Upton Tea Order

I have been a customer of Upton Tea Imports since December of 2001, and a very happy customer at that. My tea consumption had fallen on hard times this last year, forcing me to make due with stocks I could obtain locally. After too long a hiatus I placed an order with Upton Tea Imports again.

The teas I focused on this time are good, solid teas for breakfast along with one nice tea for the middle of the day when it is time to wean off the caffeine. The samples are teas I am contemplating ordering soon, perhaps in March when it would normally be time to order again. In particular the two blends, Sacher and Monk's, sound very interesting and are worth a go. I am trying the Golden Monkey again from Upton. I have tried both their version and the version from Tealuxe. The latter imports a better Golden Monkey in my view.

Satrupa TGFBOP CL	125g packet
Hokonguri Estate FBOP Spl	125g packet
Organic China Congou Hong Tao #1	125g packet
China Congou Wu-Yi Golden Monkey	15g sample
Yunnan Jing Mao Hou Select	12g sample
Adawatte Estate OP1	125g packet
East Frisian TGFOP	125g packet
Monk's Blend	15g sample
Sacher Blend	15g sample
Rooibos Pretoria Blend	125g packet

I also ordered tea for four co-workers at the same time. The selections other people make in the tea is quite interesting. One person picked up two excellent breakfast teas (River Shannon Blend and Earl Grey Supreme). Another a collection of exquisite Indian and Chinese tea samples. Another ordered tea for his family (Harmutty STGFOP1S for himself, Extra Bergamot Earl Grey for his wife and Rote Grutze for his daughter).

The last part of the order is the most contradictory and interesting. This person ordered Organic Rooibos Vanilla and Lapsang Souchong Imperial. Could there be two teas more at odds with each other? The rooibos is going to be incredibly sweet with a slight acidity; why rooibos has an almost citric character I cannot understand. While the lapsang smells of burnt tires and tastes like a cup of warm charcoal. What I find most engaging is that these are two teas I like very much and it makes me wonder if the essence of tea is not contradictions...

"The first cup moistens my lips and throat, the second cup breaks my loneliness, the third cup searches my barren entrail by to find therein some five thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration -- all the wrong of life passes away through my pores. At the fifth cup I am purified; the sixth cup calls me to the realms of immortals. The seventh cup -- ah, but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of cool wind that rises in my sleeves." - Lotung from Chaking.