Author: Oolong Owl

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2023 NW Tea Festival Seattle – Hooty Tea Travels

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Tea Festival season is back, peeps! The NW Tea Festival was held on September 23 and 24th in Seattle Washington. 2019 was the last time this festival was held. NW Tea Festival is the biggest tea festival, likely because the PNW tea scene is strong. This year we had a few from outside PNW in attendance. Unfortunately, I could only attend the Saturday as I had other engagements on Sunday. NW Tea Festival was packed with a long queue to get in. There were times I couldn’t walk down an aisle as it was just full of people. From years… Continue reading, hoot!

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2023 March White2tea Club feat. Lapsun, Predawn Dark, and Harlequin

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The 2023 March White2tea club arrived with a selection of oolongs. But also included are a couple of new roasted White2tea teas that are teas that are not typically roasted – Predawn Dark Roasted Shou, Hareliqun Roasted Sheng, as well as Lapsun, a puer material black made into Lapsang Souchong. All these teas come in both 8g mini balls and 200g cakes. I figure most would be more interested in reviews of those teas, which you can get outside the White2tea Club, so let’s do those! 2023 Predawn Dark Roasted Shou Puer Predawn Dark is a White2tea shou blend roasted… Continue reading, hoot!

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Gongfu Tea Drinking Temperature feat. Oolong Owl’s Asbestos Mouth | Sunday Tea Hoots

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I have been thinking about Gongfu tea drinking temperature lately. Not too long ago, I had tea with some friends. It has been years since I’ve had tea with others (due to covid) and it reaffirmed my asbestos mouth and hands. If you ever drink with me, I drink fast. Boiling steeped tea gets poured, and I immediately drink it. No need to wait for it to cool. All the while my party hasn’t started sipping yet. My hands are pretty good at hot cups too. It seems my hands don’t feel hot anymore. I have gotten too lazy to… Continue reading, hoot!

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

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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!

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Vanilla Bean Dream Machine from Intergalactic Tea

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The creator of Intergalactic Tea stumbled upon one of my tea reviews and was inspired by the unusual vanilla notes. Vanilla notes, naturally occurring, are very rare. Intergalactic tea took it a step further in the direction I like to see – adding actual vanilla bean into a shou blend and pressing it into cakes. I’m sure there is a population that is utterly horrified at flavors added into puer cakes, but that is more for the rest of us. I don’t see it any different than adding chenpi orange or agarwood. Vanilla Bean Dream Machine shou blend has actual… Continue reading, hoot!

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2023 Goldfu, Tianjian Fuzhuan and Mini from White2tea

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Welcome back! This is part two of the 2023 February White2tea Club, but also a bunch of other teas thrown in. The 2023 February White2tea Club had a sample of 2023 Tianjian Fuzhuan. But also in my stash are the 2022 Tian Jian Mini, and 2023 Goldfu Fuzhuan. It seem more fitting to drink the confusing two Tianjians and also compare Goldfu, which was part of the same release of fu bricks. 2022 Tian Jian Mini The 2022 Tian Jian Minis came first before the Fuzhuan. These Anhua heicha balls contain high grade young and bud material. The compression on… Continue reading, hoot!

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2023 February White2tea Club feat. 2023 Red W

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The previous White2tea club started strong with Charlie shou. 2023 February White2tea club is another strong month – 2023 Red W and a sample of 2022 Tianjian Fuzhuan. This post is two parts as I got carried away trying the Tianjian and other heicha that it became less about the club. The photo below even shows Gold Fu is coming. That said, onto Red W. 2023 Red W is a cute 50 gram cake made of old tree autumn large Yunnan leaf puer material, made into a black tea. That is a lot of terms that could be tea buzzwords,… Continue reading, hoot!

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Tea Drunk Experience on Matcha | Sunday Tea Hoots

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I had the fortunate (or unfortunate) experience of having the most insane tea drunk experience in a long time. Though there are a few things that lead up to this. First off, I get random tea items in my mailbox that I cannot promote here due to TOS. Secondly, with my current diet and medication, caffeine affects me more than usual, which is saying something as I am always quite susceptible. So I drink a max of 10 grams of awesome tea instead of 17-24 gram consumption I’ve done for years. A Mushroom Matcha showed up on my doorstep and… Continue reading, hoot!

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Rehoot Review – 10 year Retasting the 2012 Noble Mark Shou from Mandala Tea

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Today’s tea is a retasting of the 2012 Noble Mark by Mandala Tea. I started buying a lot of puer in 2013. Now that it is 2023, I’ve had teas in my storage for 10 years. A lot of shou back then had more of a mushroom profile. Or it was the bad fishy kind or mini touchas that tasted like cardboard dirt water. Noble Mark showed me good puer and got me to fall in love with the inky, creamy, and earthy flavor of fermented puer. Storage As I mentioned earlier, this cake has been in my storage for… Continue reading, hoot!

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Single Origin Mame Matcha from Naoki Matcha

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Today’s tea is Naoki’s Single-Origin Mame Matcha. This matcha is from a single tea field in Shizuoka, Japan. I’ve tried a number of Naoki’s Matchas – they have a good range of introductory teas to high-quality. Single-Origin Mame Matcha is from their Masters Collection, so there is a limited supply. Tea and Preparation Method That is very green. It has been a while since I’ve seen matcha this vibrant! Admittedly, the camera auto fakes it brighter but it is still quite vibrant in person. The powder itself is sweet and buttery scented. Mame Matcha needed some sifting, there were a… Continue reading, hoot!