Upton Tea Imports

[cajunwowi]

Has anyone purchased anything from Upton teas? I'm contemplating an order but want to make all orders count.

Do you recommend the company first of all? If so, do you recommend anything special?

thanks for the help...
Tam

[omegapd]

Love 'em but some of the Oolong fanatics here don't like them. One of their oolongs, an Osmanthus scented Oolong is one of my favorites...

Their black tea section is wonderfully diverse and I like getting their catalogs in the mail too. Shipping is fairly cheap and I've gotten free samples with orders also. It's been a really positive experience for me.

EW

[caligatia]

I've ordered from Upton three times and they've been wonderful. I love the products I've bought, too. And their print catalog is fun to read.

[Victoria]

Yes as omegapd stated - I don't care for the oolongs from there. I wouldn't recommend them for any oolong unless you are a very casual oolong drinker.

Their black teas seem to be fine. Sorry, but my issue with them is firstly freshness, something very important when it comes to oolong. Not impressed with the quality either. Adagio oolongs are far superior in my opinion if you are searching for a decent everyday oolong at a decent price.

Again, I don't want to argue with anyone about Upton, some like their teas, but I say - stay away. Just my opinion.

[cajunwowi]

Thanks for the input. I probably should have been able to find previous posts on Upton's but the "search" feature has me scratching my head. I gives so many results and kind of points you in a certain direction. But then you have to sift through page after page just to find that it doesn't pertain to what you are looking for anyway. Am I doing something wrong?

Back to Upton's, I posted the thread under the oolong section because it's primarily what I enjoy to drink the most.

[Victoria]

Thanks for the input. I probably should have been able to find previous posts on Upton's but the "search" feature has me scratching my head. I gives so many results and kind of points you in a certain direction. But then you have to sift through page after page just to find that it doesn't pertain to what you are looking for anyway. Am I doing something wrong?

Back to Upton's, I posted the thread under the oolong section because it's primarily what I enjoy to drink the most.

Instead of using the white "search" box on the right, go to the top left and use hit search. Then a page comes up where you can narrow the parameters.

[cajunwowi]

Instead of using the white "search" box on the right, go to the top left and use hit search. Then a page comes up where you can narrow the parameters.

Thanks! It has been driving me crazy. I didn't even notice that was up there.

[Chip]

Since the forum has well over 50,000 posts, narrowing the search will really help. It actually works really well.

You can even search a particular category only of the forum such as this Oolong category.

Regarding Upton, when a tea company offers like a million different teas and refuses to post harvest info, it makes shopping with them a nightmare. I have had mixed results and some greens were simply OLD tasting. Really a mixed bag.

If you call them, they supposedly will tell you harvest info on a tea by tea basis, but they offer toooo many for that to be practical. I have better things to do.

Just post the harvest info!!!

[devites]

Upton has wonderful Black Teas esp the Keemun and Castleton Estate FTGFOP1 First Flush

[greenisgood]

the arya first flush darjeeling is yummilicious.

[Cher]

While I buy most of my teas at Adagio, my three favorite teas are from Upton. For Oolongs, the Ming Thai Reserve was incredible (unfortunately, they don't carry it anymore), and I love their Jade Oolong. I think it's much better than the teas I've tried here. My favorite, tea, however, is a second flush Darjeeling. I haven't much cared for other Darjeeling that I've tried, but this one, Risheeshat Estate TD81E, is amazing. Its delicate, flowery character reminds me of an oolong, and I feel as though I'm drinking a fine wine when I drink it.

[tenuki]

For mass market tea Adagio > Upton IMO.

I have never gotten a tea I liked from upton, and I've tried several times. Finally have given up.

[Victoria]

Ditto

[cerulean]

I've tried maybe 10 different oolongs from Upton. They weren't horrible, IMO, but they weren't very good. Even though most of their oolongs are really inexpensive, I'm not sure that they're worth buying.

I still buy black teas from Upton though (mostly Darjeeling), and their service is always great.