Owl’s first tong – Bitterleaf Tea’s 2022 Body & Soul Black and Shou Puer

10 years of drinking puer and I never officially tonged, until this one tea. I’ve always enjoyed drinking something new. There are always new boutique blends coming. Each year and season is a new flavor. I also have no delusions that my puer cakes are reselling investments. But the day came – I tonged 2022 Body & Soul from Bitterleaf Teas. I just love Bitterleaf Tea’s Body & Soul blend, it is a shou and black tea blend. The 2020 Body & Soul I drank the sample and wish I got more. I have almost guzzled a whole 2021 cake… Continue reading, hoot!

2022 Crème de la Crème Dancong Shou Puer from Bitterleaf Tea

Today’s tea is one I did not hesitate to purchase as the concept sounds amazing! Bitterleaf Tea’s 2022 Crème de la Crème Dancong Shou Puer is a blend of 2022 spring Yashi Xiang (duck shit oolong) and a 2020 Menghai shou puer. Body & Soul, a hong and shou blend, is one of my favorite teas for daily drinking, so I have high hopes for a dancong shou. Leaf and Steeping Method Appearance wise is strange. If I didn’t know what this tea is, I’d guess it is a wild sheng due to the autumn dark leaves. The oolong aroma… Continue reading, hoot!

2022 Future Sailor Mengsong Purple-White Tea from Bitterleaf Teas

The tea for today is 2022 Future Sailor Mengsong Purple-White tea. Everything about this tea is a good combo of Mengsong region, Zijuan purple leaf varietal, and white tea. I’m a sucker for Bitterleaf Teas white teas and could not resist sample buying a whole cake. Leaf and Steeping Method The leaves have a peppery scent and are what I associate with other purple leaf teas. I use my white tea steeping method of 1 gram of leaf per 20ml of vessel size and a ballsy boiling water temperature. After a steep, Future Sailor smells of sweet floral carnations. Tasting… Continue reading, hoot!

2022 Year of the Tiger Yiwu White Tea from Bitterleaf Teas

Bitterleaf Teas’ white teas are always pretty good and of great value. I was happy to hear they have a white tea version of their “Year of Zodiac” Yiwu. 2022 Year of the Tiger Yiwu White tea is the same material, fangyang/ left to grow pesticide-free, as the sheng version and there is a black tea too! The leaves smell like zesty hay and citrus pith. I went a little heavier on the leaf for this tea than usual for white teas. Typically, I go for a gongfu ratio of 1g/20ml, but I went 1g/15ml as I wanted a bit… Continue reading, hoot!

2021 Lucky Bags from Bitterleaf Teas

I managed to purchase one of Bitterleaf Tea’s Lucky bags during their last Black Friday sale. They always sell out of Lucky Bags by the time I get around to ordering. Normally, I don’t have time for random tea, but I was close in my spending to the next discount point, so I decided to try a $5 Bitterleaf Teas Lucky Bags instead of another sample of Alter Ego. Inside the Bitterleaf Lucky Bag, I got 4 unmarked bags, clocking around 17- 25g each. Who knows what these teas are – rejected sourcing materials, leftover blending teas, or personal stash?… Continue reading, hoot!

2021 Tiger Sniffs the Rose from Bitterleaf Teas

A highly requested tea! Today I’m drinking Bitterleaf Tea’s 2021 Tiger Sniffs the Rose. This white tea cake is made of Naka region puer material, what a treat! When this tea came out, I didn’t hesitate to purchase it. I even debated buying more than one cake. Bitterleaf Teas does a lot of puer but it seems I am a bigger fan of their other teas. Leaf and Steeping Method The leaves smell faintly like melons. A gorgeous cake too! I used 1 gram of leaf per 20ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped in boiling water. After writing this review,… Continue reading, hoot!

2021 Body and Soul from Bitterleaf Teas

Today’s tea is Bitterleaf Tea’s 2021 Body and Soul – a Bulang shou puer and Bangdong black tea pressed cake blend. I tried a sample of a previous year’s Body and Soul, loved it, but by the time I was going to review and buy it, it was long sold out. When they blended this cake again, I needed it so I purchased it. Leaf and Steeping Method My cake of Body and Soul smells like aromatic dried berries. The ratio on this tea could easily be played with some more, but I went with 1 gram of leaf per… Continue reading, hoot!

2021 Bull Noir Dianhong from Bitterleaf Tea

2021 Bull Noir Dianhong is an experimental spring Yiwu Yunnan black tea with machine roasting as opposed to sun dried. This tea from Bitterleaf is the same as their Yiwu blend but also a test to see how the black tea develops for future teas. I snagged a tin as I love a good experimental tea and Bitterleaf Tea’s Year of the Zodiac Yiwus tend to be reliably delicious and affordable. At this time, Bull Noir is sold out, but I wanted to get my thoughts on this tea out there. Leaf and Steeping Method Bull Noir has huge spacious… Continue reading, hoot!

2020 White Crow and Impress Forcibly Through Unexpectedness from Bitterleaf Tea

I have a problem as I blind buy too many white tea cakes as I know I can enjoy them many years later. Today, I got 2020 White Crow and 2020 Impress Forcibly Through Unexpectedness to review, both from Bitterleaf Tea. 2020 White Crow from Bitterleaf Tea I seem to buy Bitterleaf Tea’s White Crow every year – I just can’t resist as it is good value for the quality. Here are the reviews from previous years – 2019 White Crow and 2018 White Crow. 2020 White Crow’s leaves have a creamy malty scent. This cake has some compression to… Continue reading, hoot!

Bitterleaf Teas’ Guanyang Baimudan Set feat 2018 Wander Through the Garden and Venture Into The Woods White Tea

I could not resist buying Bitterleaf Tea’s Fuding Experience: Guanyang Baimudan Set. In this set is a pair of 2018 Baimudan (White Peony grade) White teas from a small area in Fuding. Wander Through the Garden white tea is from a tea garden, whereas Venture Into the Woods is from tea trees left to their own devices. My only hesitation here is 2018 white tea I consider in an awkward phase of being stale but not old enough to show aged notes. However, this set is perfect to let age and continue to comparison taste. It is too bad I… Continue reading, hoot!