Category: Tea Reviews

Tea reviews and tea tastings

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Hsinchu Oriental Beauty from Adagio Teas – Tea Review

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Today’s review is a tea from Adagio Teas’ Masters collection – Hsinchu Oriental Beauty. I am always on the lookout for a good Oriental Beauty and figured this was a good opportunity to try Adagio’s premium tea collection of expensive teas. Hsinchu Oriental Beauty is from Hsinchu County, NW Taiwan. I got the sample tin, which I failed to weigh out to see how much I got. I did run into a problem that they stuff the tins – what I took out I could not put back into the tin, haha! Dry Leaf and Steeping Instructions Hsinchu Oriental Beauty… Continue reading, hoot!

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2016 Teadontlie Sheng from White2Tea

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2016 Teadontlie is my favorite White2Tea Spring 2016 Sheng line out of all the samples I purchased. It took me awhile to actually post this review as I needed a couple cakes in my possession first… just in case. A photo posted by Char (@oolongowl) on Oct 22, 2016 at 1:46pm PDT Dry Leaf and Steeping Instructions Gorgeous leaf, I cannot stop looking at it! It looks almost like an oriental beauty but with less red tones. There’s silvers, light and dark greens, some hints of brown. Very pretty! The scent is what sets this puer apart from the other 2016s –… Continue reading, hoot!

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2011 Moonlight White Cake from The Chinese Tea Shop – Tea Review

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I’ve been holding onto this 2011 Moonlight White (Yue Guang Bai) Cake for awhile. I am not sure why I was saving it, it is a very large 360 gram cake with a gorgeous wrapper. I bought this cake with my last visit to The Chinese Tea Shop in Vancouver, Canada. The Canadian Dollar was really low at the time, so I went on a buying spree, getting this cake without even sampling. I love Moonlight Whites, I had confidence that Daniel sells great tea, and a couple local tea buddies told me that this cake is amazing. So here is the… Continue reading, hoot!

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October 2016 White2Tea Club

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White2Tea club time! This month we got 3 2016 Orange Drops (shou puer) and 2 new oolongs – Hot & Heavy and Dahongpao. /throws up hands. Bloody white balance hates me again. White2tea Club 2016 Orange Drop I just realized that last year’s October White2Tea club also included an orange however this year we got a nicer orange. These puer oranges (though these days more teas have been stuffed into oranges, like black and white tea) are a great new to puer tea drinkers or types looking branch away from flavored teas. I guess it is technically flavored, the tea is stuffed… Continue reading, hoot!

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Gui Fei Red Oolong from Totem Tea – Tea Review

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Totem Tea has two Gui Fei oolongs available in their Leaf-Bitten category, and today’s review is their Gui Fei Red (Concubine Oolong). The package simply says Gui Fei on it, so I was expecting something green and sweet. Upon drinking this tea and checking Totem Tea’s site, this is their Red Gui Fei.  This Gui Fei has a mild charcoal roast treatment. Dry Leaf and Steeping Instructions The leaves are rolled dark, with bit a silver. The scent is floral and roasty. Monster leaf! So I messed up and thought I had more leaf in my sample. My sample came up 5.5grams, so… Continue reading, hoot!

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Artist Lin Oolong from Stone Leaf Teahouse – Tea Review

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Today’s review is an oolong from Stone Leaf Teahouse, a tea house and online seller in Vermont. Stone Leaf Teahouse offered to send me samples and this Artist Lin Oolong caught my eye. Artist Lin Oolong is a small batch, wild looking garden, high mountain spring 2015 Taiwanese oolong. Stone Leaf Teahouse gave me a coupon code! luyurikyu888 for 25% off, good until November 30, 2016! Dry Leaf The leaf is rolled with stumpy fat stems sticking out. What stood out to me was how shiny and dark the leaf is. The scent is like huffing a stick of butter. Steeping Instructions Max… Continue reading, hoot!

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Yuve Ceremonial Matcha – Tea Review

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At this point of my matcha drinking life, I’ve reviewed a lot of matcha that I don’t have time for bad matcha. I also seem to have a low tolerance for bad matcha after experiencing so much of it. It seems if I am reviewing a matcha stand alone, it has to be good. Today’s matcha is from Yuve. They have a website, and sell their matcha on Amazon. The Amazon site for this matcha has a lot of buzzwords like “Superfood/Gluten Free/Raw/Sugar Free/Vegan/Detox/No Lead/More potent than Green Tea Diet Pills”. What information that is useful to us is this is June 2016 batch,… Continue reading, hoot!

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Pacific Northwest Taiwanese Black Tea Comparison

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I’m up to no good. I’ve been collecting Taiwanese Black teas for a rainy day like today. I’m gonna brew a bunch up together and see how it goes. It is thundering outside, as long as I got a mobile data and enough kettle water I’m good. All the Taiwanese Blacks were obtained from local Pacific Northwest tea sellers – two Seattle and a Portland one. The Seattle teas I purchased in person, and Totem Tea mailed me a sample of their Ruby 18. These are all 2015 teas just to be fair. I have more Sun Moon Lake and Ruby 18 kicking around but they… Continue reading, hoot!

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Bai Ye Varietal Dancong Black Tea Spring 2016 from Yunnan Sourcing

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Yunnan Sourcing has all kinds of sales every week. I managed to get sucked in a Dancong sale, feeling the need for some new and interesting Dancongs. I found Bai Ye Varietal Dancong while looking through all the 2016 line and the write up sounded appealing with, “Pronounced baked sweet potato taste…Highly recommended for Dan Cong and Black Tea aficionados alike!” I purchased this tea on Yunnan Sourcing.us, and it is sold out. Bai Ye Varietal Dancong is available on Yunnan Sourcing.com though. Actually, with this Dancong run I purchased many last bags from the US site. Dry Leaf SMELLOVISION… Continue reading, hoot!

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September 2016 White2Tea Club feat. 2016 Old Whitey and Hoplite Oolong

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Gosh, I am coming up on being with the White2Tea club for 2 years. Yup, keep taking my money! This month, and I am super excited, is 2016 Old Whitey and Hoplite oolong. Both teas will be sold at White2tea. As of this time, just the 2016 Old Whitey is listed, Hoplite is a preview. White2Tea Club 2016 Old Whitey 2016 Old Whitey is a puer varietal material processed like a sun dried Fujian shoumei and pressed into 100 gram cakes. I have been digging white teas and aged whites, and it sounds like this white has been designed to… Continue reading, hoot!