Author: Oolong Owl

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Marmalade Puerh from California Tea House – Tea Review

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Right before I moved out of SoCal, there was a tea tasting event that I wasn’t able to make. A tea buddy of mine did make it, and mentioned trying this Marmalade Puerh from California Tea House. Just the name alone of this tea and I had to have it! I don’t know why, but I always buy puer blends, despite majority of them are terrible mostly because puer just doesn’t western brew well. Dry Leaf Marmalade Puerh is HEAVY. The puerh used is heavy and the chunks in it are also heavy. This has got to be the most… Continue reading, hoot!

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Pique Tea Crystals – Tea Review

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Pique Tea Crystals is an interesting new organic tea product – it is tea that has been brewed, then crystallized. Pique is packaged in individual servings, making for a convenient tea on the go, all you need is a vessel and water. Steeping Instructions I followed the instructions, which was 1 packet, to 8oz/1cup/250ml of hot water. They didn’t specify water temperature so I figured I would just use these instant tea packets as if I was in the wild, so around 200F water. I already failed with instructions and with the first attempt I added the Pique Tea Crystals to a… Continue reading, hoot!

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Hooty Tea Travels – Seattle’s Vital Tea Leaf

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Now that I’m in Seattle I have been visiting all the local tea shops. I wished I checked out more tea shops while in LA (like all 4 of them, geeze), but awesomely Seattle has a lot of tea shops! For the first few weeks I was staying within walking distance to Pike Place Market. A block away from Pike Place Market is TWO Vital Tea Leaf shops, one north and one south. I went to the south one, close to the Target. Another day while in the International District, I saw they were opening yet another location in Seattle. Besides… Continue reading, hoot!

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2016 Fade Sheng Puer from April 2016 White2Tea Club

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For April 2016’s White2Tea Club we had a pretty cool offering of a whole pu’er brick! The brand new 2016 Fade Sheng Puer! The 2016 Fade Sheng Puer from 2015 Yiwu huangpian leaves that was pressed in March 2016. Apparently some of this material was in White2Tea’s Poundcake and Last Thoughts, so I’m expecting something sweet tasting! My white2tea monthly tea subscription came the day before I moved to Seattle, excellent timing! What was also handy was the tea filter that was included, which is sold on Teaware.House. Teaware.House Tea Filter I have a pretty good stainless steel tea filter… Continue reading, hoot!

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Tencha Kuki Houjicha from Den’s Tea – Tea Review

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I was buying some teapots off Den’s Tea and this Tencha Kuki Houjicha Green tea was impluse purchased.  Out of all the green teas, I like houjicha – it’s got that roasty richer flavor I like, plus easy brewing. This Houjicha sounded quite different as it is roasted tencha stems. (Tencha is the tea material to make Matcha). I haven’t ordered of Den’s Tea in years. They are a great SoCal Japanese tea seller, I’ve seen them a few times at local tea festivals and their teas sometimes at local stores when I was in California. If you are looking… Continue reading, hoot!

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2015 Bulang Raw Mini Cake from Bana Tea Company – Tea Review

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I purchased the 2015 Bulang Raw Mini Cake from Bana Tea Company when I was at the LA International Tea Festival. I remember tasting the 2015 Bulang Shou at the Festival, but I ended up buying both as the shou was so good, plus the price was affordable. This Bulang sheng is a spring harvest from 100 year old trees. Dry Leaf The cake broke apart easily, so it is likely a stone/hand pressed cake. Steeping Instructions I tried doing a younger sheng treatment, so 200F, but I ended up using a slightly higher leaf of 1 gram to 14ml. I didn’t want to… Continue reading, hoot!

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Matcha Kit Kat tasting

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When I was in Vancouver, the local Asian grocery store had a big display of Matcha Kit Kats and they were marked down quite cheap. I was pretty excited at cheap Matcha Kit Kats and bought a couple bags, however I regret I didn’t buy more to share. I’ve seen Matcha Kit Kats at my local Asian grocery store in California, but they were 3 times the price after money conversion! I quite like Kit Kats, especially the flavored ones like orange. My Dad in Canada seems to run into the flavored Kit Kats more than I do here in… Continue reading, hoot!

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2011 Longrun Jasmine Puer – Tea Review

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This was one the World Tea Expo 2015 finds and an impulse buy. When I bought this Jasmine Sheng I thought it was a shou and in that moment jasmine shou sounded cool. Then when I was checking up online I learned what I got was actually a sheng. My 2011 Longrun Jasmine Puer is a 100 gram mini cake. It is Yunnan origin and that is all the information I can find on this tea. By the way, Longrun pu’er is available on Amazon.com. So far the Longrun pu’er I’ve gotten has been decent, so if you want tea off Amazon I’d… Continue reading, hoot!

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Sunday Tea Hoots 19 – I’m tired of using the same gaiwan

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I’ve been in Seattle for 3 weeks, time is certainly flying by. I’ve been spending most of my time walking around town carrying groceries and running errands, I get 17k steps a day without even trying. On weekends we’ve been touring houses, put a few bids on things, lost some, but finally won something last week! Hopefully the process goes smoothly and we’ll move in a few weeks. That said, it looks like I’ll be bumming around corporate housing and then Airbnb until we can get in the house. Unfortunately, my stuff will stay in storage until we can move in… Continue reading, hoot!

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March 2016 White2Tea Club

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Let’s transport back a month to review the March 2016 White2Tea Club! The teas included for the month of March: 2011 Aged White Tea Fuding and 2009 Yiwu Raw Puer, 50 gram samples each and both available for purchase. I’d say White2tea was pretty generous this month with the sizes. Both teas are entering middle age, so this is a tasting of teas we can snag now at a decent price as the same tea a bit older is much more money. Both teas would be great for further aging. 2009 Yiwu Raw Puer from the March 2016 White2tea Club… Continue reading, hoot!