Category: Tea Reviews

Tea reviews and tea tastings

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2009 Liu Bao Heicha from Treasure Green – Tea Review

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I’ve been exploring heicha more and more, discovering I like it if it doesn’t taste like a log of tea on fire. I purchased this tea at Vancouver Canada’s Treasure Green, located in China Town. In shop, I had their most expensive heicha and it was great with an excellent deep woodsyness, but I freaked out at the price. That said, I bought a bag of their cheaper heicha, the 2009 Liu Bao Heicha. Dry Leaf The appearance of the 2009 Heicha is loose with matte dark sticks. The scent is moderately strong and of must and wood shavings. Steeping Instructions I… Continue reading, hoot!

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Thai Iced Tea Ice Cream by Full Tilt Ice Cream

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Besides checking out the local tea and yarn shops, when I’m in a new area I like to try the ice cream. I found it interesting how ice cream differs between countries and states – Utah being the most crazy with lots of great local ice cream and ice cream sections in the supermarket 2-3 times bigger than ones in Southern California! When checking out the Seattle ice cream, I discovered lots of coffee ice cream (bleh), Marionberry and how Tilliamok ice cream is crazy good. They also have lots of pint sized ice creams from smaller companies with really neat… Continue reading, hoot!

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Unsmoked Lapsang Souchong from 3 Leaf

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Today’s review is a newer offering from 3 Leaf – a seller that has expanded a loose leaf tea line. When I was introduced to them, they did pretty good flavored matchas. I was excited to see Unsmoked Lapsang Souchong. Unsmoked Lapsang Souchong is an uncommon find. “Regular” Lapsang Souchong is a very common find in most loose leaf tea shops here in North America as it is a very western taste bud friendly tea. I know many people who love the intense smokey flavor, plus Lapsang Souchong is one of the most common teas to cook with. If you… Continue reading, hoot!

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Marmalade Puerh from California Tea House – Tea Review

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Right before I moved out of SoCal, there was a tea tasting event that I wasn’t able to make. A tea buddy of mine did make it, and mentioned trying this Marmalade Puerh from California Tea House. Just the name alone of this tea and I had to have it! I don’t know why, but I always buy puer blends, despite majority of them are terrible mostly because puer just doesn’t western brew well. Dry Leaf Marmalade Puerh is HEAVY. The puerh used is heavy and the chunks in it are also heavy. This has got to be the most… Continue reading, hoot!

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Pique Tea Crystals – Tea Review

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Pique Tea Crystals is an interesting new organic tea product – it is tea that has been brewed, then crystallized. Pique is packaged in individual servings, making for a convenient tea on the go, all you need is a vessel and water. Steeping Instructions I followed the instructions, which was 1 packet, to 8oz/1cup/250ml of hot water. They didn’t specify water temperature so I figured I would just use these instant tea packets as if I was in the wild, so around 200F water. I already failed with instructions and with the first attempt I added the Pique Tea Crystals to a… Continue reading, hoot!

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2016 Fade Sheng Puer from April 2016 White2Tea Club

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For April 2016’s White2Tea Club we had a pretty cool offering of a whole pu’er brick! The brand new 2016 Fade Sheng Puer! The 2016 Fade Sheng Puer from 2015 Yiwu huangpian leaves that was pressed in March 2016. Apparently some of this material was in White2Tea’s Poundcake and Last Thoughts, so I’m expecting something sweet tasting! My white2tea monthly tea subscription came the day before I moved to Seattle, excellent timing! What was also handy was the tea filter that was included, which is sold on Teaware.House. Teaware.House Tea Filter I have a pretty good stainless steel tea filter… Continue reading, hoot!

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Tencha Kuki Houjicha from Den’s Tea – Tea Review

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I was buying some teapots off Den’s Tea and this Tencha Kuki Houjicha Green tea was impluse purchased.  Out of all the green teas, I like houjicha – it’s got that roasty richer flavor I like, plus easy brewing. This Houjicha sounded quite different as it is roasted tencha stems. (Tencha is the tea material to make Matcha). I haven’t ordered of Den’s Tea in years. They are a great SoCal Japanese tea seller, I’ve seen them a few times at local tea festivals and their teas sometimes at local stores when I was in California. If you are looking… Continue reading, hoot!

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2015 Bulang Raw Mini Cake from Bana Tea Company – Tea Review

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I purchased the 2015 Bulang Raw Mini Cake from Bana Tea Company when I was at the LA International Tea Festival. I remember tasting the 2015 Bulang Shou at the Festival, but I ended up buying both as the shou was so good, plus the price was affordable. This Bulang sheng is a spring harvest from 100 year old trees. Dry Leaf The cake broke apart easily, so it is likely a stone/hand pressed cake. Steeping Instructions I tried doing a younger sheng treatment, so 200F, but I ended up using a slightly higher leaf of 1 gram to 14ml. I didn’t want to… Continue reading, hoot!

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2011 Longrun Jasmine Puer – Tea Review

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This was one the World Tea Expo 2015 finds and an impulse buy. When I bought this Jasmine Sheng I thought it was a shou and in that moment jasmine shou sounded cool. Then when I was checking up online I learned what I got was actually a sheng. My 2011 Longrun Jasmine Puer is a 100 gram mini cake. It is Yunnan origin and that is all the information I can find on this tea. By the way, Longrun pu’er is available on Amazon.com. So far the Longrun pu’er I’ve gotten has been decent, so if you want tea off Amazon I’d… Continue reading, hoot!

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March 2016 White2Tea Club

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Let’s transport back a month to review the March 2016 White2Tea Club! The teas included for the month of March: 2011 Aged White Tea Fuding and 2009 Yiwu Raw Puer, 50 gram samples each and both available for purchase. I’d say White2tea was pretty generous this month with the sizes. Both teas are entering middle age, so this is a tasting of teas we can snag now at a decent price as the same tea a bit older is much more money. Both teas would be great for further aging. 2009 Yiwu Raw Puer from the March 2016 White2tea Club… Continue reading, hoot!