the leaf like an oolong, and oh so mellow. Ah well. I will just enjoy it, feed a little more tea into the pot in subsequent steeps, and drink this for today. So long. I think we could have been very good friends.

I purchased several samples from Upton in the China black category as kind of a training course for my palate. I am just trying to train it to taste differences, and we will see how it goes from there.

This is a lovely black. The leaves do look pretty much unlike any other black I have tried. They are largish, thick and wavy. I am drinking this one straight. Yes, very weird for me, but it is good this way. It smells sweeter than it tastes, but that is probably because I normally take sweetener in my tea. As for tasting any notes in this one? It tastes lightly of red wine (which is probably why I like it!) Toward the end of the cup, I detect the slightest bitter edge. Not enough to get me to stop drinking it. Ooops. I am out of observations because I am out of tea!

I’ve had a Rough Tea Week. I’ve been so busy at work, and my good perfect reliable tea brewer is broken! I brought to work my lil Beehouse tea pot and one of my new glass cups to make tea. It seemed silly to buy a new tea brewer when I have this lovely little pot from Doulton which I don’t get to use nearly enough because I make large pots at home.

First day, I hated it. Fussy, wrong amount of water, wrong amount of tea, wrong wrong wrong (god forbid I stop a second and do a little math to figure out the ratios)! Each day, it got a little better. I’m still learning the quirks of my new set up, but FINALLY on Friday I made a delicious pot of Rose Congou. P-H-E-W. It was pastry-ish, rosy, and I swear it was sweeter than usual. I am really digging my glass cup, and seeing all the gorgeous, varied shades of each tea I brew. Rose Congou has a particularly beautiful reddish hue.

Look at me – I am embracing change :)

Oh my friend! Long time no drink!!!

Why, I do not know, because Rose Congou is one of the most delightful teas in my stash! Whilst I do of course taste a lovely, musky rose, the most prominent impressions are Sweet, and Pastry. (How to describe Pastry? Bready and merest hint of vanilla and cinnamon. Maybe nutmeg. Like eating a croissant that was sitting next to a cinnamon bun in the pastry case.).

:)

I’ve managed to come down with a cold. I’ve moved on from experiencing no taste to everything tastes like fish. Flounder to be specific, and I’m not really a fan of flounder. Even my teas tasted like flounder!

Finally I started noticing sweet things were tasting good, so I brought this out after a floundery tasting steep of Gong Fu Black. Mmmmmmm, that’s better. The rose and pastry flavors did some magic so my tea tasted like tea and roses, and not flounder!! I have to remember this for future colds.

I had a serviceable cup of my China Black blend before running to a meeting, with the idea in my head that I would run back to my office afterward and add a teaspoon of Rose Congou leaves to my brewing basket. And horray! I am back and enjoying my lovely, lovely Rose Congou. Sweet but not too, rosy but not too, and what a great tea base. This tea is always a source of delight for me. <3

I had one steep of my Chinese Blend – Black so I could have my breakfast then get on to the good stuff – some Rose Congou!

Mmmmm. Musky true rose that perfectly compliments the faintly pastry-esque Congou. Slightly sweet but never sickening or too much. I think of it as pearls and a chignon rose tea (vs some of those… hair extension and fake tan rose teas!)! Money certainly does not equal elegance (this tea is one of the most reasonably priced teas!)! Love!

Today is a very, very, very wonderful day, because I have finally found a black rose tea that I’m INSANE over! THANK YOU SimplyJenW for sending me this tea to try! I owe you forever!

I had an inkling that I would like a black rose tea that had a Chinese base since I loathe rose teas with milk, and am not crazy about Indian teas without milk. I am ever so happy to say that my hypothesis is correct! OH this tea is afternoon perfection! The rose is present but subtle, the tea medium bodied but the slightest bit smoky/savory. They combine in exactly the way I think a floral tea should. Not super sweet and cloying. You taste TEA first, and then some rose flavor washes over you like a sigh! Ahhhhhhhhh. You also taste a…complexity. Not vanilla bean, not wine, not fruit, but suggestions of each from the Congou. This is so, so good. This is exactly what I was looking for!!!! I am so excited!!! As soon as I have two pennies to rub together (almost literally, because this tea is very reasonably priced!) I am going to get a tin!!!!!

Thank you once again, SimplyJenW! You made my – month!

