The Tea Owls and I had a lot of awesome tea in 2014!
What I find the most interesting when I think about the teas I’ve had in 2014 is how my tastes have changed. I still love trying new teas – sometimes opening a tea package gives me more joy than drinking an old favorite. Drinking a wild tea blend is still exciting. However, now I don’t mind astringency these days whereas before it was a big turn off. I remember last year brewing raw pu’er with lower water temperatures of 185F, now I use boiling water. Come at me astringency, bro! I think what changed was drinking so much pu’er and liking that cool feel or contrast with the flavor.
Thinking to specific teas I’ve had throughout 2014, many of them stood out – more than 2013! I’ve tried a huge range of tea for 2014 from high end to the WTF.
Oolong Owl’s Tea Favorites of 2014
The Tea to be Worshiped
God of Night Sweats, aka Camellia Flower Cake – PROLONG THE BEAR SOAK! Ahhh, we still joke about this tea on Steepster Chat. I’m glad I got a tea that summons the God of Night Sweats. The English translation on this tea is hilarious. The seller still messages me really weird English translated messages. The Camellia Flower Cake isn’t bad too, especially if you love lots of floral and a beautiful presentation.
Most Crazy Tea Blend Discovery of 2014
Country Breakfast Tea from Teafolks – This tea HAS REAL BACON IN IT! In conversation, I mention this tea quite a bit. Bacon is really internet popular and in store you see it in lots of things – I saw bacon cake mix last week! The taste of this tea is actually pretty good, like drinking a cup of chai, maple syrup and bacon.
I heard Pastrami is becoming the new bacon though. Pastrami tea – someone get in on that!
Best Tea Drunk Tea Experience in 2014
2010 Haiwan “Peerless” Puerh Ripe/shu – My T-rex nibbled pu’er cake turned out to be infused with enough tea drunk material to get me through 25k words of NaNoWriMo before I burned and crashed in crochet commissions for Christmas. 2010 Haiwan Peerless left me with so much energy that I could probably hit as hard as a train. Okay, maybe a light rail. This pu’er cake turned out to be a killer deal for me at 500 grams for $20. The problem with this pu’er is I get too tea drunk to want to drink it often.
Oolong Owl’s Coolest Tea Companies of 2014
Joseph Wesley Black Tea – This was an end of the year find for me. Actually, they contacted me about their Tea Pet, but also enclosed some Lapsang Souchong that blew me away. Joseph Wesley’s packaging is sleek and modern, even the shipping packaging is very nice. All of a sudden, I’m ordering a bunch of hand made gorgeous tea cups and more tea. I still feel I need to order more from them, all their teas sound amazing and so far the quality has been outstanding. Not to mention everyone loves their tea cups and I see more and more tea lovers on Instagram with them too. So far I’ve only reviewed Joseph Wesley’s Lapsang Souchong and I can’t wait to review all the other goodies I’ve purchased – get ready 2015 for black tea!
White2Tea – Thanks reddit/tea as a medium to put me in contact with White2Tea. I had a number of awesome teas from White2Tea, all of them awesome! I had a bunch listed in my 2014 unflavored favorites list, and I couldn’t decided on one, so let’s just list White2Tea as one of the coolest tea companies of 2014 on Oolong Owl. White2Tea has mega level quality pu’er with music and video game references on their tea names and art to make this tea nerd swooning. If money was no object, I’d probably go nuts on White2Tea’s shop and my Tea Owls wouldn’t be able to keep up with the pile of Pu’er and Duck Shit Oolong I’ve acquired.
Favorite Blend of 2014
Chocolate Strawberry Puer from Lupicia – This tea has been around before 2014, and it was on my tea bucket list for awhile. Early 2014 during my Cruise to Hawaii, I visited a Lupicia store and snagged a package. Turns out, I should made more of an effort to acquire this puer blend of amazing – it is fantastic! I love the chocolate strawberry flavor, reminding me of Japanese chocolates without a zillion calories. The blend is done so well and the pu’er base is smooth. I hope this tea blend is available forever.
