Bamboo Tea Trays – Teaware review

Since my first wooden Tea Tray has be MIA for needing a good sanding and treatment, I’ve been on the lookout for a bamboo tray instead. Bamboo Tea Trays are more popular of a find, though there are stone and metal tea trays too. To be honest, I was tempted to purchase a metal tea tray – they are really cheap on Aliexpress (~$20) and large but are more functional than attractive. I could see myself buying a metal tea tray for myself, but for blogging pictures it would look pretty cold. Anyways, as the bargain hunter I am, I scored a… Continue reading, hoot!

Coffee Leaf Tea, Armando’s Original Blend from Wize Monkey – Tea Review

This morning I was in the mood for something different. I’m tired after last nights World of Warcraft session involving my female Panda Warrior (named Alishan)’s tour of shield slamming baddies in heroic dungeons. Shield Charge! SLAM! Panda Panda! I’m tired enough to want to drink a crazy weird tea. Enter Wize Monkey Armando’s Original Blend Coffee Leaf Tea. Wut? Probably one of the few times you’ll hear a coffee like product here at Oolong Owl. These are the leaves off a 100% organic Arabica coffee plant grown in Nicaragua. I don’t know much about coffee, but coffee has a harvest season… Continue reading, hoot!

White2Tea Club for November 2014 – Tea Review

I have a lot of tea, so much I didn’t buy anything during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, despite the awesome sales. My last tea purchase is the White2Tea Club, a subscription tea of the month club from the awesome White2tea. When I got the package, I was very impressed with the variety I got. I’m late with this review as I took my time, saving drinking these teas for the right day I felt like treating myself. I got around to trying 3 out of 4 of the teas for this review. Inside the November White2Tea Club: 2014 Yesheng Qiaomu 50gram… Continue reading, hoot!

GABA Black Tea from Mandala Tea – Tea Review

Today’s tea review is Mandala Tea’s GABA Black Tea, a Anxi, Fujian Tie Guan Yin with plenty of oxidization. If you aren’t familiar with GABA teas, they are processed to boost the GABA content in tea. GABA teas have an effect that increases a feeling of calm. For more reading on GABA and science, check out Tea Nerd’s post. I’ve had a few GABA teas, but not a high oxidized one. Let’s sip! Hooooot! Dry Leaf GABA Black tea has nice, big rolled balls and curls of tea with a sweet and lightly vegetal scent. Steeping Instructions Mandala Tea has two steeping… Continue reading, hoot!

2013 Yunnan Sourcing Ripe Puerh and Snow Chrysanthemum

I write this on US Thanksgiving at 7pm on my phone. Dinner is over, the family has left and I feel like I’m rolling around about to burst a turkey pumpkin alien out of my gut. I never ever drink a caffeine tea this late but since I ate way too much thanksgiving food I need something to keep me awake and get the digestion flowing. I usually reach for the herbal chrysanthemum or chamomile tea but that’ll make me pass out. However, I do have this cute 100 gram 2013 Yunnan Sourcing Ripe Puer and Snow Chrysanthemum cake. I’m fight the turkey drowsy so a… Continue reading, hoot!

Nina’s Paris Teas – Tea Review

November is a busy month for me, and turns out this year it has been busier than usual busy.  I am tackling (and failing at) NaNoWriMo, planning for Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas plans and I have a huge amount of commission work for Tea Owls. My tea drinking has become large tea pot + random black tea I need to drink down just to keep me going. With extra work, I’ve been at home all the time, missing all the sunny California fall weather. With the fall blues, I think it’s a good time to do some tea reviews of teas… Continue reading, hoot!

Chestnut Green Tea from Lupicia – Tea Review

YES! Lupicia’s Chestnut Green Tea is a tea I’ve been questing to get for years now. My first online Lupicia order was during a sale (I think a Black Friday or New Years sale) and when the sale went active this tea went out of stock. Then I never saw it again. Every time I visited a Lupicia physical store I’d ask for Chestnut Green Tea and they were out of stock and direct me to the black tea version. Lupicia has a free shipping deal not too long ago and I saw this tea was in stock, which cinched me jumping… Continue reading, hoot!

November Simple Loose Leaf Tea Co-op Club – Tea Review

This is the first month of Simple Loose Leaf‘s new format – a Tea Co-op Club! Every month you get 4 to 6 loose leaf tea samples (1/4oz size) – you get a wide assortment of different teas such as straight teas, blends and herbals. With being in the Tea Co-op, you get a membership ID. If you enjoy and want more tea that you’ve sampled, you can purchase it from the Simple Loose Leaf Tea Shop for 50% off. Looking at the shop right now, using the 50% off deal, you can get teas for $2.50 to $3.00 an oz,… Continue reading, hoot!

Asian Beauty Oolong from Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company – Tea Review

I’m still on the quest for an Oriental Beauty oolong that knocks my boots off and so far it has been a delicious tea quest! Today’s oolong is Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company’s Asian Beauty Oolong. This Taiwanese oolong is from XinZhu (North Central Taiwan) harvested the Summer of 2013. Dry Leaf Asian Beauty Oolong’s tea leaves has a soft roasty scent. As with most Asian Beauty oolongs, the dry leaf is gorgeous. Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company’s Asian Beauty Oolong looks like a rainbow of tea with silver tipped, gold accented, reddish brown and dark leaves. Steeping Instructions I decided to steep this Asian Beauty… Continue reading, hoot!

Dong Ding Jade Oolong from Palais Des Thes – Tea Review

I’m on an oolong kick! When am I not on an oolong kick? Behind the scenes here at oolong owl there is quite a bit of oolong being consumed, though pu’er is high on the list! Today’s oolong is a fancy high end one – Dong Ding Jade Oolong tea, sold by Palais Des Thes! This tea is from Taiwan and is hand rolled which is pretty cool as hand rolling takes quite a bit of effort! Dong Ding Jade Oolong  is from Palais Des Thes Grand Cru line of rare and limited stock teas. Dry Leaf This Dong Ding Jade… Continue reading, hoot!