T Free Hourglass Travel Tea Tumbler – Tea ware review

I purchased this really cool looking travel tea tumbler, T Free Hourglass from ZenTeaLife.com. Zen Teas is an online tea seller based in the Vancouver, BC Canada area! (I’m a sucker for Vancouver tea sellers – since it’s my home town!). When I saw this tea tumbler on Zen Tea’s website I was IN LOVE! It’s slim, sexy, unique, and functional. Anyways, Zen Tea had a sale, and I jumped on it ordering the tumbler. I had a hard time deciding which colour to get – I loved all three and thought they all looked good, but I went with… Continue reading, hoot!

King of Fruits from Lupicia – Tea Review

King of Fruits is a green tea durian fruit blend from Lupicia, a lovely online japanese tea seller. DURIAN!! O_O You know, this evil fruit: Durian smells funky. Like sweaty onions’ gym socks. Onions wear gym socks? I’ve had durian a handful of times, but mostly in bubble/boba tea. I could probably convince my husband to buy one, but he doesn’t have a great sense of smell so he’ll be fine – but the durian smell will probably drive the rest of my house crazy. The taste is quite exotic and kind of an acquired taste. When I saw Lupicia had this tea, it was on… Continue reading, hoot!

Organic Japanese Puerh from Butiki Teas – Tea Review

Organic Japanese Puerh is a unique offering from Butiki Teas. I’ve never heard of a japanese puerh, so I had to add this tea to my cart with my last Butiki order. DRY LEAF: The tight, chippy looking black leaf smells a little like cocoa and tobacco. STEEPED (Gaiwan): Lovely reddy peach amber colour! First infusion: I did a 5 second steeping with boiling water using a gaiwan. The flavor has a light, crisp and clean coffee note. There’s some other flavors going on too that remind me of roasted chestnuts and barley teas. End of sip is a light sweetness –… Continue reading, hoot!

Ankara Apple from Bluebird Tea Co – tea review

Ankara Apple is a fruity spiced green tea from Bluebird Tea Co, an online tea seller from the UK. Bluebird Tea Co tea attracted a wild amigurumi bird/penguin.. thing! I saw Kitty Loves Tea review some teas from Bluebird Tea Co and I was all like “Man, I want to try these guys! They got really cool teas!” But, at the time they weren’t doing international shipping. After a number of us on Steepster saying “Hey, we want your teas!”, Bluebird Tea Co opened up international shipping. I ordered that same day (maybe within a few hours?) and snagged this Ankara Apple tea and another. This is… Continue reading, hoot!

Oolong Owl’s First Gaiwan

I finally got a Gaiwan! WOOOOOT! A bit of history – I prefer gravity steepers. Once I got mine from DavidsTea, I was hooked. I later on got Adagio Tea’s IngenuiTEA (which I dislike due to its narrow size). I wanted to try a more traditional way of steeping tea to see the difference, but also experiment. I shopped all over ebay and online tea shops. My in-laws are going on a cruise in China later this year and I didn’t want to wait that long for a gaiwan. My Gaiwan came from Yunnan Sourcing’s US shop – I was attracted to the light… Continue reading, hoot!

Matcha Chocolate Recipe

I really wanted to try other uses with my matcha, since I have quite a bit of it. I found making chocolates was super super easy to do! I used flavored matcha which added extra flavor to the chocolates! What you need: White chocolate Matcha Ratio: 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of Matcha to 50 grams of white chocolate Tools: double boiler or microwave to melt chocolate. Silicone mold. Tea strainer to sift matcha. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I used a white chocolate, or whatever this stuff is: I’d test with chocolate chips if they will melt – some don’t melt! Here are the… Continue reading, hoot!

Design a Tea – Sample Review

Design a Tea is an online tea seller that lets you create your own tea blend from various teas and a list of flavorings. You also have a choice between your tea being in bagged form or loose leaf. For bases, you can choose between black, oolong, green, and rooibos. Flavorings? You can choose 2. Here’s the list: Almond, Amaretto, Anise, Apple, Apricot, Banana, Blackberry, Blueberry, Caramel, Cinnamon, Chai, Cherry, Chestnut, Chocolate, Cider, Coconut, Cranberry, Ginger, Hazelnut, Honey, Irish Creme, Lemon, Mango, Maple, Mocha, Nutmeg, Orange, Passion Fruit, Peach, Pear, Pecan, Peppermint, Pina Colada, Pineapple, Plum, Pomegranate, Pumpkin, Raspberry, Rum, Spice,… Continue reading, hoot!

Blushing Geisha from Steep City Teas – Tea Review

Blushing Geisha is a hibiscus floral green tea blend from Steep City Teas, one of my favorite online tea sellers. This tea caught my eye right away, but I was a little leery of it. It was expected, from the name, the tea would be red and hibiscusy. Many of us tea drinkers have been terrorized by over hibiscus – vibrant red tea that tastes so tart your throat has a spaz, and that was supposed to be “strawberry tea”? However, after having some of Steep City Teas stuff, I figure it had to be good. DRY LEAF: I opened the package, closed my eyes… Continue reading, hoot!

Shui Jin Gui Wuyi Oolong from Verdant Teas – Tea Review

Shui Jin Gui Wuyi Oolong  is an oolong from Wuji Mountains, picked in the fall season of 2011. This tea is from Verdant Tea, an online tea seller. Verdant has some unique teas teas – mostly unflavored but some seasonal blends as well. All high quality. Verdant Teas are very high rated on Steepster, you’ll see at least 4 or 5 on the highest rated teas first page. So, I’ve been meaning to do a Verdant Tea order for a long time. #1 on my wish list for last christmas/birthday was Verdant’s Tea of the Month, which no one got me,… Continue reading, hoot!

Daiso Haul #2 – More tea ware!

I had broken my 2 cup tea pot not too long ago. I was looking online for a new tea cup, but I felt kind of sad. I could spend $15-$20 and get a nice tea pot, or I can get a couple cheapy Daiso tea pots for $1.50 to $4 each and if I accidentally break another one again, I won’t feel as bad. So.. DAISO TEA WARE HAUL! (again) I found two nice small tea pots. They hold around 15 to 16 oz each. The blue print one came with an infuser and was $4! I also snagged a… Continue reading, hoot!