Hello my wonderful tea peeps!
I was planning to do a 2013 Year in Review New Years post, but I realized that I started Oolong Owl on January 12, 2013. The Tea Owls and I have been drinking, taking pictures and writing about tea here for a year! An Oolong Owl Blog Anniversary!
Let’s look back through 2013, through the magic of prewritten wordpress blog scheduling as I’m currently vacationing in Hawaii.
Oolong Owl’s Favorite Teas of 2013
Oolong Owl’s Favorite Tea Blend – Steep City Teas’ Blushing Geisha was my hands down favorite tea blend. I bought a second bag, which I don’t do often as I do like variety more than anything. The tea leaf is gorgeous! The hibiscus tint is blushingly beautiful! Steep City Teas’ Blushing Geisha has a great mix of fruity, floral, tart and tangy and is amazing iced. I hope to continue buying and drinking this tea for many years to come.
Oolong Owl’s Favorite Straight Tea – 2013 was also a big exploration year for me. I got my first gaiwan and also a yixing pot (or 3). Those two teawares really opened my tea world more. With that, I decided to jump into PU’ER territory. I’ve had loose pu’er and pu’er blends before and loved them, but I wanted a cake (or 2) to get an authentic experience. Mandala Tea’s Garret was super awesome with answering my questions and giving me reconmendations. After that, I had my first pu’er cake, Mandala Tea’s Wild Monk Sheng! It was amazing! Tea that gets better with age, great smoldering flavors, lots of personality and flavor that never quits. Wild Monk has a enlightening wise quality to it that I love. Now I have 10 pu’er cakes in the Oolong Owl Pu’er Vault (err.. dresser drawer)
With my first cake, I tried spearing chunks off with crochet hooks and mini screwdrivers. I immediately bought a pu’er pick off Mandala Tea and Teal “Pu’er Pick” Owl found his bestfriend.
Oolong Owl’s Favorite Tea Drunk Party Time Tea – Hello 2012 Dragon of Jing Mai Pu’er. You got me so pu’er party time tea drunk I wrote an over the top review of you. This pu’er wasn’t high on my list of favorite pu’ers I tried (maybe with some aging it could be a fav), but man, this tea hit back hard! A fun, memorable blog entry that I won’t forget.
Oolong Owl’s Honorable Mention Tea – This is a toughie, as I’ve had so many really good teas lined up behind the first two teas I mentioned above. However, this tea is in my “Special Treat Only” tea tin, that I will open for special occasions. Mandala Tea’s Milk Oolong. This oolong is amazing! I refuse to share it, even on Christmas! It is like liquid cream tea!
Oolong Owl’s 2013 Tea Journey
I went on some tea adventures in 2013. I drank all the samples at Los Angeles International Tea Festival and did Afternoon Tea on a Princess Cruise ship.
The tea owls and I also had a multiple day tea binge on a Travelling Tea box.
Though I think the Afternoon Tea was the best tea journey I had in 2013, but my DisneyLand’s Club 33 tea experience was my most popular Oolong Owl adventure of 2013.
Oolong Owl Blogging Bonus
I noticed after my first year of blogging about tea, a few things changed in my tea habits. First, before I ran off using simple tea ware. I think blogging and wanting to take fun photos enticed me to buy more tea ware. Buying more tea ware got me some interesting tea cups and pots, but took away from tea buying – but at least now I got a nice collection going as well as cups to serve guests! Also, and the most weirdest, is blogging about tea has encouraged me to clean my freaking tea ware! Seriously, I used to just rinse my cup and not care about tea stains. Now I want my tea ware looking white and clean.
Another weird tidbit – I still have yet to post a picture of my tea shelf. Hopefully in 2014 I can get it better organized and labelled!
Here’s to 2014 being another awesome year for tea! Thanks for the support!
Oolong Owl & The Tea Owls
