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Sunday Tea Hoots – Owlthousanth Post

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This post is my 1000th (Owlthousanth) post, holy hoots! It is a feat to stick with blogging this long as I’ve seen many tea bloggers come and go in my time. Oolong Owl started back in January 2013 in a quest to get more tea and creative control over my tea reviews. I thought I’d take the time to share some of my more memorable Oolong Owl posts and talk about the ones I enjoyed writing. Most popular post of all time Matcha Comparison series – Honesty is the best policy and in these tea reviews, I had no problems… Continue reading, hoot!

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2020 Winter Laoshi Oolongs from Tillerman Teas

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Tillerman Tea’s Laoshi Dong Ding is one of my favorite oolongs, and my favorite tea from Tillerman so far. Today, I got three Tillerman Tea Chen Huan Tang Laoshi oolongs…so… Laoshi tea battle? All teas I did gongfu style with boiling water and a 1 gram leaf to 15ml vessel ratio. 2020 Winter Dong Ding Laoshi Oolong The leaves of this 2020 Winter Dong Ding has a softy nutty roasted scent. After a rinse, the tea smells fruity and roasted. The 2020 Winter Dong Ding starts off light and sweet butter, with a lot of salivation going on, along with… Continue reading, hoot!

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2020 Nannou Leaf Assamica White Tea from Yunnan Sourcing

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When I saw the leaf shape of the 2020 Nannou Leaf Assamica White Tea, I could not resist purchasing it. I enjoy teas from Nannou Mountain as I do not recall having white tea from there. Leaf and Steeping Method The 2020 Nannou Leaf Assamica White Tea is foil wrapped in 8 gram leaves. This tea has a fresh, juicy, and floral scent like freshly cut flowers. I had to break this pretty leaf to fit into my 1 gram to 20ml gongfu ratio. Steeped up with boiling water, the leaves have a bright and sweet scent. Tasting of Yunnan… Continue reading, hoot!

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2020 Sentinel Black Tea from White2tea

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White2tea’s 2020 Sentinel black tea was highly recommended to me, so during a previous order, I purchased a sample. 2020 Sentinel is an old arbor large leaf varietal that is sun dried. Leaf and Steeping Method The leaf has an apricot and honey scent. The compression is on the tighter size here, but I also got the beenghole sample. I used around 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size. Once boiling water was introduced to the leaves, Sentinel scent goes more cherries and apricots. Tasting of White2tea’s 2020 Sentinel Black Tea First Infusion: 2020 Sentinel Black tea starts… Continue reading, hoot!

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Drinking ALL of my Shou Puer at Once

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Sometimes I look at my puer stash and feel overwhelmed with what to choose to drink. Why not drink it all? Today I take a leaf/chunk of each of my shou puer and drink it! My shou pumidor, yet again, is full and teas fall out when I open the door.  I wonder if my shou blend will just taste like generic shou since this tea type has a smaller range of flavor. But same time, I got quite an assortment of shou. I got a Japanese, 1989 to 1990s, as well as younger shou puer. I got some expensive… Continue reading, hoot!

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2020 White Crow and Impress Forcibly Through Unexpectedness from Bitterleaf Tea

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I have a problem as I blind buy too many white tea cakes as I know I can enjoy them many years later. Today, I got 2020 White Crow and 2020 Impress Forcibly Through Unexpectedness to review, both from Bitterleaf Tea. 2020 White Crow from Bitterleaf Tea I seem to buy Bitterleaf Tea’s White Crow every year – I just can’t resist as it is good value for the quality. Here are the reviews from previous years – 2019 White Crow and 2018 White Crow. 2020 White Crow’s leaves have a creamy malty scent. This cake has some compression to… Continue reading, hoot!

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2021 February Old Ways Tea Club

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For the 2021 February Old Ways Tea Club box we got three teas: 2020 Zhengyan Rou Gui, 2020 Mom’s Pick Teji Rou Gui, and a big bag of 2020 Winter tea. Let’s start drinking! 2020 Zhengyan Rou Gui Cutting open the tea package releases a strong roasted and nutty scent. Zero hoots were given, so I filled the gaiwan, so my gongfu ratio clocked in at around 1 gram per 12.5ml for all these teas unless otherwise noted. After a rinse, the hot leaves have a sweet nutty scent. I had a problem pegging down this tea, it is so… Continue reading, hoot!

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2021 February White2Tea Club feat: 200X Failcorp Shou Puer

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White2tea club time! For the 2021 February White2tea club, we got an aged shou, black tea, and a sheng with a little age.  200X Failcorp Shou Puer 200X Failcorp a mystery warehouse/auction find, with the best guess on age, with maybe Jingmai or Bulang material. White2tea has this cake priced at $68 for 357 grams (at the time of writing). The leaves smell like I am working on the garden – lots of dirt and mulch scent – like a dirty rooibos. I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, steeped in boiling water. After a rinse,… Continue reading, hoot!

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What is the Best Tea Knife?

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Over the years I have collected a stash of different tea picks and knives for breaking compressed teas. Like any hobby, you grow to prefer certain tools, but I thought I’d try a few other tea tool options to see what is the best tea knife. Today I will be trying a number of tea knives as well as home/kitchen items that aren’t intended for tea cake breaking. Method I had the task of breaking down 3 Shou cakes, 2 white cakes, and 4 Fu Bricks, all with varying compression and leaf styles, for samples. This was the perfect opportunity… Continue reading, hoot!

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2019 Ba Wang Shou Puer from Yunnan Sourcing

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Before Covid lockdowns hit, I had tea with TeaDB and he gave me a sample of Yunnan Sourcing’s 2019 Ba Wang shou. I enjoyed this shou so much, I ordered a cake, holding onto my review until I got my cake so I can have nice photos. Well, that package got lost in the Covid China Post shutdown nightmare, along with everyone else’s packages, tea or not. A year later, I reordered my Ba Wang cake and finally getting this review up! Also known as Badass King, 2019 Ba Wang is a blend of three Menghai villages. Leaf and Steeping… Continue reading, hoot!