Ewa

Upton Tea Sampler Buying Spree Tea #9:
Accidentally oversteeped this because I was distracted by reheating pizza. (That’s right! Pizza and tea! Tea goes with everything! EVERYTHING.) It came out a little more bitter than I think it’s necessarily meant to.
This is definitely another one of those subtle teas. There is only a very light hint of bergamot, a slight tease of citrus, an am I even there of flavor. I’ve already mentioned my preferences regarding Earl Grey flavors, so I won’t go into it again, but honestly, at this point wouldn’t you be better off just drinking tea flavored tea? If this is the level of Earl Grey that you like, why are you bothering to drink Earl Grey at all? Just drink unflavored black tea, then you never have to worry about the Earl Grey you’re drinking having too much flavor.
Besides that, it is, naturally, quite tasty.

Upton Tea Sample Buying Spree Tea #8:
More than halfway done with the Earl Grey’s – Hurrah! Specifically, all I’ve got left of the Earl Greys is the Premium, Green, and Sacher Blend – which is technically a “flavored Darjeeling,” but, since it was in the Earl Grey section at Upton, I will assume that one of the flavors is, in fact, bergamot or something bergamot-like.
This leaves are quite aromatic, probably on the level of the Blue Flower, although different in nature, of course. It smells properly Earl Greyish with a bit of extra…something thrown in.
It brewed up quite light, and on my first few sips tasted almost creamy, although that faded as I got further into the cup, to be replaced with a general floweriness that I’m not certain I approve of, although the base ceylon is VERY tasty. It leaves a rather weird taste at the back of the throat – possibly the result of too much acidity from the double citrus punch of the lemon and bergamot? I’m not really sure what I think about it, I started out quite enjoying it but that feeling faded the more I drank, until I just wanted some water by the time I was finished.

Upton Tea Sample Buying Spree Tea #7:
I freely admit it, I am a sucker for these “Earl Grey but MORE” type of teas. Name something Earl Greyer? I’m THERE. Name it Earl Greyest? Well you better be able to back it up, is all I’m saying.
The aroma of the leaves themselves wasn’t nearly as strong as some of the others – like the Blue Flower, for example. Even the Lavender was stronger, I’d say. It brewed up a nice reddish-gold, not too dark. Although I use an ingenuiTea, so often times the color kind of accumulates on the bottom which I’m pretty sure was happening here. (I drink most of my tea in pottery mugs, rather than teacups, so I can’t generally make color judgments once it’s been poured.)
This stuff is really tasty. And has no problems cutting through my congestion. Very citrusy, maybe even a bit smoky…well, I got some hints of smoke in the aroma anyway. Very neat. I could see it being too much for those who like their teas to not stray too far from the “tea-flavored” category, but for people like me who can’t get enough Earl Greyness, it’s wonderful.

Upton Tea Sample Buying Spree Tea #6:
Chosen because my brother, with whom I have been jointly doing these tastings, is not here and this is the tea that made him make the most grossed out face. Honestly, his worries were completely baseless since (and I freely admit that this COULD be the result of congestion – although I am at least able to breath through my nose this morning so it’s not THAT bad) I couldn’t get ANYTHING out of this tea.
Seriously, it just tasted like tea. Tea-flavored tea. Perhaps lavender has the magic property of canceling out bergamot! Maybe if you made a tisane that was JUST lavender and bergamot you would get something that tasted like water! Somebody must do this…FOR SCIENCE! (I volunteer someone who is not me)
I did start to get some citrusy hints toward the end of the cup, and it certainly brewed up nice and fragrant – although fairly light colored. Definitely need to do another tasting of this one.

No notes yet.

Upton Tea Sampler Buying Spree Tea #5:
Next up in my Earl Greyathon, Russian style Earl Grey, chosen because it was on the top of the pile. Brews up lighter colored than the Blue Flower, but the tea taste is quite strong – stronger, I would say than the flavorings in it. The citrus taste is very faint and not really what I associate with bergamot at all. As the description says, it’s definitely a departure from traditional Earl Grey – in fact, I’m not sure it has that much in common with Earl Grey at all. Still tasty though! And this is only my first go at it, perhaps if drunk after a non-Earl Grey tea, it would be more obvious.
I don’t know where the steeping suggestions come from, but my sample packet said 4 minutes instead of 5; I think in later tries i will vary the time to see what happens.

Upton Tea Sampler Buying Spree Tea #4:
On to other Earl Greys! This tea was chosen to be next in line on the highly scientific basis of “the name sounds nice.” Just from opening it, it seemed more potent than the Original Earl Grey. I’ve been quite congested lately and could barely smell the latter, but this stuff got through to my nose just fine. It brewed up darker, as well, but the taste, thankfully, was not overwhelming. There’s a fruitiness about it that blends quite well with the bergamot. Makes for a very smooth cup.

Upton Tea Sampler Buying Spree Tea #3:
So, among my Upton Sampler Buying Spree items are, I think, something like 8 different Earl Greys. From this you can probably figure out that I’m kind of a fan. Earl Grey is, without a doubt, my favorite kind of tea and you can imagine my glee when I saw that Upton had 18 (EIGHTEEN, people) different kinds. I don’t even know how I chose between them; its all a blur.

