Category: Tea Reviews

Tea reviews and tea tastings

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Nine Lotus Green Tea from Mandala Tea – Tea Review

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I recently did a small Mandala Tea order as they had a bunch of new teas roll in (2013 Young Tea Nugget!!). I’m usually not one for new spring green teas, but this particular green tea caught my eye – Nine Lotus Green Tea – so it sneaked into my shopping cart. Sneaky sneaky teas! Mandala Tea‘s Nine Lotus Green Tea is a spring 2015 tea from Jui Hua Shan, Nine Lotus Mountain in Anhui Province of China at an elevation of 3,500 feet. This tea is cultivated by Buddhist Monks! Dry Leaf Nine Lotus Green Tea has a super cool leaf – they… Continue reading, hoot!

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May White2tea Club

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I’ve been enjoying the White2tea Club with being able to explore pu’er, blacks and oolongs. I am excited for this month as the teas are a decade-aged ripe pu’er and a spring 2015 black, with the black tea building a comparison upon a previous month’s Yunnan black. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to review the black, so let’s sample the pu’er, the White2Tea Club only tea! Tasting of May White2Tea Club’s 2003 Xiaguan Crane Mark Ripe Pu’er 2003 Xiaguan Crane Mark ripe is a 100 gram tuo and a round bird nest shape. It was easy to break off pieces. For steeping instructions, I… Continue reading, hoot!

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Amoda Tea’s May Monthly Tea Box – Tea Review

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Looking for a monthly tea box that you can try and discover different tea brands? Amoda Tea’s Monthly box would be the perfect fit! Amoda Tea features a new tea brand each month. They also feature tea brands that are high quality and ethically sourced, with blends that are free of artificial flavors and sugars. Besides the monthly box subscription, you can also separately purchase teas that have been featured in previous monthly boxes, as well as tasting sets from the Amoda Tea Shop. Their website is really pretty too! This month Amoda Tea has paired up with Nepali Tea Traders with 25%… Continue reading, hoot!

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Golden Tips Darjeeling Comparison

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I was sent five Golden Tips Darjeelings to review. I tend to drink Chinese blacks or Taiwanese oolongs oxidized into blacks so I’m no Darjeeling super taster. I decided to taste all five Darjeelings together so that I can taste the differences between them. Assisting with this darjeeling comparison tasting is Black Tea Owl. He knows a thing or two about black tea, since he is made of black tea! The Darjeelings are: Oaks Organic – Second Flush, Summer. Grade: SFTGFOP1 MUSK. Picked June 9, 2014 Castleton Muscatel – Second Flush, Summer. Grade: SFTGFOP1 CL CH. Picked July 5, 2014 Arya… Continue reading, hoot!

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Single Origin Teas Flavored Tea Review

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Today’s review will be of a couple flavored teas from Single Origin Teas. Majority of Single Origin Teas’ selection is unflavored, but they do have a small flavored line up filled with interesting tea blends. By the way, Single Origin Teas will be at the Midwest Tea Festival in June 2015! If you are in the area be sure to check out the Midwest Tea Festival and report back!   Tasting of Single Origin Teas’ Flavored Tea Orange Blossom Oolong This oolong is sourced from Anteaques in Edinburgh, Scotland! Scottish tea! The leaf has a super orange scent with dark twists… Continue reading, hoot!

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Nepal Teas from TÊTÊ – Tea Review

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Today’s review is of 3 teas from Nepal – TÊTÊ‘s White, Green and Black tea. TÊTÊ exclusively sources tea from Nepal with direct partnerships. These Himalayan grown teas are full loose leaf from remote tea gardens. In addition, TÊTÊ‘s teas are all organic. First off, really nice packaging – stylized simple and modern. #lessismore for sure! (edit: end of the review there’s a coupon code!) Tasting of  TÊTÊ’s White, Green, and Black Nepal Teas I did gongfu style steeping in a gaiwan for all the teas to get the full flavor out of them. The instructions on the tea packaging is for western style… Continue reading, hoot!

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May 2015 Simple Loose Leaf – Tea of the Month Club Review

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May to me is strawberries and spring teas. I’ve been chugging shou pu’er like it’s going out of style and I really need to switch to greens, whites and young sheng pu’er to get me into Spring and Summer mode. It looks like the Simple Loose Leaf box this month has some nice oolongs and greens! Simple Loose Leaf box info – Simple Loose Leaf is a monthly Co-op tea box that sends 4 to 6 loose leaf tea samples (1/4oz size) – you get a wide assortment of different teas such as straight teas, blends and herbals. With being in the Tea Co-op, you… Continue reading, hoot!

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Matcha Comparison – Matcha Taste Testing of 12 different Amazon Matchas!

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So I was sent 12, identical packaged matcha samples to be tested and rated from Red Leaf Tea. Red Leaf Tea wanted a comparison of their matcha verses popular matcha sold on Amazon.com. A number of other tea drinkers and bloggers got the same treatment too. At the time of sampling, I did not know what matcha was what other than number on the package. There was a few others who posted their results ahead of me and I did not look up their reviews. I wrote my reviews by sample number and sent in my results to find out what product was what, which… Continue reading, hoot!

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2004 Denong Ripe Pu’er from Bana Tea Company – Tea Review

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I purchased 2004 Denong Ripe Pu’er from Bana Tea Company back at the last Los Angeles International Tea Festival and have been drinking it since without telling anyone! All the pu’er samples I tried were really good but I got this particular ripe pu’er for interesting notes as well as it was popular and the last one. Haha! Dry Leaf 2004 Denong Ripe Pu’er ss presented in broken cake pieces as flat chunks. The pu’er is dark in colour and weighs light too. Steeping Instructions I need to switch it up as I usually use a gaiwan from Oolong Owl, so I used my ripe pu’er yixing… Continue reading, hoot!

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Vanilla Oolong Duo from Traveling Tea and Midwest Tea Festival

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So there is tea festivals on the East Coast, and for us on the West Coast we have the Los Angeles International Tea Festival, how about the Midwest? June 6th 2015 is the first Midwest Tea Festival in Kansas City and the tea vendor line up looks great, along with the tastings and tea workshop sessions. Oooo Oolong and Pu’er workshop, I wish I could go! Anyways, today I’m reviewing Vanilla Oolong Duo from Traveling Tea, a tea vendor that will be at the Midwest Tea Festival. Dry Leaf Vanilla Oolong Duo has an interesting appearance of brown oolong leaf blended with a contrast of green… Continue reading, hoot!