Upton Tea Imports

I’m a big fan of Keemun teas, so bought a sample of this as a special treat. And a fine treat it was.

The aroma is good: not overly powerful but with a strong chocolate nature. Magnificent finish: long, complex, and powerful. The taste is good and well-balanced, but not quite as good as the finish, which just goes on forever. Not a hint of bitterness anywhere. Excellent tea. Not as smoky as some Keemuns, but the smoke is definitely there.

I tried a 2nd steep(3m): Taste and nose are slightly weaker than the first steep, but the quality of the flavors was almost as good as the first steep. The finish was a lot weaker than the first time around. Still, if I had only had the second steep, I would have said it was an above-average tea.

I drank this in a series of cups with some other Keemuns. When I tried my previous favorite (Upton’s ZK25 Keemun Dao Ming) it tasted a bit coarse compared to this tea, which was really elegant.

Although this is a bit pricy, I think I need to buy a larger quantity, since it is definitely the best keemun I’ve ever had, as well of one of my favorite teas ever. I’ll use the fact that it re-steeped fairly well to help justify the price.

Fast on the heels of my post about weak two-cup brewing (http://steepster.com/discuss/5563-riddle-me-this-why-does-1-cup-always-taste-better-than-2), I tried brewing three cupweight of this tea in 12 oz water in my 2-cup teapot. Tea came out on the strong side but not at all bitter or tannic, and delightfully stout with milk added — almost as chewy as an East Frisian, but more subtle. If they were classical singers, the Mincing Lane would be an interestingly wide-ranged supple baritone compared to the East Frisian’s firmly planted, deep bass. I noticed after the five minute brewtime that the water temperature had dropped to 151F. Does anyone else take the temperature of their tea just before drinking? (Surely there’s another tea nerd out there recording this variable….)

This is pretty good – great oolong flavor of lightly grassy with lots of buttery. The magnolia floral is moderate – nice enough to taste it, but not overpowering, finishing off sweet and tangy. A very friendly floral tea that is easy to drink.
Later infusions I got a bit of grapefruit notes, but yet not bitter or tart.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/07/10/magnolia-oolong-from-upton-tea-imports-tea-review/

IMO this tea in no way can be called “gentle” or “delicate”. It is very strong to me for a white, very green.

I mean, to where I wondered if I’d put the wrong tea in and double-checked the bag. I was sure I’d accidentally used a green tea.

Vegetal, a fair amount of bitterness around mid and back tongue. Long finish.

Not particularly “nuanced”, either. It’s a pretty straight-forward and simple tasting tea.

Nope, not at all what I’d hoped for or expected from the description. I won’t be buying again and will likely trade this off.

Backlog:

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea. It’s a very fine chop on this CTC tea. It’s a pretty severe cut on these … it’s more like a superfine grind on a coffee rather than a tea leaf.

But despite the fine chop, it is still a really decent tea. The flavor is smooth and inviting. It is rich … with a mild to moderate astringency that develops to a stronger astringency by mid-cup.

Nice malty tone to this cup. Earthy, fruity with hints of warm spice.

It’s an enjoyable cup.

(3 min steep): Rich, dark color. Powerful smoky nose. The flavors are powerful, but the smoke component is a bit too dominant for my tastes. I might like this better if it weren’t so strong. No bitterness. Big finish also dominated by smoke.

The above note was based upon 1.6 gms in 5 oz of water, which is stronger than I normally steep, so I tried again with 1.4 gms in 6 oz water. The tea wound up slightly weaker, but still strong, and the smoke still dominated. The different steeping parameters didn’t change my opinion.

Another sample from Shmiracles!

I was surprised by how dark it was when the steep time was up! A little astringent on its own. Gonna add some milk and a little honey to see how it changes.

The milk gave it a chai vibe. I noticed subtle hints of dark chocolate, too. Next: a second cup from the same leaves.

Second cup is less intense. Possibly should have made two cups worth the first time.

Picked this sample up from Upton Tea Imports a while back with some others, I think it’s the last one I have yet to review. I’m always happy when I see someone else has added the tea to the database so I don’t have to. :)

As for the tea, I tend to always like Nepali teas so I figured this wouldn’t be much of a risk. The flavor is woody but has an astringency or tang that reminds me ever so slightly of lemon. In fact, I wish I had a lemon slice to put in this. It lacks the subtly of the Temi tea I had yesterday but is still quite tasty and VIBRANT. It smells of muscatel more than it tastes of muscatel.

Last night I had a great session at kundalini yoga – sat nam everyone…

Back of the throat and tongue green flavor… not quite grassy but light green, not something dark or bitter like asparagus or such. And a sweet tone..

…just thought of it: it taste’s sort of like wood sorrel without it’s acidic bite. Just that sweet green.

It also has that tiny bit of a musty taste that some whites have. In this it is a nice balancing richness.

I don’t think I’d call this a favorite at this point and am not even sure if I’ll buy more after the bag is gone, but I would recommend it and will enjoy having it.

