Upton Tea Imports

This is a very interesting chai blend – one of the more unique ones I’ve ever tried.

The licorice, together with the cinnamon, ginger and coconut creates a very strong flavor that is a little overwhelming, but I am enjoying it. I have a hard time distinguishing the black tea here, though.

Even though it is a very pungent tea, I found it to be soothing and relaxing to sip.

I’d like the smell of this a lot. It’s got a very good aroma into it, nice and chocolately and hints of the bergamot in the Earl Grey. The taste is very, very lightly Earl Grey. Mostly just kind of a medium chocolaty taste that’s relatively good because it’s not overpowering. The Earl Grey flavors are not prominent enough for me so it kinda falls into a chocolaty tea with Earl Grey notes. But for a chocolaty tea this is probably my favorite so far.

This is the first EG in a big batch of EG samples from Upton Tea Imports. (I ordered 22 different teas, over half of which are EGs!) I’m not the biggest EG fan (though I do like it) but the husband is (I blame Star Trek TNG), so the purpose of this endeavor is to find him a go-to, must-have EG to keep on hand. And bonus points if I like it a lot, too.

Taken with sugar and whole milk, this tea reminds me of last week’s Twining’s Lady Ear Grey – fairly soft with a more lemony taste than straight bergamot. The one thing I missed in the Lady EG was the actual tea taste (which I attribute to the teabag being old) but this one fixes that problem. The tea base is nicely noticeable, though it doesn’t scream a particular tea type – bolder than the typical Ceylon, not rich as the typical Yunnan… it makes total sense that this is a Ceylon/Chinese black blend because that is what it tastes like. While the base isn’t overly special, it is nice to have a tea base that tastes obviously tea-like but not overly Ceylon.

The flavoring and overall tone of the tea is soft and relaxing – not a harsh EG at all, but not so soft that it is girlie frou-frou either. There’s a little prickle to the tea that is either astringency or a little roughness to the tea base taste. And even though it doesn’t taste like a bold wake-up tea, the caffeine level is enough to make me perkier than I justifiably should be.

I like this one a little more than Twining’s Lady EG simply by virtue of having a more noticeable tea base (though I reserve the right to adjust that ruling if I ever get the chance to have some fresher (and hopefully more tea-tasting) Lady EG). It’s probably not the smoothest EG I hope to find but it’s nice and very drinkable so I would have no problems adding this one to the regular tea rotation (if this one ends up getting the husband’s vote for ‘must-have’ EG).

This is interesting. It is a good tea but tastes kind of heavy, like the Taylors of Harrogate version. It does it has good flavors but very subtle bergamot. (I could be imagining this but it might seem like I can get a taste of Bohea – maybe because it has smokiness to it or maybe the tumbler wasn’t cleaned well.) Overall, very good for a new Earl Grey – I would put it up near some of the better ones and would say this could be a good standby Earl Grey. It continues to grow on me the more I drink.

First whole leaf white tea I have tried. The aroma of the steeped tea is clean and light with hints of flowers. The flavor was soft, and sweet with something that just hints at fruit. Very full bodied. I steeped it quite a few times at varying temps (130-170) and varying lengths of time, and got a nice cup every time. The buds just seem to keep giving flavor all day. I would be happy to drink this again.

It bugs me that Upton doesn’t give more info on the teas…on most there is no way to know how old they are. If you are going to charge 15 dollars for 40 grams I would like to know that at least.

This was the first holy basil I sampled, and I loved it. Since then, I’ve tried holy basil from a number of other companies, and also tried Upton’s green leaf (BH06), but I strongly prefer this one. It’s warm and balanced, rich, complex. Aroma is balanced, and mostly of spice. I also find this herbal tea to be very relaxing.

This is my first experience with Assam that isn’t CTC. Very robust and malty. As recommended from Upton, this would be very tasty in chai. I must admit, it’s a lot better than the stuff at the India grocery that’s all CTC. More layers of the flavors. Has a coffee like bite to it. Doesn’t seem to stand up for rebrewing as well after third time. All the initials after all the different Assams is overwhelming to me, but I googled and found out what it meant! Yay! I love how much there is to learn with each different variety of tea, it’s like a rabbit hole. Oh tea, I love how complex you are!

I am very pleased with this blend. I have been looking for a grapefruit GREEN tea to replace the grapefruit tea I fell in love with in Tucson but have been unable to find since. This one comes pretty darned close, even if it’s a white tea.

The grapefruit aroma and taste is authentic. It doesn’t taste sweetened, it smells like fresh, juicy grapefruit. The flavors are well balanced – the white tea is not overwhelmed, and the grapefruit tastes true.

An excellent tea!

This tea has just enough bergamot to be pleasantly fruity without overwhelming the tea base. The cornflower petals are pretty but I’m not overly concerned with the appearance of leaves, I’m more focused on flavor/aroma.

Smooth very nice

this is really nice basic black tea, smooth, flavorful. very nice.

I got this with the black tea sampler from Upton. I liked it very much – smooth but flavorful – but I can’t compare it with other Keemuns. I would definitely reorder or try another type of Keemun.

