Upton Tea Imports

Mild. Reminds me of high quality chinese black tea in that I’m picking up that cocoa-esque scent and taste, except more understated I guess? One other thing of note here is the aftertaste is pleasing and velvety-smooth…not bitter at all like some teas. Now that I’ve had more of it, it has kind of a unsweetened cookie dough like taste to it.

Mild. Reminds me of high quality chinese black tea in that I’m picking up that cocoa-esque scent and taste, except more understated I guess? One other thing of note here is the aftertaste is pleasing and velvety-smooth…not bitter at all like some teas. Now that I’ve had more of it, it has kind of a unsweetened cookie dough like taste to it.

I’ve been looking forward to trying this one for awhile. Before steeping I’m getting a deep chocolatey smell, with a fruity sweetness in the background. After I got it in the cup it smells like the yeast rolls my grandmother makes. The taste reminds me of buttermilk biscuits, roasted nuts, and a hint of cocoa. A little malty tasting too. It’s also tasting a bit like artichoke when I steep it multiple times. Mild lingering tang in the aftertaste. I like this best with a relatively short steep time, lower than boiling temp., and sugar.

This was my first loose leaf tea purchase…I have purchased many others since. With the others there are qualities I like and do not like. For me this blend is a really great balance of tea/spices. I enjoy it hot or cold, and with sweetener (xylitol)/almond milk. Soooo good! Sometimes I use the pan method and other times I don’t. I do always let it steep well beyond 5 minutes.

This is a nice tea.
I get some apple fruit notes in it along with the honeyed sweetness.
Some malt, and some smoke but not overly smokey.
I am far too tired to do a full review on this one so I am just going to enjoy it.
Passing the rest of this sample along to Yssah – working on her box this weekend to send out Monday.
While I could see this being worthwhile to have in a daily rotation due to a good flavor I don’t think that I will as I just have already have a good supply of excellent black teas already.
I may add this to the shopping list though just in case I ever make an upton’s order. Its worth getting again.
The sweetness is light but present. I like that.
The fruit notes are lovely.
The mouthfeel is full and just ever so slightly creamy.
Would be an excellent iced tea as well.

First steep: Lightly vegetal, minerally, and has some natural sweetness, no sugar needed (for me at least.)

Second steep: I’m picking up floral (almost jasminey) and somewhat nutty notes. Very good oolong.

The smell of the dried leaves is rich like tobacco and leather with a hint of musk, just lovely! This smell should be bottled as a men’s cologne. The directions say 1+ tsp and I like my tea a bit stronger, so I put in just about 1 and a half. When I brewed it, it tasted a bit strong so I added a tsp of sugar and it was perfect. If I was drinking it bare, I might use more like 1 tsp and 1 1/2 if adding sugar or milk. The taste is a wonderful mixture of vanilla and cocoa with the faintest hint of astringency in the middle of the tongue. There are very nice toasty and earthy notes with a hint of currant and brandy. I am drinking it with my breakfast of blueberry bagel and it goes perfectly. This is my first experience with a pure Keemun and I really am enjoying this cup.

Upping my rating a bit! It tastes wonderful brewed stronger or weaker and you still get all the notes and different flavors. I don’t know how I made it this long in my life without ever having had a good Keemun. Just lovely!

Has that chocolatey smell and taste I usually associate with Yunnans, however this is the smoothest one I’ve had thus far. Also has a bit of a sweetness going on in the smell and taste, kind of makes me think of figs, and maybe even spaghetti squash. In addition, I’m also getting a bit of earthy-mineral notes. Great tea. I prefer this one with a little sugar added.

Assam and vanilla sounds like a winning combination, right? Rich, malty Assam with creamy, cake-like vanilla. In my head that’s what this should be, at least! I think my hopes were a little too high though, this is tasty but not as full as flavor as I thought.

The Assam base is certainly strong but it’s not as rich and malty as I’d like. It overpowers the vanilla too, which is very mellow and not that strong. It’s not a bad tea by any means, just not as perfect as I imagined. It’s a great afternoon blend though when you’re feeling the midday blues and need a little pick me up.

I like Earl Grey, and I’ve been trying a lot of the Earl Grey varieties from Upton Tea Imports. I find a lot of them are too strongly flavored for my taste – I like a subtler flavoring where I can still taste the tea. I didn’t particularly like their Lavender and Blue Flower Earl Greys, and I will likely stay away from the Extra Bergamot. So far, of the ones I’ve sampled, I like this one the best. You can tell the Bergamot and Vanilla are there, but just barely. I noticed that some tasters prefer a strong flavored Earl Grey, but if you like subtle, this one’s for you. If you prefer a stronger vanilla, check out their Earl Grey Creme Vanilla.

The pot of this tea that I just had was amazing. Much better than the previous one. I steeped for less time on this pot. Too bad I didn’t pay attention to the exact time. I’ll just have to hope I can get it right next time. Nice, non-artificial tasting cinnamon tea, with a nice, light black tea base (this time it wasn’t too present, which was perfect for my taste). My favorite cinnamon tea so far. Really hit the spot tonight!

Just a note: I wouldn’t really consider this a chai. It’s more a cinnamon flavored tea, and not really all that spicy. I personally didn’t have a problem with this, since I was looking specifically for cinnamon and not chai. Great without milk and sugar!