Evidently it’s unearthing old Upton samplers day for me…

Usually I’ve liked everything from the Temi estate and this is no exception. Very similar to a darjeeling in aroma but in terms of flavor it has a definite woody flavor and seems more astringent than I would normally prefer. I should have brewed it at a lower temp, but a touch of stevia perked it right up!

p.s. I brought a new tea strainer to work and hope it doesn’t disappear!

Tea of the morning here, I just got a sample of this to try. In the past I’ve really liked teas from the Temi estate, in the state of Sikkim.

This tea shares a lot of the same good qualities as some Nepali teas I’ve had. It’s noteworthy that I accidentally steeped this for 7 minutes and it’s still quite lovely. Mellow, with notes of sandalwood and a muscat aroma/flavor. Very smooth and elegant tea for anytime. I think I might like this as an afternoon tea. Also would be good with a touch of sugar, although I drank mine plain.

First try of this and I’m not really getting much out of it. It’s rather a bland white, to me.

It does have a faint sweetness in the back of the throat as its finish, but I’m getting no citrus, no floral… It takes like a bland sort of musty white. Not one I’m impressed with. Perhaps future sweepings will bring out more in the flavor or another day of tasting it again. But so far this isn’t a white I’d buy again.

a simple tea. probably perfect for the afternoons. even if it’s not quite hitting the spot this morning.
not a problem. nice tea. easy to drink fast. i just proved it.

Tastes less vegetal than the Tie-guan-yin I tried.

I have a bowl of samples packages on the counter that I would really like to get through by the weekend. Only time will tell!

This sample came from Tasty Brew who, if you haven’t had the pleasure of trading with her, has the cutest stickers for her baggies. Because what could possibly be wrong in the world when you have a beer bottle in a teacup?

The dry aroma is very vanilla, and there’s definitely a creamy/milky aspect…with maybe a touch of homemade caramel sauce. The wet leaf has less vanilla smell and is more, well, tea-y.

The taste is a nice vanilla. The bean pod pieces seemed to impart a smoothness and a creaminess I wasn’t expecting, but really like. The depth of flavor isn’t quite what I was expecting (and I really need to review Periwinkle because it is awesome for this) but the base is okay and holds it’s own. I think the smoothness here is what I like most about this one.

I’ve got some low-key jazzy piano going and it really pairs well with this mellow cup.

I’ve had this little sample lying around for some time, briefly forgotten about. It came to me from Shmiracles

I did a bit of a longer rinse on it because I was expecting the leaves to need a few extra seconds to break up, but they didn’t. It broke up really quickly and the leaves are itty bitty.

The taste of this pu-erh is like sour dirt rather than the sweet earthiness that I am used to. I’ve head that mini cakes aren’t the best quality pu-erh, but the mini cakes I got from Butiki were a lot better than these IMO.

okay, here’s another ff darjeeling sample I picked up from Upton earlier this year…

I do tend to like ff darjeelings, a LOT and this is no exception. The aroma of the tea reminds me of roses and sandalwood with tropical fruit and the flavor is delightful. Their tasting notes say citrus rind and grape, I’m definitely getting the grape but not sure about the citrus. This does have a light pungency but overall not too bothersome. Sometimes pungent teas make my stomach a bit queasy. This is pretty good but I might try steeping it a lower temp next time around and keep a better eye on my steeping time.

I’m finishing off the rest of this sample this morning, sort of feeling like it’s a green tea day for some reason. Light, nutty and sweet. See previous notes for more details.

I got this sample from Upton Tea Imports a while back and was curious to try it. I’ve had Mandala Tea’s version but that’s about it for me and this leaf.

The other taster here was not too fond of it, but I rather liked it. It’s a mild green tea similar in appearance and flavor to a dragonwell. I’m definitely getting the light chestnut flavor here and it’s sweet and mild, with vegetal flavors similar to corn. Very gentle character which is great for the first afternoon cuppa.

I’d like to try this side by side with Mandala’s version but overall it was very enjoyable to me.

Foremost this is a very smooth black tea. There is no acidity or bitterness and only this lovely bright black tea flavor. That sounds very generic I know, but I really can’t think of any adjectives that I usually use for tea. No fruit or spices that I notice. The mouth feel is similar to a mild less smoky Keemun or a less complex and fruit forward Golden Monkey. The leaves are quite large and twisted and expand to a deep chestnut on brewing. I admire the quality of this tea, and I will definitely drink up my sample, I’m just not tempted to buy it. I get a hint of apple skin and dried fruit in the aroma of the leaves. A very mild and nice afternoon or morning cup.

Too bad Upton doesn’t seem to carry this at present. I thought it was very nice! Brewed longer at a lower temperature, it was smooth, with a clear clean lively gently floral taste. Fine hot and warm.

Pretty good, nice in the morning with some milk and sugar tho that made it a bit heavy on my belly.
Not sure if the caffeine or the milk and sugar but my belly kinda hurts now, It was worth it tho lol Yummy delish tea :)
I’ll taste it again soon without the additives