Category: Tea Reviews

Tea reviews and tea tastings

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Simple Steeps by The Tea Spot

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I have been in travel mode this summer, both for tea festivals and escaping the home office as I lack an air conditioner. The Tea Spot sent me some of their teas packaged as Simple Steeps, which are pre-portioned to go teas for $5 a box. I sneaked a few tea tastings while I traveled, but let’s sit down and give them a full tasting. Simple Steeps Matcha I believe I’ve had Tea Spot’s matcha before in their Matcha Fitness set, which came in a cute tiny tin. This time we have matcha in a thin packet which Tea Spot got… Continue reading, hoot!

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June 2018 White2Tea Club feat. 2018 The Thing Is

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I woke up one morning to watch my Instagram story feed to a long multi-piece video of White2Tea scaling a tea mountain with a chicken while telling us the secrets of the gushu. Be sure to watch the playlist video so you got a primer as June 2018’s White2Tea Club is the tea from that mountain.  I’ve been with the White2Tea Club long enough to know these 50 gram cakes are the bomb in quality and tea drunk. Too many people pass on these 50 gram cake months as they see no bang for your buck (but then why… Continue reading, hoot!

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Vanilla and Mocha Matcha from The Whistling Kettle

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Today I’m testing out The Whistling Kettle’s flavored matcha. These are labeled for matcha lattes, so you will want to mix these with milk. There is no sugar in these matchas, but obviously, they have added flavoring. Whistling Kettle does have an unflavored organic and ceremonial matcha if you want a traditional cup of matcha. I have the Vanilla and Mocha Matcha. Each package is 100 gram/3.50z of matcha. I use 3 grams for around 8oz/235ml serving, so that’s a lot of matcha lattes for $20 package. The Whistling Kettle’s Vanilla Matcha The colour of the Vanilla Matcha powder is… Continue reading, hoot!

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Guava Smoked Thyolo Moto Black Tea from Tea and Whisk

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This Guava Smoked Thyolo Moto Black tea was a tea drunk purchase as I’m easy to upsell tea drunk with money burning in my pocket. I was at the World Tea Expo after party at Tea and Whisk. Lazy Literatus saw this tea and I bought it as I was like “This is nuts, what the hoot smokes guavas?” It turned out it is guava tree wood that is the smoking of this Malawi tea. I got to try it but iced, blended with some other teas, which the owner said he does to take the edge off the smoke.… Continue reading, hoot!

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Aged White Tea Comparison from Healthy-Leaf

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Healthy-Leaf has an excellent aged white tea selection. I previously reviewed their 2009 Bask in the Sun, which was awesome. They have 2017 through to 2008 aged white teas. Today we will be drinking a 2015, 2011, and a 2008 Old White Tea.  All three white teas are Lao Bai Chas. Not much information on each besides year and the 2015 white is organic and wild. The price range of 2011 and 2015 is close, with the 2008 tea as a big jump. Leaf and Steeping Method Left = 2015, Middle = 2011, Right = 2008. The 2015 and 2011 look pretty… Continue reading, hoot!

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2016 Red Sunset Twin Shou Puer from Bana Tea Company

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I have enjoyed all of Bana Tea’s shou puer. At the last winter sale, I bought a whole bunch of teas from Bana Tea. This 2016 Red Sunset Twin Ripe puer caught my eye as it was a Vesper Chan tea and a 2 pack! I felt I didn’t need 2 cakes, so I split it with James TeaDB. It was simply 1 wrapper over 2 x 200gram cakes stacked together, so it was easy to pass the second cake away. This shou/ripe puer is grade 2-3 Bulang material. The fermented material was rested in Menghai for 2 years before… Continue reading, hoot!

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Honey Oolong and Honey Black from Floating Leaves Tea

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At my last visit to Floating Leaves Tea, I tried their Honey Oolong and Black Honey teas. I liked them both and the prices were great, so I purchased an ounce of each to play with at my own tea table. Let’s go! Floating Leaves Tea’s Honey Oolong Honey Oolong is actually Guifei Meiren (or Mixiang Oolong), the Oriental Beauty of Dong Ding oolongs. Dry Leaf and Steeping Infusions: The rolled balls of oolong smell like dried fruits. I used around 1 gram of leaf to 15ml of vessel size. Floating Leaves Tea’s oolongs love boiling water, so I used that. The… Continue reading, hoot!

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2012 Bulang Ancient Tree Shou Puer from Healthy-Leaf

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Today’s review is a 200 year old tree Bulang ripe puer. Healthy-Leaf’s 2012 Bulang Ancient Tree Shou Puer is a 357 gram cake that is priced at $49 (at this time). I love Healthy-Leaf’s selection of aged white tea, but I dipped into their shou to experience their range of teas. Dry Leaf and Steeping Method: The dry leaf is sweet and earthy scented. I went 1 gram of leaf to 14ml of vessel size, steeped gongfu style in boiling water. I did 2 rinses. Tasting of Health-Leaf’s 2012 Bulang Ancient Tree Shou Puer First, Second, and Third Infusion: This tea steeps up… Continue reading, hoot!

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2017 Secret Forest Sheng Puer and White from Essence of Tea

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Back in 2017 I did my first Essence of Tea order. I made a very calculated, review-read heavy buy as Essence of Tea is on the pricey side, and a bit more unexplored for me. I snagged 2017 Secret Forest sheng, but more so because I was buying the 2017 Secret Forest White, which is the same material processed differently. I sampled the 2017 Secret Forest White when I was over at a tea friends place and that tea sang to me. What makes this post a bit odd is I first sampled and drafted the review back in February.… Continue reading, hoot!

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2017 Impression Sheng Puer from Yunnan Sourcing

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Yunnan Sourcing‘s Impression series have been blended to be an affordable ager. Years back I tried the 2012 and 2014 Impression, both which were floating around in tea community Traveling Tea Boxes. At this time, all the Impression cakes are $23-$34.50 for 357grams, which seems to attract unsuspecting new tea drinkers to a cheap young puer out of Yunnan Sourcing’s huge collection. With that, this tea has a rep in the tea community as BITTER, harsh, strong, gut bombing toilet bowl cleaners that scare tea drinkers who are used to a more gentle tea. Now it is 2018. I have… Continue reading, hoot!