Category: Tea Reviews

Tea reviews and tea tastings

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Diversitea Sri Lanka Black teas – Taste the Rainbow

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I got this fun Diversitea Sri Lanka black tea set from the recent World Tea Expo. I love the packaging – the rainbow is attractive, encouraging me to try the teas despite me not being big into tea bags and western style black teas. But also the opportunity to taste various regions of Sri Lanka seemed educationally fun. Each box has 25 tea bags, so 175 tea bag total. Steeping Method: I used 1 tea bag, steeped in 250ml of boiling water for 3 minutes. Easy peasy. 200F/93C would likely be a better temperature to steep these black teas at due to astringency.… Continue reading, hoot!

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2017 Spring Silver Needle White Tea from Floating Leaves Tea

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Last year’s Floating Leaves Tea Silver Needle didn’t catch my attention, however with just seeing the leaves of 2017’s batch got me excited. I was visiting Floating Leaves Tea and the owner, Shiuwen, showed me the bulk bag of the new 2017 Spring Silver Needle. The fuzz that was flying around was crazy. You probably need to wear a dust mask if you are going to deal with this Silver Needle for an extended amount of time. I had a sample in store, but forgot to buy some. On my next visit I bought an ounce to play with. Dry Leaf… Continue reading, hoot!

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Ice Queen 2007 Spring Bing Dao from Bitterleaf

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I took awhile to getting around to drinking Bitterleaf Tea’s Ice Queen 2007 Spring Bing Dao Sheng puer. Every Bing Dao I’ve tried I greatly enjoyed – the sweet flavor tends to ring with my sweet tooth. Liking Bing Dao does not make me happy as it is expensive! Bitterleaf sent me Ice Queen awhile back and since the tea smelled so good, has a $0.83 per gram price tag, so I went into horde mode. Something sparked in me today urging me to drink Ice Queen. That something is dying for a sweet puer as I keep craving Korean honey rice… Continue reading, hoot!

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2016 Nightlife from White2Tea

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White2tea‘s Nightlife is a Yue Guan Bai (aka Moonlight white) Yunnan white tea. Nightlife is apparently a high grade tea, made from a large leaf varietal reserved for sheng puer. I purchased this tea on a whim. Hey, I like Yueguanbai/Moonlight whites, so I had no issues dropping blind on a 200 gram cake from my dealer White2Tea. I purchased it at release and it smelled really strong funky from the journey, so I let it air a bit before tucking it with my other moonlight cakes. Quickly, 2016 Nightlife sold out. At first, I am not sure why they sold… Continue reading, hoot!

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Will it Gongfu? Red Rose Canada Day Edition

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Red Rose is a tea I drank as a kid growing up in Vancouver Canada. Majority of restaurants and coffee shops in Canada carry Red Rose. Likely many homes have a box of it in the cupboard, along with Canadian Tetley tea. Interestingly, and I have wrote about this before, Canadian boxed tea is prized in the US as it tastes better than the ones made for US drinkers. It appears the Canadian Red Rose tea in particular is a straight Orange Pekoe, vs the weaker blend that the US gets. It actually took me visiting four shops in Vancouver to find Red… Continue reading, hoot!

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Cusa Tea – Premium Instant Tea Review

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I came across Cusa Tea at the World Tea Expo. I was reluctant to try as instant tea is generally not that great, and I’ve had a few run ins with other instant tea sellers who disliked my review as they claimed their tea is better than loose leaf tea (like whaaaat?). I had a sample as was actually pretty impressed with Cusa Tea’s product, which is fast tea for people on the go. What sets Cusa Tea apart from the other instant teas is the material is all USDA organic. They also use a different method to instant their tea by… Continue reading, hoot!

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May 2017 White2Tea Club feat. Fresh Lincang

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Ooooh, finally it is 2017 tea time! May 2017 White2Tea club is Lincang Fresh Green and Puer Maocha. Both teas are the same material and farmer, but processed differently. As much as I wanted to drink these side by side, rolling two different temperatures would of drive me crazy. I own two kettles, but that also requires me to clear room in my cluttered tea space. 2017 Lincang Fresh Green Tea I went low temperature rocking 175F/79c, going high on leaf for a green – 1 gram for 15ml vessel size. The hot leaf smells quite fruity, like chewing gum.… Continue reading, hoot!

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Purple Leaf Tea from Justea

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Purple tea is starting to pop up everywhere. Purple tea is a curious tea it is Camellia Sinensis Assamica with a purple mutation changing the colour of the leaf to purple. I tried it a couple times (World Tea Expo 2016 and North West Tea Festival Seattle) and had a couple purple leaf puer cakes without thinking about it. Though apparently there are different purple teas, and this particular Purple Leaf Tea from Justea is grown in Kenya. But what sets the Justea Purple Leaf Tea apart is the unusual colour. Dry Leaf and Steeping Instructions The leaf is an interesting dark colour with a… Continue reading, hoot!

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2016 Winter Charcoal Dong Ding (aka 3 Roast) from Floating Leaves Tea

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Floating Leaves Tea is the place for oolong, but if you want their best it is their Dong Dings and roasted teas. I’m no stranger to their Winter Charcoal Dong Ding that is thrice roasted, it is a tea that I’ve tea drunkenly purchased twice (too bad not thrice) despite having some already, and one I’ve enjoyed in shop a few times. Shiuwen Tai of Floating Leaves Tea has told us many tales of the Charcoal Master who made this tea, as well many other stories of Dong Ding Mountain. However those stories are not mine to tell. If you are interested in… Continue reading, hoot!

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Korean Hwangcha from Teas Unique

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I’m always on the hunt for more Korean teas. Teas Unique is a US based seller that has sourced 4 regions of Korean Teas, with a big range of single estate Green (with a range of pluckings), Oxidized, and Powder. I decided to try Teas Unique’s oxidized tea line. They have two unflavored Hwangchas, from a different region and picking. The similarities are they are both organic, hand picked, and hand processed teas. Korean Boseong Sejak Hwangcha is roasted, from Unrim Village/ Boseong County, and is a second picking. Korean Mt. Jiri Joonjak Hwangcha is pan fried, and from Mt. Jiri/… Continue reading, hoot!