Author: Oolong Owl

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Dark Oolong Teas from TeaBento

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Continuing on from my review of TeaBento’s Black Teas, here are reviews of their Oolongs! As with their other teas, each tea is paired with an animal. Today we will be reviewing Little Dog Red Oolong and Scared Boar Shuixian. I have even more oolongs to review, but for simplicity I’ll just be reviewing the darker, more oxidized ones I have. By the way, TeaBento‘s steeping instructions are the complete opposite of what I do. TeaBento leafs a lot lighter and goes lower temperature (195f/90c). I found with the black teas it was worth dropping the temperature. I will not budge for oolongs as they… Continue reading, hoot!

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2017 Tea Consumption and Stash Data Report

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Hello 2018! It is time for the yearly Oolong Owl tea stash report! For some, it is the yearly reference material to show to your significant other that your own tea stash isn’t that bad. For others, a case study of an owl’s hoarding of tea. If you want to learn more about my spreadsheets – Tea Stash Spreadsheet | Tea Consumption Spreadsheet. Here is a template of my Tea Stash Spreadsheet! Save a copy and start keeping track of your stash. Do it before your tea stash gets out of control! 2017 was a crazy year as I had a big DIY kitchen remodel that… Continue reading, hoot!

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2017 Storm Breaker Shou Puer from Crimson Lotus Tea

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We dubbed Storm Breaker “Storm Wrecker” at the Northwest Tea Festival. I don’t think it helped that it was one of the last teas I had at the festival on both days, but this tea has a lot of energy for a shou puer! Before the festival, I bought a sample of 2017 Storm Breaker when it was released, but sat on it for a few weeks. I was told 2017 Storm Breaker has 65% fermentation, so this tea has a lot of room to settle in and age. My innards are clenching at the “2017”, “shou”, and “65%” giving… Continue reading, hoot!

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Hooty Tea Travels – 2017 Los Angeles: Denong Tea and Cheese Tea

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Despite living in the Los Angeles area for around 4 years, I didn’t write about local tea things outside the Los Angeles Tea Festival. I recently came back from Los Angeles and made sure to hit a number of tea things. Admittedly, I didn’t do much tea things other than the local tea festival when I lived in LA. Los Angeles is a car cultured sprawl at the mercy of traffic. I sat in around 4 hours of traffic visiting all three of my tea stops, and I wasn’t driving during rush hour. Denong Tea I met Denong Tea back… Continue reading, hoot!

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Mountain Tea Tumbler from The Tea Spot

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I got a preview of the Mountain Tea Tumbler while visiting The Tea Spot at the 2017 World Tea Expo. What was really cool is when they handed me this new tumbler, they said they considered my feedback I gave for their Urban Tea Tumbler. Oh hoot hoot hoot, right then I knew this new Mountain Tea Tumbler was going to be good! Mountain Tea Tumbler Specs 16oz/ ml Capacity Insulated double walled Stainless Steel Larger stainless steel 2-piece infuser Lead, Cadmium, and BPA free 4 colours – Green Tea, Slate Grey, Sunset Red, and Turquoise Lake (as pictured). Handwash… Continue reading, hoot!

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2016 Menghai Golden Fruit Shou Puer via Yunnan Sourcing

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When I heard about 2016 Menghai “Golden Fruit” Shou Puer on Yunnan Sourcing’s site, I was sold. With my last Yunnan Sourcing order, I purchased a whole cake for fun, it was only $24 for 357 grams. What caught my eye about this tea was the description: Entirely new production of Da Yi ripe called “金果” or Golden Fruit. It refers to the Peach of Immportality that grows in the orchard of the Celestials. The very peach that Sun Wukong stole and ate in “Journey to the West”. The idea was to create a peach taste in the ripe pu-erh. At… Continue reading, hoot!

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2016 Trap Bird Shou Puer from White2Tea

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You know I squawked and spazzed and bought a cake of 2016 Trap Bird right at release, as you all well know I need to own anything Owl. When Trap Bird arrived it smelled way too pungent. I let it sit for a few weeks in the open air as the paired association of too young of shou makes my bowels tremble. I then tossed Trap Bird into my shou-midor and promptly forgot I owned this cake until James at TeaDB asked me about it. Then I wrote the review and it got pushed back for 2017 sheng season… and… Continue reading, hoot!

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Daintree Tea and Tim Tam Slams

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Austrailian Tea Special! I’ve tried Daintree Tea before, but it was fairly old loose leaf not stored well. My husband’s coworker recently came back from Australia and I was given a Wallaby and a sample box of Daintree tea bags. Around the same time, I got a package from Influenster (they send free products for review, I mostly signed up for makeup swag) to review some unexpected random crap like a tin of corn, tub of margarine, fried jalapenos, and a package of Tim Tams. I’ve heard about Tim Tams as being an Aussie fav treat. I recently saw Tim Tams at… Continue reading, hoot!

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2017 White2Tea Puer $100-120 feat Four AM, Magic Mountain DNA, and She’s Not Me

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Continuing on with reviews of the 2017 Spring White2Tea puer line. I previously reviewed the $90-$100 cakes and 2017 Farmer Direct Tea. Today we are doing Four AM, Magic Mountain DNA, and She’s Not Me. I drank all three teas as separate sessions on different days and in a different order. All teas were from samples I purchased and tried within a couple months of release, so everything is quite young – if you are reading this in sometime 2018 likely the flavor profiles have changed. 2017 White2Tea Puer – Four AM Sheng Puer Four AM is described as, “elegant… Continue reading, hoot!

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2013 Simply Classic Shou Puer from Bana Tea Company

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With my last Bana Tea Company order, I got a free sample of 2013 Simply Classic Ripe Puer. It is listed as a traditionally made bulang shou puer great for the daily drinker. It isn’t reflected in my sample, but Simply Classic is pressed into a brick and wrapped in bamboo. The price of this shou brick is a deal too! Dry Leaf and Steeping Method The sample of 2013 Simply Classic smells earthy with a bit funk. The leaf has some nice gold to it. I used 1 gram of leaf per 13ml of vessel size, steeped in boiling… Continue reading, hoot!