The Life of an Oolong Tea Leaf – Guest Post

Hi Tea Owls! Most of the time the Tea Owls and I guzzle down Oolong tea like it is going out of style. Time to switch gears a bit and have some learning time here at OolongOwl!  Sit back and learn about the love and effort put in to making Oolong tea by Guest Poster Samantha from Seattle Coffee Gear. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Life of an Oolong Tea Leaf Far from an episode of the X Files, here are the basics to jump start your Oolong education. While Oolong remains most popular in southern China and Taiwan, don’t be afraid to try this… Continue reading, hoot!

Da Hong Pao Oolong from Teavivre – Tea Review

Da Hong Pao Oolong (aka Big Red Robe) is a Wuyi Rock tea from Fujian, China. This oolong is sold by Teavivre, online tea seller of Chinese teas. Yes, I need to drink an oolong right now! Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving, and I demanded my family/friends celebrate despite us not being in Canada. Felt a little warmer and less fall-like to celebrate here in California, but the timing felt more what I was used to. I summoned the Tea Owls to come help with an oolong tea review, but they are all passed out. The Tea Owls spent the night… Continue reading, hoot!

Afternoon Loose Leaf Oolong from teascent – Oolong Owl Tea Review

Afternoon Loose Leaf Oolong Tea is a handpicked A Li Shan Oolong from Taiwan. This oolong is sold by teascent, a UK based online tea seller. First off – yea, I got my troutie bag! There is something just crazy weird yet awesome about this tote bag. It is perfect for carrying your Tea Owl and a couple large tea tins! Dry Leaf Tightly rolled, lushly dark green tea here that is lightly scented of butter and grass. Steeping Instructions I followed teascent’s brewing method for loose leaf. I steeped 3grams of tea with boiling water for 3 minutes. With… Continue reading, hoot!

Hand Picked Early Spring Tieguanyin from Verdant Tea – Tea Review

Hand Picked Early Spring Tieguanyin is an oolong from Verdant Tea. This batch was picked on April 12, 2013. This tea is hand in the mountains near Daping, China. However, this particular batch is hand picked by us at Oolong Owls, as I accidentally spilled the pouch of tea on the floor. Sigh. By the way, tieguanyin is painful to step on. I preordered this tea and received it sometime in May – talk about fresh! However, mass tea backlog here at Oolong Owl got it shuffled to the back. Thankfully, as I write this, Hand Picked Early Spring Tieguanyin… Continue reading, hoot!

Plum Oolong from New Mexico Tea Company – Tea Review

Plum Oolong is a fruit enhanced wuyi oolong blend. This tea is from New Mexico Tea Company. I do love my dark oolongs and I was pleasantly surprised to see a roasty oolong used in a fruit blend. More often I see green oolong blends as the buttery and floral elements make a great base for fruit. However, I love variety! By the way, love the 2oz packaging  of New Mexico Tea Company teas. They have neat photos or artwork with each tea which I’m a sucker for. I’m slightly worried this Plum Oolong will be tart. I’ve tried a few plum teas, but… Continue reading, hoot!

All Day Oolong from Teascent – Tea Review

All Day Oolong is a fresh, light floral oolong from teascent, a UK based tea seller. Interestingly teascent only sells oolong tea, with 4 types of oolong. The one we’ll be trying today is the All Day Oolong, which is a Ali Shan Oolong in bagged form. By the way, their website is adorable! Plus, this Troutie tote bag is awesome! Dry Leaf: Nice smell on the oolong! All Day Oolong has a comforting smell like fresh baked bread. Appearance wise is kind of smashed up, more smashed up compared to teascent‘s photos. However, this tea came in a paper envelope from the UK to California, so it can… Continue reading, hoot!

Magnolia Oolong from Upton Tea Imports – Tea Review

Magnolia Blossom Oolong is a floral scented oolong from Upton Tea Imports. Life has been weird lately. My husband adopted a turtle. We unexpectedly bought a new fridge and deepfreeze on a trip to the hardware store to build a pond for Turtimer. The kitchen was in disarray as said new fridge doesn’t fit where the old one was (and barely got into the house). All the moving around of the kitchen and surrounding areas to get the fridge into the house made me move my tea stuff out of the way, so I’m disorganized. The bonus is I have a… Continue reading, hoot!

TEAS’ TEA Review and Giveaway! – CLOSED

TEAS’ TEA® is providing a GIVEAWAY for Oolong Owl readers and a larger giveaway on their Facebook. TEAS’ TEA® is an all natural ready-to-drink tea, named from the Japanese expression Ocha no Naka No Ocha, simply meaning “The Tea of ALL Teas!” With thoughtful sourcing and meticulous brewing methods, TEAS’ TEA® proprietary filtration method reduces sediment creating a clean finish. The company has been a pioneer and leader in the unsweetened tea market for over 10 years, and continues to expand its distribution in natural and mainstream markets. TEAS’ TEA® is available nationwide in natural and specialty grocery channels… Sounds tasty! So, I used Ito… Continue reading, hoot!

Peach Oolong from Della Terra Teas – Tea Review

Oolong Peach is an oolong and green tea blend featuring peach flavoring and rose hips. This tea blend comes from Della Terra Teas. I snagged this as a free sample with my Della Terra Teas order during one of those “30% off and free sample” deals. Nice sample size – enough for 2-3 cups of tea. DRY LEAF: Interesting dry leaf appearance – theres a mix of tightly bunched dark oolong with some longer thinner tea leaves, as well as some finer green tea pieces, along with a couple peachy colour rose buds. The smell of the dry leaf is sweet like peach… Continue reading, hoot!

Milk Oolong Tea from Mandala Tea – Tea Review

Another Oolong Week tea! Go OOLONG WEEK! Milk Oolong is a high-end Taiwanese oolong from Mandala Tea.   Milk oolong is yet another tea type that I’ve had a couple times and wasn’t super impressed or blown away with. The first  milk oolong I tried was bland. The other milk oolongs I tried after that were okay and slightly creamy. I was looking around Steepster and noticed Mandala Tea‘s Milk Oolong was on the first page of being the “best tea” and one of the top rated Oolong teas. The reviews of Milk Oolong looked fantastic, so an ounce slipped into my Mandala Tea order. DRY LEAF: Looking at the… Continue reading, hoot!