I did another side by side sampling of lychee tea kind of like I did with the rose teas. I thought this one was a little light on flavor, but then I was tasting it along side the Lichee Congou “Extreme” from another merchant. I definitely need to try this one on its own before passing judgement. All in all it seemed pleasant. Looking forward to it iced in the warmer weather, which will probably be June around here…..

This one definitely requires milk. I was surprised at the tea leaves in that they were kind of chopped up. I know..I am a breakfast tea noob, because it looked exactly as most breakfast teas look in pictures. I guess I am a full leaf gal, who prefers tea (that is not bakery-type dessert flavor) without milk. This one reminds me of coffee.

I think I am going to go with Mincing Lane for now….at least until something better comes along.

This one is not quite the one for me….since I prefer my non-dessert flavored tea without milk, this is just not working. Right now I am wishing I had sampled a single leaf version of each of the components of this tea to know which one is not fitting for me. If I had to guess, it would be the Ceylon, as the Assam and Yunnan blend I had yesterday was stellar. All in all, this tea just makes me miss Mincing Lane…..

This is the first tea I am trying from my SweeTea, Michelle. Thank you again, Michelle!

Pretty leaves! Sort of a “black and tan” look!

Smoky and…bacony…but in a subtle way?! It’s smokier than Queen Catherine, and a more of a sweet smoke rather than a dark smoke like Hao Ya A. I began my sips a little hesitantly, not sure if I was digging this new type of flavor, but a point came where it all clicked and I started really loving the sweet smoke!

I think my problem was that I had a sweet pastry breakfast, and I don’t think it went well together. Once I was done the food, the tea really started to shine. For my palate, I’d prefer a bagel or cheese or eggs or even pancakes or french toast (maple bacon!) for this tea. My Gouda breakfast of yesterday would have been perfection.

Steepsterites, I think I’m now firmly in the camp(fire!) of “loves smoky teas!”

This is not my favorite white peony. It tends to be on the lighter and more floral side, both colorwise and aroma / flavor-wise. What’s interesting is that today, I drank a cup brewed from some of the broken leaves that had fallen to the bottom of the bag. It was a little darker tasting, but I didn’t find it particularly enjoyable. An unremarkable tea. Upton has some fantastic shou mei, such as ZW23. I strongly prefer to drink that.

Finally got around to brewing a sample of this tea. Wow…the cinnamon in this is quite strong…phew! The plum is sweet and a bit tart. Not sure I enjoy this one but will finish the cup. It tastes too much like a liquid potpourri and the fall scented candles I’m burning around aren’t helping the cause.

Well, this was the tea I made myself this morning. This was also the tea that I accidentally dumped all over the carpet after only a few sips. Boo! So I’m going to hold off on rating this because a few sips just isn’t enough time to make an accurate judgment (well, unless the tea is truly awful but this one wasn’t). I did manage to have 2 thoughts about this tea before dropping the rest on my carpet. 1) This isn’t smoky like I was hoping. Instead it’s more toasty, which is a little sad. And 2) If this is their ‘finest’, I kind of hate to see their regular because the leaves here are large, non-uniform, a bit twiggy and the taste didn’t strike me as overly spectacular.

But who knows? Maybe it turns into liquid gold on the 10th sip – and since I didn’t get to that sip, I’ll have to wait until next time.

In retrospect, the best time to try a new tea is not right after a breakfast of quinoa covered in maple syrup. Though even with my mouth feeling very maple-y, I was able to pick out the bergamot in this. But otherwise, I can’t really judge it. Oops. At least I have more so I can try again at a later date!

I’m not sure if there is a difference between Fen Huan and Feng Huang…any ideas?

This was the very first whole leaf oolong I tried. Just smelling the dry leaf is like sticking your nose in the center of a flower. My first thought was that it had been perfumed. On the first infusion (30 seconds) I was so overwhelmed by the floral fragrance that all I could note was a sweetness on the palate.

Second time around I steeped for 1 minute. I was more prepared for the aroma this time and was able to note other characteristics. Along with flowers, there is an earthiness to the aroma. The liquor was a pretty amber color. The flavor has a slight fruitiness, a bit of woodsiness, very soft. There are subtleties going on that I have a hard time describing. I infused several times and it still had a nice flavor with good fragrance.

The thing that really stands out is the crazy strong floral fragrance. I’ve never had another tea like it. I look forward to trying some more Dan Congs for comparison.