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Hooty Tea Travels – 2019 Northwest Tea Festival Seattle

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The Northwest Tea Festival is my favorite tea festival of all time. It was on September 28 & 29th, at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. There is so much to do, see, meet, and learn as this is a large tea festival that is open to the public. This year was their 12th year and was especially full as there were 59 vendors, 2 stage presentation areas, 5 workshop booths, 1 tea bar, and an intimate tea tutorial and tea guest table, with two days to do it all. 2019 Northwest Tea Festival was the highest level of chaos and… Continue reading, hoot!

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2017 Rhizome Sheng Puer from Kuura

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Today’s tea review is Australian based tea seller Kuura’s 2017 Rhizome Sheng Puer. Rhizome is a blend of 2017 Spring and Fall material from a single forest in Xishuangbanna. I purchased this tea on a whim, thinking the description sounded fun and I like the name. The houseplant obsession has leeched into my tea drinking as I got exciting thinking this tea will rhizome clone out plant babies from the soil. Leaf and Steeping Method Rhizome’s dry leaf has a subtle scent of stale floral. The compression is tight on these sample pieces. Either I got the beenghole or this… Continue reading, hoot!

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2019 Colombian White Tea from Bitaco Colombian Tea

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I had some amazing white tea from Bitaco, a tea grower in Colombia. I recall they had a silver needle last year, but this year certainly caught my attention as the taste of their latest white tea, a Baimudan/ White Peony grade, is outstanding. Bitaco regularly attends the Tea Convention circuit, and I’m finding every year their teas are getting better and better. Leaf and Steeping Method The leaf smells like under-ripe melons and linen. Gorgous looking leaf with the fuzzy silver buds mixed with a rainbow of red browns, greens, and dark leaves. My gongfu ratio is 1 gram… Continue reading, hoot!

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Hooty Tea Travels – Traveling Gongfu Tea Style

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During my last few cruises, I had a few readers ask that I go into more detail on my teaware set up. I just came back from (yet another) cruise through Alaska, so I have my travel teaware already set up. 2019 also brought some new tea gadgets so traveling with tea is even easier.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Char – Oolong Owl (@oolongowl) on Sep 10, 2019 at 2:04pm PDT Traveling Gongfu Tea Style – Hot Water When I road trip I take an electric kettle if I know my final destination… Continue reading, hoot!

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2019 Spring Dong Ding Laoshi from Tillerman Tea

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Tillerman Tea sent me the 2018 Winter Dong Ding Laoshi last season. I saw it sell out fast before I had a chance to review it (and I generally don’t like reviewing stuff that isn’t available unless it is educational). I shared some with a local tea friend as a session closer and we were both surprised how crazy good this Dong Ding is. When the new 2019 Spring Dong Ding Laoshi arrived, I jumped at the opportunity to get some vendor samples for review. The 2019 Spring Dong Ding Laoshi is medium-level charcoal roasted by Tillerman Tea’s Teacher (Laoshi)… Continue reading, hoot!

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2018 Impression Sheng Puer from Yunnan Sourcing

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I was actually a fan of the last Yunnan Sourcing Impression sheng puer cake, so I caved and purchased the next 2018 Impression sheng puer cake. The 2017 Impression was a good tea for the price, so I felt it was worth a blind caking another one. At this time of writing, the 2018 Impression is $28 for a 400gram cake, so still a deal. The 2018 Impression is a blend of Mengku, Bang Dong, and Jing Gu tea gardens, constructed to be, “…a powerful blend that has strong mouth feeling, cha qi and a balanced sweet, bitter and astringent profile.” Leaf and… Continue reading, hoot!

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Teaware Tea Owl Tuesday – Pocket Pipe Kyusu from Teaware.House

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This Teaware Tea Owl Tuesday is the Pocket Pipe Kyusus from Teaware.House. I own three of them out of the 8 options available. The one I use the most is the Black Magda. These little guys clock in at 70ml. The coloured ones are unglazed inside, whereas the white Ruyao one has a glazed interior. I like these little pots. They aren’t hard to pour despite being a left-hander pouring a right-handed pot, but also the Black Magda teapot pours fast like at around 5 seconds. What is most appealing is the size and price. I’ve taken this teapot on… Continue reading, hoot!

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2019 Spring Shan Lin Xi and Hehuan Shan High Mountain Oolong from Floating Leaves Tea

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Let’s check out Floating Leaves Tea’s new 2019 Spring High Mountain oolongs. I went with Shan Lin Xi and Hehuan Shan this year, both being favorites in blind tastings. Floating Leaves Tea’s 2019 Spring Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Oolong Shan Lin Xi is generally my favorite High Mountain oolong and I buy it when it is available. I am super excited that Floating Leaves Tea got it this season, after not carrying it for a while due to previous seasons not making the cut. The leaf is floral, sweet, buttery, and a touch roasted in scent. I steeped my… Continue reading, hoot!

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2018 Dark Depths Shou Puer from Crimson Lotus Tea

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I purchased a cake of 2018 Dark Depths Shou Puer online a few weeks after it was released. I was teased by the original art, by Carl Faulkner, which is hung in Crimson Lotus Tea’s living room and I couldn’t wait to give this tea a try. My cake arrived sometime in June and I had it aired out for over a month before tasting. Leaf and Steeping Method The dry leaf has sweet earth and incense scent. My ratio was on the conservative side for shou as sometimes I like leafing harder, but I went with 1 gram of… Continue reading, hoot!

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Naoki Matcha Silver Yame Blend from Naoki Matcha

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Our matcha for the day is the award-winning Naoki Matcha Silver Yame blend. This matcha is from Yame, in the Fukuoka prefecture. Matcha Powder and Preparation The Matcha powder is light and fluffy with a grassy and flat flowery scent. The colour is a dark green, though slightly grey, so a bit off from the perfect vibrant green matcha. I used 2 grams of matcha. No need to sift this as the matcha powder was practically floating. I used around 165F / 74c water temperature. I found less water was best for this tea – I liked around 150ml/5oz. I… Continue reading, hoot!