Pu-erh Bordeaux from Rishi Tea – Tea Review

Today’s tea review is Rishi Tea’s Pu-erh Bordeaux – an organic and fair trade certified pu’er tea with red wine grape skins, blackberries, raspberries and lavender flowers. Everything in this tea is organic! Awhile back, fellow Steepster members who also are knitters/crocheters did a mystery swap of tea and yarn. I got 3 balls of yarn and this tea – Pu-erh Bordeaux! This is my first Rishi Tea.. not counting meeting them and drinking all their teas at the World Tea Expo 2014, haha! Looking at Rishi Teas, they have a huge line up of USDA organic teas – if you prefer… Continue reading, hoot!

Camellia Flower Cake aka God of Night Sweats Tea

While looking through the Pu’er section of Aliexpress I found this cake. It’s full name is “new product Flowers and plants in puer tea Snow mountain ancient tree camellia Pure and fresh and sweet honey Beauty care food” (I guess to use the entire character limit on the title). I’ve never had a Camellia flower tea before and the appearance is quite pretty. However, what got me was the description of the tea. Here’s a screen shot to immortalize this Camellia Flower Cake (if it wasn’t already immortal and saintly already). Please click on the photo to read the seller description of… Continue reading, hoot!

Memebox: Oolong Owl’s Tea Cosmetics unboxing

Hello Tea peeps! Today’s post will be something a little different. Usually here at Oolong Owl there is tea samplings, tea ware and chubby tea owls. Today we will be looking at TEA COSMETICS! Similar to monthly tea subscriptions, I enjoy monthly subscription beauty boxes – I get Ipsy and Birchbox – both are great to try new makeup, skin, and hair products and experiment with products you’d never buy normally. I heard about Memebox and was interested. First off – everything is Korean products! Korean skin care products are quite popular, with lots of really cute packaging. Memebox isn’t… Continue reading, hoot!

Unflavored Traveling Tea Box – An Unflavored Tea Paradise

Themed Traveling Tea boxes are becoming a favorite of mine – an unflavored themed one is even better! This traveling tea box was put together by the Steepster Community and has traveled around the USA. As with other tea boxes, you put in tea in the amounts you have sampled, though they do start getting big as the longer the travel as the added new tea packages take up more space than the tea taken out. Traveling tea boxes are great for sampling new teas without having to buy a bunch, with the only cost of shipping and teas from your collection. If… Continue reading, hoot!

Pretty Rice Pattern Gaiwans!

Yes, I have successfully acquired a pair of rice grain pattern gaiwans! I’ve seen a few of these interesting gaiwans in use at the World Tea Expo. Bana Tea Company was using a gorgeous one at the LA International Tea Festival. None were for sale at either venue, sadly. I wanted a rice pattern gaiwan sooooo bad as see through stuff is cool, plus they seem uncommon. Challenge #1 – finding a rice pattern gaiwan. I’ve been searching through google/ebay/aliexpress. Sellers call them different things, often not even mentioning the style and lumping it under “gaiwan”, “cup”, and “teapot”. In the end, I spent an afternoon… Continue reading, hoot!

Wild Arbor Oriental Beauty Oolong from Tea Setter – Tea Review

Today’s oolong review is Tea Setter’s Wild Arbor Oriental Beauty Oolong, a tea grown in Wuliang Mountains of Yunnan, China. The other day I was talking with a tea vendor and they mentioned Oriental Beauty oolong. I haven’t had an oriental beauty oolong in awhile, so it stuck in my mind. DRINK ME, the delicious oxidized pretty oolong. Sadly, I still don’t have a standby oriental beauty oolong, I’m still sampling away, looking for one that’ll make me fall in love. Let’s try Tea Setter’s Wild Arbor Oriental Beauty Oolong! Dry Leaf The dry leaf of  Wild Arbor Oriental Beauty Oolong features a very dark… Continue reading, hoot!

2012 Bulang Gushu Ripe Puerh from Crimson Lotus Tea

It’s Pu’er Time! Today’s tea is the 2012 Bulang Gushu Ripe Puerh from Crimson Lotus Tea. This ancient tree (gushu) pu’er is picked from over 200 year old trees in Spring 2012 in Yunnan, China. This is my first Crimson Lotus Tea! These guys are based in Seattle, USA. They sell mostly (if not all) pu’er along with some really nice chinese tea ware. The gongfu tea pots – this one for example – are so beautiful that if I had one I’d put it on display instead of using it! Crimson Lotus Tea has a big social presence on Twitter and… Continue reading, hoot!

September Simple Loose Leaf Selection Club – Tea Review

A little late, but it’s time for the September Simple Loose Leaf Selection Tea Club box! What does drinking tea in September mean to you? I heard from a tea seller once that September is the slowest month for them – is it as everyone is busy with a new school year? The weather is still a little warm for that heavy black tea, but too cool for that pitcher of iced tea? For me, I’m drinking the same amount of tea I always drink – refilling my tea cup all day. Anyways, this month for  Simple Loose Leaf Selection Tea Club my… Continue reading, hoot!

Hwang Cha Gold Oxidized Korean Tea from Hankook Tea

Hwang Cha Gold Oxidized Korean Tea is a partially oxidized and pan fired tea. This particular tea from Hankook Tea is a first flush Sejak and was hand harvested in April 2014. So is Hwang Cha Gold Oxidized Korean Tea an oolong? Black tea? Taste wise, I would lean towards an oolong – world of tea has a great article on Hwang Cha’s classifications according to how this tea is processed. Dry Leaf The dry leaf of Hwang Cha Gold Oxidized Korean Tea smells sooo good! This tea has a rich brown, almost black colour in delicate curled and twisted shapes. The smell is an… Continue reading, hoot!

Korean Tea Cups from Hankook Tea

I’ve been questing for Korean Tea cups with infusers for awhile now. Every time I see a character in a Korean Drama drink out of one I’m like “OOooh, pretty – I need one of those!” Annoyingly, these tea cups are a little hard to find and when you do find them, they are not cheap. Paying $30+ for a small tea cup makes me cry. Anyways, I saw on Hankook Teas‘ site, who sell Korean Teas (and ship from California!), that they have Korean tea cups! Even better is that they aren’t too pricey, some under $20. With that said,… Continue reading, hoot!