This cinnamon tea is pretty good. I think I may have over-steeped it, as it’s a little more “black tea” tasting than I’d prefer. But the cinnamon comes through nicely, and doesn’t have the “Big Red chewing gum”, artificial taste that I’ve had with some other cinnamon based teas. Like I said, I think I may have to fiddle with the time a little to get the best taste from this tea. Future tastings will hopefully be even better and raise the rating from 79. This wasn’t bad at all, but I think it has more potential. I’ll update on the next pot I brew.

So the taste of this one surprised me a little bit. I have the teavana golden monkey that I adore and this one is a bit different. I won’t compare except to note that the Upton golden monkey’s leaves are much smaller but with a similar golden tipped look. When I smell this one, I get caramel and sweetness and as I drink it I find there is an explosion of dried fruit with hints of pear and fig on the palate, though less fruity than I’d imagined. Next there is a bit of tannic astringency rounded in the front of the tongue and on the roof of the mouth, but offset with an interesting earthiness. I really am fond of the taste of this complex cup and I find there might be a taste I’m missing, but in general I am intrigued with the different mouth feel of this one.

I guess I reviewed this 7 years ago and forgot, anyways new sample, in addition to the old review notes, I’m getting some oolong esque roasty notes that remind me of hot rocks/hot spring mineral water.
old review:
“Doesn’t taste too vegetal or grassy to me, which is a good thing. Tastes smooth and smokey. I didn’t bother sweetening it; it is good just as it is. The people I shared it with enjoyed it as well, including people that “don’t usually like green tea.””

Doesn’t taste too vegetal or grassy to me, which is a good thing. Tastes smooth and smokey. I didn’t bother sweetening it; it is good just as it is. The people I shared it with enjoyed it as well, including people that “don’t usually like green tea.”

Edit: revisiting this tea 7 years later, now I’m getting some tasting notes that remind me of dark oolong esque roasty/hot rock spring water. Bumping score up slightly.

I’m sitting in my dining room with my bread dough rising and a couple of hours to relax, trying the first of two Upton senchas. I must say something about the packaging: while Harney & Sons is my favorite, I really like these personalized round labels from Upton that can be placed on your own tea tin.

I heated the water to under boiling and have brewed my first mug for almost two minutes. The dry leaves have a hay-like aroma, but the wet leaves have that lovely vegetal scent with a little added essence that, for some reason, makes me think of salt and the ocean. The liquor is not at all green, but a goldenrod hue.

The flavor? Well… This mug is rather bitter. I’m not sure if my brewing technique is the problem but the bitterness is strong and unpleasant. Lets try a second steeping… No… In trying to lessen the bitterness with a lower temperature, the flavor is weak. Steeping it longer brings out the bitterness.

I’m going to have to give myself some time to learn how to brew this or to let the flavor grow on me. It’s a bit harsh, with none of the sweet finish I’m told should be there. Maybe this tea will pair well with my grain teas (a la genmaicha).

By the way, I hated to do it but I added the tiniest bit of stevia to cut the harshness, and it helped. Oh, I’m soooo disappointed! What am I doing wrong? Is it supposed to taste like this?

Mmmm. Despite Christmas being over I decided to open this sample today and boy is it nice. The tea was not as spicy as the leaves smelled, but there was still plenty to it. The sweetness was a little more subtle; I decided to add a bit of sugar after a few sips and that REALLY amped up the tastiness for me.

SIPDOWN!

So let’s talk about how well i was doing at drinking down all those little cups of tea sample that i had in the house. And then… and then! my swap package arrived from Scheherazade and now…if i want to get my cupboard down to 190 before dinosara gets back from vacation, i’m looking at 9 sipdowns a day! bwahahaha now sure i’m going to even get close to that but i’ll keep trying :)

This tea has a bit much hibiscus in it but i still like the cinnamon spiciness of this tea.

steepster is feeling the hate for me..so in the interest of time. had this, it was good. yay tea.

mmm cold brew of this one is pretty darn tasty! What i really like is that the cinnamon becomes muted and the plum flavour becomes much more dominant. I can taste the hibiscus as well, but it’s not overly present, nor is it making the blend really tart. pretty darn tasty!

mmmm afternoon treat of a fruity tea! This one is pretty good. The cinnamon isn’t overpowering, instead it blends in with the plum instead of taking it over. This blend isn’t overly sweet either which is nice. I think this would be a pretty tasty cold brew as well.

I have a couple of “christmas blend teas” so I figured today would be a good time for me to try and compare the two of them. There are a few that pop up every year at christmas that i’m always tempted by – one of them being the blend from Murchie’s. I haven’t picked that one up yet but i did pick up a sample of this one and one from a local tea shop.

This one smells like cinnamon however once it’s steeped there is the taste of cloves, that doesn’t overpower and blends nicely with the black base. the hint of citrus is in the background, and weaves its way through the sip, trailing off in the end. Overall a nice cup of tea.

This is a really smooth black. I can’t say as it’s my favourite kind of taste from a black but this could easily be a staple in my cupboard for those of my friends who like black tea to be straight and “boring” without any flavour nuances. I like the boldness of this one and the lack of stringency on the tongue.

mmm this is a rather tasty tea. There is a fruity taste hidden in the tea that is quite delicious. While it wont be a favourite of mine it is something that i’d be willing to order again.