The logical place to start when faced with actually tasting these Earl Greys is with the Original Earl Grey. As it says on the tin, the bergamot taste here is quite faint. It’s a tease is what it is. It’s all like, am I an Earl Grey? Or aren’t I? You better take another sip just to make sure. I prefer my Earl Grey more bergamot-y, but if you are interested in something more subtle, this is the Earl Grey for you.

And now, a short break from my Upton Tea Sample (Extremely Slow) Taste’A’Thon for something a little lighter.

Hmm, I’m getting the peach. And the green. But not so much the ginger. Which is weird, since you’d think the ginger would be the strongest. Perhaps they overcompensated? Or perhaps I should have let it steep longer – I’ve been trying out an iPhone tea timer app name of Camellia, and it said 2 minutes for green, so two minutes is what I went with.

Upton Tea Sampler Buying Spree Tea #2:
I am drinking Breakfast Blend in the evening guys. I’m a woman on the edge! There’s no telling what I’ll do!
Seriously though, this tea brews up a really nice amber color and is eminently drinkable. It’s got a bit of astringency, especially towards the end of the cup. But still super tasty!

So I was directed to the Upton Tea site, recently, where, noticing that they have $1 samples and possessing no self-control, I promptly bought something like 15 different samples of tea. This is the first of them that I’ve tried and I really like the blend. Just the right amount of smoky. I’m not that into smoky teas so not exactly something I’ll be drinking on a daily basis, but certainly a nice break from the norm.

I am, I freely admit, a creature of habit. I like to start my day off with a nice strong cup of black tea. Usually this would be Earl Gray, but, ever since I found the European Import store in town, I have alternated between Earl Gray and Czar Nikolas II, or Cesarz Mikolaj, as we call it at home. I love this tea for how lightly flavored it is (it could almost pass for just a straight black tea), and for the fact that the package refuses to divulge what the flavor IS, with the ingredients saying simply: “tea, spices.” That is the kind of passive aggressive contrariness I can really get behind.

It also brews up dark. Really dark. Probably since, being in the Russian style, it is meant for use in a samovar, where a little of it is meant to go a long way. Technically, I suppose that means I’m Doing It Wrong, and I DO cut it with some straight black tea later on in the day, but I like my tea sludge-tastic in the morning. Wakes me right up.

I will freely admit to not being much of a green tea connoisseur. I like to drink it every so often, but I can’t really tell the difference between specific kinds of non-flavored green teas (at least not the way I would be able to with black tea). Still, this is a nice green, delicate, not too grassy. I don’t know that I’d be able to recognize it out of a line up, though.

I’ve had a sore throat for the past couple of days and had totally forgotten until today that I had a box of this! I’ve been drinking this when I’m sick since I was a child, so even aside from its actual effectiveness, I find the taste quite comforting. Of course, the fact that it IS quite effective is a happy bonus!
Like others, I’m not a huge fan of licorice, but I don’t mind it in this case, it goes well with the other flavors, and the sweet note that it adds to the taste was always a nice counterpoint to the miserableness of being sick as a child. Honestly, before I started making it myself, I used to think that my mother sweetened it to make me drink it. But no! Just naturally sweet.

When a sampler of this arrived with a shipment that happened to fall close to my birthday, my reaction was two-fold: I thought it was very cute of Adagio, of course, but the tea’s description made me quite skeptical of it as well. Vanilla, cream, caramel AND sugar sprinkles? There was no way this wouldn’t be completely overpowering, cloying, and too sweet. (The older I get, the less sweetness I seem to be able to tolerate – and I’m only in my mid-20s! By 50, my diet will probably consist solely of pickles)

In any case, imagine my surprise when I tried this and it wasn’t overpowering at all! In fact, the flavors seem very nicely balanced, while still being faint enough for the tea to actually taste like tea. Today I’m having it with breakfast – which wasn’t a good idea since the cinnamon in my oatmeal has managed to completely eclipse the entire flavor of the tea. Ah well, lesson learned.

The pomegranate flavor is very subtle, which is good because it’s not like green tea has hte strongest flavor in the world. Someone on the adagio website mentioned to make sure that you get a seed in with the leaves when you brew it, which is good advice.

Really long steeping time because I got distracted.

Thai Chai has the dubious distinction of being the only tea/tea-like thing that I will drink with milk. Although it is rice milk so I pretend it does not count. I didn’t steep it for very long because I prefer the flavor to be on the weak side as it makes the coconut flavor (which I am not a huge fan of) recede a lot.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

The cinnamon totally overpowers the other tastes in this tea, which may actually be fortunate since the cinnamon/apple taste does not, from what little I can get of the actual rooibos taste, match it very well – which could account for it tasting artificial. Something of a disappointment, honestly.

I’ve found lately that most cider is too sweet for me. This tea offers a great alternative, having the wonderful aroma of cider without being so overwhelmingly sweet. This is exactly what I wanted out of this tea. I’ve found that both the flavor of the apple and the spices is quite clear, but doesn’t overpower the tea flavor either. Perhaps I got an abnormally well mixed batch?

Although I am reasonably sure that the flavoring is natural, this tea has a weird, almost chemically smell. Did they supersaturate it with lemon or something?

Despite the overpowering smell, the tea itself is quite nice and the lemon flavor isn’t overpowering as I first feared it would be.