September 2016 White2Tea Club feat. 2016 Old Whitey and Hoplite Oolong

Gosh, I am coming up on being with the White2Tea club for 2 years. Yup, keep taking my money! This month, and I am super excited, is 2016 Old Whitey and Hoplite oolong. Both teas will be sold at White2tea. As of this time, just the 2016 Old Whitey is listed, Hoplite is a preview. White2Tea Club 2016 Old Whitey 2016 Old Whitey is a puer varietal material processed like a sun dried Fujian shoumei and pressed into 100 gram cakes. I have been digging white teas and aged whites, and it sounds like this white has been designed to… Continue reading, hoot!

Wen Shan Bao Zhong Oolong from Totem Tea

Today’s tea review is tea from a tea seller in Portland, Oregon – Totem Tea! They contacted me and sent me some goodies, which got me excited as their tea line up is very nice. Totem Tea’s line up is heavy on oolongs, including bug bitten, aged, and dark teas. Their website is quite nice and has great tea photos! Strangely, I am reviewing one of their lighter teas today, the Wen Shan Bao Zhong. Gosh, I haven’t reviewed a Bao Zhong since 2013 (cringe), back in the early days of Oolong Owl. Oh have times of changed. Dry Leaf Wen Shan… Continue reading, hoot!

Rosali Tea Subscription Box – Tea Review

Rosali Tea is a tea of the month club / subscription box. This tea club has a quiz model, so you fill out survey and they send you a tea box to match your tastes. However, I recently got an email from them talking about the next box having Yaupon and Kenya Purple tea being included in boxes so maybe they got themes too. First off, awesome packaging! Wow, you get a box with a pull out drawer! I love this box, I will keep it and store things in it. Inside is three teas, 1oz each. I got Milk oolong,… Continue reading, hoot!

Hooty Tea Travels – Floating Leaves Tea and Blind Tea Tasting Oolongs. Part 2/2

My second visit to Floating Leaves Tea was to one of the monthly tea tasting classes, which was a blind tasting of 2016 baozhong and high mountain oolong. I thought a blind tasting is the best way to figure out what oolong you like without bias of the mountain, grades, and price. It is really cool that Floating Leaves Tea has classes. The class I went to was 7 people including myself. We were the second class of the day as the first one was full. Tasting the tea was great, learned some things, but it was also great to meet… Continue reading, hoot!

Black Bean Oolong from Oolong Inc – Tea Review

Oh geeze, what did I get myself into? Today’s tea review is a Taiwanese Black Bean Oolong from Oolong Inc. They even having gongfu instructions for this tea too, which is nuts. I have had black bean tea before – one time wandering my local Korean supermarket I found it. I tried boiling the black bean tea forever but got no flavor. I now know that I should of roasted it first and cut it with Korean barley tea. However, Oolong Inc’s tea is blended with oolong. Let’s take a look. Dry Leaf The scent is strong roast with a… Continue reading, hoot!

2013 Da Hong Pao Tea Blocks from Bana Tea Company – Tea Review

Bana Tea Company, that many of us love for their pu’er, also carries some oolongs. When I was at the LA Tea Festival I could not resist treating myself to a box of oolong. The Da Hong Pao Tea blocks is a 2013 spring tea, weighing in at 150 grams total. Packaging and Dry Leaf The Da Hong Pao oolong is pressed into serving sized squares that are easy to break off. I see this tea as a big chocolate bar! The oolong has a wonderful sweet roasty scent, yum! Bana Tea said each piece is around 8.5 but the corner… Continue reading, hoot!

January 2016 Global Tea Hut – Tea Review

Global Tea Hut is a monthly subscription tea box, however this one is run a little differently. The main feature of this subscription is getting a magazine, but you also get a tea sample and a small gift. The subscription proceeds go towards a free tea center. The subscription price is a minimum of $20, but you can pay a higher amount as donation. Let’s check out January’s Global Tea Hut! Since this is my first time with Global Tea Hut, let’s go in depth here. The packaging! Inside is a magazine, tin of tea, and a gift. First off,… Continue reading, hoot!

December 2015 White2tea club – Tea Review

It’s the best time of the month – White2tea Club time! This month is wintery theme teas. Oolong Owl theme – Crash and burn, just like me on the holidays. The holidays for me finally stopped smoking, emotionally and literally as I managed to set my oven on fire twice making yorkshire pudding, caught sausages on parchment paper on fire with a blow torch (don’t ask), and smoked out the neighbours multiple times with the BBQ, all in less than a week around Christmas! In this month’s box: 2009 Anhua Heicha 200g and 8 gram samples of White2Tea’s new Dahongpao and Rougui!… Continue reading, hoot!

Oolong Shalimar from Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co – Tea Review

Today’s review is a tea from Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co, a UK tea seller with a HUGE tea line up. I’m talking they got over 700 different teas and coffees, that’s bigger than my stash! (It crazy that I have bigger tea selection than many sellers!). They also do wholesale as well. The tea – Oolong Shalimar, is an oolong blend with half-fermented tea Aronia berries, Mango cubes, and Rose petals. Dry Leaf Wow that smell! Oolong Shalimar smells really strong, and of sweet dried fruit and floral. The oolong leaves are dark and a little twiggy, cut with rose petals, whole berries… Continue reading, hoot!

Gui Fei Oolong from Tea From Vietnam – Tea Review

Today’s review is Tea From Vietnam’s Gui Fei Oolong! I’ve had a few Gui Fei Oolongs before, all of them more on the greener side of oolong. Years ago before I was using gaiwans, a Steepster friend discovered if you western steep Gui Fei for over 8 minutes you get something really crazy sweet like drinking tea ice wine. Now I have gaiwans and I can leaf this oolong hard and steep it like a boss. Hold onto your leaf hoppers folks, let’s go! Dry Leaf The Gui Fei leaf here is tightly coiled and dark. Some pieces have a… Continue reading, hoot!