Prettiest Teas of 2014
I love a good looking tea and I had many gorgeous teas.However, there can only be one.. errr two. I couldn’t decide!
Tea Star Oolong from Justea – this tea is one of the coolest looking teas on the planet! I did a double take when I saw this tea at the World Tea Expo and knew I had to have it. Even if they weren’t selling it yet, I would stalk Justea until they had it for sale. The Tea Star tastes amazingly bready sweet and thick, looks impressive and really easy to steep. The Tea Star has the ease of use of a tea bag, without the tea bag and the taste of excellent loose leaf tea. Justea is also an awesome company, the staff I met were friendly and their direct trade model is full of love.
Imperial Gold Needle Yunnan Black Tea from Yunnan Sourcing – I came across this tea on Yunnan Sourcing’s Facebook of a picture of their Imperial Gold Needle of long threads of almost pure gold tea. I had to have this tea, it looked impressive and screamed luxury. Once I had this tea in my collection, I discovered this tea is even more gorgeous in person and tasted almost everything I wanted out of a black tea – malty, vanilla, chocolate, sweet and smooth. When I take out some of this tea to steep, others can’t believe its golden thread appearance.
Oolong Owl’s Favorite Unflavored Tea of 2014
I was unable to choose only one unflavored tea that made me hoot for joy, so here is three!
Hwang Cha Gold Oxidized Korean Tea from Hankook Tea – This tea has an interesting processing and taste, leaving one to wonder whether if it’s a black or oolong. This tea is very complex, nutty, smoke, fruity, creamy, chocolately and gets just as tasty with each steeping of the leaves. This unique Korean tea is a treat and I hope more and more Korean teas are made available for all Tea Drinkers around the world. I’m not sure if 2015 is the year, but one day I will go to South Korea and take home a suitcase of tea and kpop swag (Taemin!!!!!!!!!!).
Azores Encosta de Bruma Premium Green from What-Cha – I love trying teas from a region that I haven’t had yet, especially from a place that I didn’t know that they grew tea. Turns out, Azores has amazing tea! 2014 I didn’t drink much in green teas, most of my reviews were blacks and pu’er. Didn’t matter though as Wha Cha’s Azores Encosta ds Bruma Premium Green stole the show. This green is so nectarine in flavor that it blew me away. This green tasted more nectarine apricot than any tea blend enhanced with flavor.
Heart of the Old Tree Raw Pu’er from Mandala Tea – BREATHLESS
This pu’er made me consider buying a whole bunch of. I probably should buy more cakes before it is all gone forever. The flavor is delicate and mostly about texture and experience. I talk about Tea Drunk earlier, but Heart of the Old Tree gave me a full body experience of gasping for breath, filled with inspiration and heart.
Favorite Tea Ware of 2014
This was tough. I was stuck between my black yixing pot and my “Forever Alone” bamboo tea tray. I still love you black yixing pot and we do spend quality time together Forever Alone tea tray, but my Ru Kiln Travel Gaiwan was my best closest buddy of 2014. I love this gaiwan – it feels great in my hand, it is getting prettier and prettier each time I use it. I feel bad when I don’t use this gaiwan and often I choose my tea to drink on what would work good in this gaiwan. If you don’t have a gaiwan in this style I encourage you to get one – it is very convenient!
The Tea Game Changer of 2014
Mandala Teas’ Smart Soak Tea Stain Dissolver – this tea cleaning product is crazy awesome! I had my doubts, I do love my bucket of baking soda, but the Smart Soak cleans my tea ware to a brand new sparkling state, melting off impossible tea stains in minutes. Stuff I thought was clean, the Smart Soak got cleaner. My dad thought I bought him a brand new tea strainer, but it was actually just Smart Soaked that day. Admittedly, I’ve been getting my tea ware pretty grundgey just so I can use the Smart Soak and watch it work its magic.
Here’s to 2015 being awesome for tea!