Thank you to Lori for this sample!

I am with Morgana on this one. I smell and taste darjeeling. I don’t know if it is really in there, but that is what I get. It is smooth, not too astringent, and I really don’t detect any smoke at all. It has good flavor, though, was decent both plain or with milk and sugar added, and ….I think…..it may be reminding me of Margaret’s Hope 2nd Flush FTGFOP. That’s the darjeeling I am sensing, I suppose. Maybe the tiniest bit pepper-y, too?

Interesting mix of sweetness and muscatel notes here. The sweetness seems to be overpowering at first and taking over but once swallowed the astringency comes out. I liked it one day and hated the other. Eventually the sweet part killed the enjoyment for me.

I got this as a sample some time ago, but haven’t tried it until today.

The aroma is very lavender, but, I like how the bergamot comes through. It has a really pleasing fragrance – more enjoyable to me than lavender or bergamot would be on their own.

The flavor is very nice. The bergamot and lavender are paired nicely here. Sweet, floral, sharp, citrusy… very nice!

This is a really pricey tea. $24 for a 50 gram packet. The instructions are sort of confusing too. On the label, it says 2-3 tsp. On the website it uses grams (which I convert to anyway) and list the steeping suggestion as 2.25 grams / cup, which is Upton’s standard for everything. In other words, they consider 2.25 grams per cup the same as 1 tsp per cup. Anyway, is it 2-3 tsp (6-9 grams) or 2.25 grams? I went with the latter since my 6 gram packet would have yielded me only one cup had I gone with the 2 tsp scale.

Anyway, the tea is incredibly fragrant and floral and does not smell like a traditional Oolong you might find at dim sum. It smells sweet like lychee or a southeast Asian fruit cocktail. The hue is fairly light, even lighter than honey. It has a mellow comforting taste and not surprisingly is a little “sweet.” It has very little tanins; just a little in the aftertaste.

Upton was not lying, this tea is legit.

I have to say first that this tea has beautiful leaves: tiny twisted dark brown and golden leaves tangled together. They smell sweet like raisins and honey with a slight floral note. Brewed there is a slight bitterness combined with the taste of raisins and tea. It is reminiscent of Golden Moon’s Sinharaja (though I like Sinharaja better since it lacks the bitterness).

This is such a pleasant tea. Not perfumey, more of an herbal, almost minty. A good tea base with just enough of it’s flavors and oils. A good balance.

This is this year’s Dao Ming and it is superb. Very dark red wine cask smell and taste, with oakiness, and a bit of acerbic twist. A tiny whiff of smoke in the smell, but none in the taste. Earthy but not Pu-erh like. More a groundedness. A touch of cream rounds out the edges from being brewed about 1/2 minute too long. Really excellent stuff.

This tea reminds me of my experience with rosewater-flavored Turkish Delight. Despite knowing that it’s meant to be ingested, I keep getting twinges of “Why am I drinking perfume? Is this safe?” in the back of my mind. It’s not unpleasant enough that I won’t finish off the sample tin that I purchased, but I’m unlikely to buy any more of this. I guess I am too conditioned to think of lavender as a cosmetic rather than a foodstuff.

An absolutely delightful caramel-flavored black tea with a distinct caramel flavor. Thank you Lori for sharing this tea with me. I enjoyed this tea while relaxing with a good book tonight.

I found this tea to be a tea that was pretty with no flavor other than vanilla. My new tea buddy Lori was kind enough to share some of this with me. Thank You Lori!!!!!
I read teanotes as I brewed this tea, tasted the tea, then added just a pinch of mint (because we know I love mint blended at times). I did enjoy the tea and will enjoy it again soon. This tea does leave a sour note after drinking it.

Welcome to the first day of Seeking a New Dawn: Carolyn’s quixotic search for the tea that probably doesn’t exist any more. I’ve ordered several batches of trial black teas from various companies: from inexpensive to pricey. In truth I really don’t care how much the tea costs as long as it fills that Dawn-shaped hole in my morning.

Today we start with an inexpensive Yunnan. The leaves are somewhat pretty with little golden bits. It has a classic tea fragrance with something light and fruity in the offing. It darkened up reasonably fast in the cup so I removed it. I’ve had a enough of over-steeped bitter tea after yesterday’s shenanigans in which no less than 3 cups of tea were ruined by my over-anxious boss’ sudden demands, which caused me to ignore the tea until it had reached the toxic stage.

There is a slight astringency but not so much as to be offensive. I’m not getting any bitterness but I suspect that it would not stand up to much more time steeping before the bitter set in. There is a very slight raisin after-taste. Overall it is an average tea. I would’t toss it, but it is not the Holy Grail of teas. I’ll finish my sample today (hoping it gives me strength for what has been a very difficult week) and move on tomorrow. It’s not a re-buy tea.

This is really a very, very nice tea. It’s nice and roasty-toasty, not as green as some other tie guan yins, but still not too dark. It’s just light and full of character. A great tea that I would love to drink every day.