Author: Oolong Owl

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Sunday Tea Hoots 39 – Anniversary Octopus Teapot

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April 13th was my 5th wedding anniversary to my Tea Hating Husband. Both this year and the day we got married landed on a Friday, haha! I didn’t receive wood or silver, which are the traditional anniversary gifts (who makes that stuff up?), I got an octopus teapot. From afar, it looks more like a work of art than a teapot. Before I was a big owl obsessed person, I quite like octopi as they are tasty and strange looking. Admittedly, it functionally is a questionable as the lid is small so it is hard to add tea leaves or clean. The… Continue reading, hoot!

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2016 Sweet Clarity Sheng Puer from Denong Tea

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While I was at Denong Tea in Pasadena, I was tea drunk enough to upsell things by myself. I asked how their cake of Sweet Clarity sheng puer was and Denong simply said it tastes like Sweet Clarity (roll credits). Either way, it was enough for me to blind purchase a 100 gram cake. Denong Tea has some of the most beautiful of tea wrappers. Dry Leaf and Steeping Method The dry leaf is soft, sweet, and somewhat pungent in scent. The only information I could find on the material of Sweet Clarity is that it is from Xishuangbanna Prefecture. I… Continue reading, hoot!

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March 2018 White2Tea Club feat. 2009 Jingmai

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March 2018 White2Tea club time! This month is a whole 250 gram brick of 2009 Jingmai sheng puer and a sample of Autumn Auburn (ANBURN) black tea. I honestly was most excited by the Anburn black. The spring harvest was in the September 2017 White2tea club, and it was the bomb! I squirreled away the rest of my Anburn black, and I’ll be hiding this one as well until I secure more. That said, I’ll just be reviewing the 2009 Jingmai today. This tea is promised to have a clean, dry storage, with a floral smooth middle age taste. I had this… Continue reading, hoot!

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2016 NaKa Big Tree Sheng Puer from Healthy Leaf

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Healthy Leaf caught my eye for the big selection fo aged white tea, but they do sell other teas. I selected this 2016 Naka Big Tree as I like NaKa and wanted a taste of their sheng. I was smelling my blogger sample pile, I opened the bag, and smelled and WHOA must drink! I wasn’t in the mood to drink a younger sheng, but this tea changed my mind. Dry Leaf and Steeping Method This is a maocha puer, so it is loose instead of pressed into cakes. The leaves are honking big and wiry, taking up lots of… Continue reading, hoot!

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Black and Oolong Teas from Everyday Teas

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Everyday Teas‘ focus is quality daily drinker teas. I previously reviewed two years of Everyday Teas’ puer. Let’s try their black and oolongs! Gongfu Black Gongfu Black is a Da Ye cultivar black grown in Lincang, Yunnan China. It is described to be a very forgiving black tea. Dry Leaf and Steeping Method:  Gongfu Black smells nicely fruity. There is a rare fleck of gold or two but otherwise is a pitch black leaf. I used 1 gram of leaf to 12ml of vessel size, steeped in boiling water. First and Second Infusion: Not a bad hong for the price. The… Continue reading, hoot!

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Sunday Tea Hoots 38: Will it Tea Egg?

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Hoot, Happy Easter and April 1st 2018! It is a perfect time to find what makes the perfect tea egg! My favorite Tea Egg recipe is from Culinary Tea which makes a picture perfect Tea Egg. Tea Eggs are made with hard boiled eggs cracked and boiled/marinated in soy sauce, sugar, various spices, and tea. A post shared by Char (@oolongowl) on Feb 4, 2015 at 11:43am PST The tea in the Tea Egg doesn’t vary too much as generally black tea is used. Lapsang Souchong is generally the best, though cheffy, Tea Egg tea. I have substituted in some… Continue reading, hoot!

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Bella Luna Blue herbal tea from Adagio Teas

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Years back I reviewed BlueChai, which was pure butterfly pea flower tea that steeps up blue, but turns pinky purple when lemon is added. Since then, butterfly pea flower tea has been popping up more and more, and it is easier to find online. More and more tea sellers are making blends with it and coming up with neat teas. Adagio Teas sent me an exclusive tea – Bella Luna Blue – which they only sell when there is a second full moon in a calendar month, aka blue moon. The next blue moon is March 31, 2018. Strangely, there are… Continue reading, hoot!

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2018 February White2Tea Club feat. Sichuan Heicha

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February 2018 White2Tea club came with some incredibly interesting teas – four old Sichuan Heichas! These teas are mentioned as best/traditionally boiled with some yak butter and salt, maybe cream. You cannot find Yak butter in North America it seems, I am also horribly lactose intolerant these days so the cream is a hard pass. Vanilla soy creamer sounds quite a disgusting pairing too. I will still boil the tea though. I decided to work youngest to oldest, steeping 1 gram of leaf to 15 ml vessel size. After around 5 or 6 infusions, I took the leaf to the… Continue reading, hoot!

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2007 Hidden Gem Mahei Huangpian Sheng Puer from Bitterleaf Teas

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Bitterleaf Teas’ 2007 Hidden Gem Mahei Huang Pian sheng puer caught my eye due to storage. Bitterleaf Tea states this tea has a controlled humid storage. Likely many of us pumidor nuts located outside humid climates is gunning for this kind of storage. I guess I am in this category, but my main tea storage goal is to not get mold. Dry Leaf and Steeping Method The dry leaf is the characteristic huang pian look with big brittle leaves but also with a dark aged look. The scent is of forest floor or a basement heavy in house plants. The… Continue reading, hoot!

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2017 Rou Gui from Old Ways Tea

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This 2017 Rou Gui came along as a bonus with the Huang Guan Yin and Qi Lan comparison teas from Old Ways Tea. If you haven’t checked it out, I wrote 2 big comparison pieces on those teas. Me and Rou Gui is hit and miss. I find it is awkwardly not roasted enough for my tastes and missing complexity compared to its greener counterparts. I decided to give Old Ways Tea’s 2017 Rou Gui a try as I have been enjoying their teas so far. Dry Leaf and Steeping Method Oh man, the aroma of this leaf is killer!… Continue reading, hoot!