Upton Tea Imports

I got a sample size of this tea and brewed about half western style. The wet leaf smells like caramel and woodsy tobacco. The first steep brewed up strong, but its more of a subtle tasting tea. Its not an astringent, metallic, or robust black tea flavor. A bit hard to describe, the front of the tea is a toasty, slight tobacco flavor, and the end of the tea is a toasty, hay, caramel finish. I’m thinking this is more like a cross between an oolong and a keemun, with a bit more of a roasty finish. As this first cup cools, I’m getting more light chocolate notes. The second steeping is a watered down version of the first, rather weak tea.
It certainly is interesting, not sure I’d go out of my way to purchase, but I might be tempted to add it to an order.

Smells very lemony before making, nicely toned down after brewing.
“Medium” lemon, about right, but a little sharp, not so smooth.

smells strongly cinnamony and herbal, but the taste is not as strong, good portion of a tea flavor.

Very light, not acidic or tart at all, very smooth. Almost doesn’t taste like “regular” tea.
A very nice alternative tea.

Mild green tea. Smooth, but nothing too exceptional, just a good green tea. Note this is a full-leaf tea, makes it a little challenging to get a “teaspoonful”, and get it all wetted. Tends to float on the top.

Pleasant and extremely drinkable. Classic honey scent and flavor dominates, with a lightly leafy middle and a slightly malty finish. This is nothing remarkable, but sometimes you just want to aimlessly drink some nice, sweet light tea. This is the sort of thing to sip on when otherwise engrossed in something else. Resteeps pretty well too.
The ball does need a little encouragement to break up, mind you. I hassle it briefly with a fork once it begins to expand.

This Assam is ok. Its easy to brew too strong and get a bitter cup. Though when you get the right amount of leaf, its a fair example of a malty, coppery cup of Assam. It does have a bit of a metallic aftertaste that is more pronounced with too much leaf, but becomes less pronounced as a cup cools. On the whole, I’d call this drinkable but I wouldn’t rush to purchase or call it a daily drinker.

Starts out nice and smooth,m somehow by end of cup it’s bit bitter; something I hadn’t seen in any other teas so far…

unexceptional black tea.

I got this tea for Christmas in a sample size. Brewed in a teapot for 3 minutes, the dry leaves are small and wiry and smelled like unsweetened cocoa. This tea has a slightly bitter cocoa aftertaste that lingers pleasantly in your mouth. As far as Keemuns go, I am impressed with its chocolatey taste, though it seems to be just one note. Maybe a slight honey or carmel taste. I do really like the tea, but I have drunk other Keemuns that I liked better that cost a bit less. As other reviewers have noted, this is an expensive tea. I can also think of some golden monkey or fujian teas that were just as chocolatey. I’m glad I got to try such a high grade of Keemun, I’m not sure it is worth purchasing.

My dad bought all the Upton Import Lapsang Souchongs he could find and settled on this as his favorite. I thought I’d give it a taste on this Christmas morning. It is smooooooth. I don’t think I’ve drunk a LS this smooth before. Before I knew it, my mug was half empty and I was refilling. The smokyness is subtle but definite, it tastes like enhanced black tea instead of tea that is hiding something.
I am now thinking I need to taste test all the Yunnans or Assams and find my favorite. What would the world do without the scientific method (my dad was a chemist for 40 years) and spread sheets to rate tea. And yet somehow I have survived without a spreadsheet up until now…

Got this in a sample. Nicely rich tasting, with notes that remind me mostly of honey. Excellent iced. One of the better Indian teas I’ve had in a long time actually, probably better than any of the other Indian teas in my cupboard at the moment. A bit pricey perhaps, but I’d get this in the future.

This came as a sample. I knew nothing about it when I opened the bag, and was hit with a very nice scent of Bergamot, like a good Earl Grey. Maybe a hint of lemon scent as well? Not sure. Taste is the same, in my opinion like a solid Earl Grey with something resembling a hint of lemon perhaps. Pretty bergamot forward, in a good way, I think I like this more than upton’s extra/double bergamot.

Edit: Upping the score a bit, I haven’t had an Earl Grey type of tea that I enjoyed this much in a long time.

Sipdown (204)

This was a sample given to me by Sil and it has been one I have pulled out to make countless times and just never got to it. Today I decided to just go for it and while it is not bad, per se, I am not really enjoying it either. Sil got no astringency but I am getting astringency and that sort of perfumey dryness/metallic quality that I normally associate with Darjeelings. It is sort of malty but everything else going on really takes away from that. Perhaps it is age that is to blame? Nevertheless, thank you Sil for the chance to try this.

To all those keeping an eye on their mailboxes for their untracked free shipping Bird & Blend packages (I know I didn’t want my package sitting in the hot mailbox)…. I got mine today. And I ordered pretty early in the sale.

Thanks so much, SkySamurai! First flush Darj is usually hard for me to describe. This one tasted like creamed corn though, which is what I taste with some green teas and not really any Darjeelings, so that’s different. The second steep was a completely different from the first cup. The second cup was a bit oversteeped but Darjeeling is fickle. I should have taken note of the flavor that was like a green tea and steeped it like a green tea. Next time.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a full mug // 25 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep

Thanks very much for this, Meowster! A decent enough fruity black tea. I think the base might be too astringent to really let the fruit flavors shine… the black tea is on the smaller side, while not being quite a CTC size small. So maybe I’ll try using less than a teaspoon next time. The fruit flavor also might be a generic “fruit” flavor, maybe even because there are a couple different fruits used here, so it’s hard to tell what they are exactly. Or because I have no idea what a Maracuja would taste like. This would be a great option for iced tea with the bitey black base.
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for a full mug // 18 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 minute steep
2019 sipdowns: 43 (Bird & Blend – Lift Me Up Angel)

Oh man… the season finale of Supernatural is EPIC. They have ALWAYS outdone themselves every season finale cliffhanger (and usually the mid-season cliffhanger). I think I at one point, years ago, imagined that the idea for this season finale would happen. Didn’t see it coming anyway, though!

I love this tea. Great with milk and sugar. Vanilla flavored, but not overpowering.

I’m new here and new to reviewing teas. Here’s my take: I didn’t like this tea hot. It was very tart. Even sweetened w/sugar and milk – not very good; however, it is DELICIOUS iced. Doesn’t need much sugar for the iced. I seeped it for hours in the fridge.

There is a light floral scent. It has more of a slightly fruity aroma when brewed. The flavour is a bit floral, with some apple notes. As it closes, there is more of a seaweed flavour.

Hah, this is better with milk and maple syrup. I had it straight and it’s just a bit too dry and smoky for me that way.

Picked this up eons ago due to favourable reviews on Steepster, but I didn’t recall how smoky it was. Luckily, it’s quite smooth, probably due to being a blend, so I don’t feel the need to add milk/sweetener, though I’m sure it would be delicious if I did. The predominant flavour here is smoke, which lingers in the mouth after the sip but is joined by some malty sweetness once the initial punch of smoke settles.

Not bad, but the temptation to sweeten this is pretty high, and if I’m going to do that I may as well just use a harsher lapsang souchong that will produce a stronger cup.