Eight Treasures Yabao from Verdant Tea – Tea Review

Eight Treasures Yabao is a blend of yunnan green jasmine, silver buds yabao pu’er, goji berry, marigold, vanilla bean, honeysuckle, rose and elderberry. This unique tea is from Verdant Tea. This blend caught my eye last year, but I didn’t jump on it, then it eventually went out of stock. When Verdant Tea restocked this tea for the season, it prompt me to do my first order with them. I think what interested me was the combination of a silver bud yabao pu’er with floral and goji.   Dry Leaf: The smell of Eight Treasures Yabao is unexpected! It smells like a musky mountain spice.… Continue reading, hoot!

Mandala Silver Buds Raw Pu’er 2012 from Mandala Tea – Tea Review

Time to pu’er pick some Mandala Silver Buds Raw Pu’er 2012! This 100g cake from Mandala Tea. Mandala Tea has several Silver Bud pu’er cakes – 2008, 2011 and 2012. I went with the 2012 as it is cheap price, plus it was on sale at the time! I actually was stuck between this one and the Mandala “Wild Monk” Raw Pu’er 2012 for my first cake. Also, the 100g cakes are so darn cute of a size!   My only disappointment was there was no artwork on the wrapper. The Wild Monk cake had some fantastic art on the wrapper (and I’m a sucker for that kind of… Continue reading, hoot!

2012 Autumn Yiwu Sheng Pu’er from Misty Peak Teas – Tea Review

Misty Peak Tea’s 2012 Autumn Yiwu Sheng Pu’er!   Another Misty Peak Tea sheng from 300-600 year old trees? Yes please! I can’t say no to sheng pu’er – the stuff is THA BOMB! Just something so magical about raw/sheng pu’er. I’ve been a green/white/oolong drinker the last few months, and I find raw pu’ers really appealing in flavor – they aren’t strong robust like black teas, but not really grassy vegetal like a green. I’ve been recommending raw pu’er to fellow green/white tea drinkers. Be adventurous, hoot! Dry cake: The tea has a lovely earthy floor scent. I had no issues… Continue reading, hoot!

2013 Yiwu Spring Sheng Pu’er from Misty Peak Teas – Tea Review

Today, I am sampling some 2013 Yiwu Spring Sheng Pu’er from Misty Peak Tea. This tea is produced in pu’er country – Yiwu, Xishuangbanna Yunnan China. Misty Peak Tea was giving away a free sample of this tea and I jumped on it fast. Sheng pu’er? YUM! DRY LEAF: This one is a doozy as I’m pretty sure my sample was smashed up by USPS – it happens. I had one small intact piece of cake, with the rest being pretty loose. I’m not getting much smell off the dry leaves. The tiny green Owl is sitting in my tea cup. I bet… Continue reading, hoot!

Mandala Wild Monk Raw Pu’er 2012 – Tea Review and Experience

MY FIRST PU’ER CAKE! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! I mentioned previously that I’ve been shopping for pu’er cakes. I did lots of research and set a budget. After checking ratings, I discovered Mandala Tea has a great lineup, along with their own exclusive cakes. They also have really great customer support! This Mandala “Wild Monk” Raw Pu’er 2012 caught my eye for it’s promise of smokey and creamy notes, without any bitterness. It is also a 100g cake, so it is small enough to be affordable and low risk for a new to pu’er cake tea owl like me to try. I got this cake, and… Continue reading, hoot!

Mandala Phatty Cake from Mandala Tea – Tea Review

Mandala Phatty Cake is an exclusive, ripe (shu) pu’er 2011 cake from Mandala Tea! My tea collection is on the high side and as 2013 first flush teas are starting to be sold, I’m freaking out. All those greens and white teas I have in my stash that I need to drink now! I dislike stale tea. Then I started thinking, hey, pu’er teas get better with age! I should get some and I don’t have to worry about my teas going stale. So I researched! Mandala Tea caught my eye for having some good pu’er. After trying to figure out what to… Continue reading, hoot!

Oolong Owl’s First Tuocha

I had met some other tea lovers in person from Steepster the other weekend and we had a tea swap. One had brought a baggie filled with pu’er tuochas. I was happy to take some off her hands! The problem? We weren’t sure what tuocha was what, since there was very little English on the packaging. She did inform me there was some sheng/raw pu’er in there, but not sure which ones. I’m not experienced enough to tell any of the little cakes by smell, if that is even possible to do. To my surprise, Tuochas are smaller than I thought… Continue reading, hoot!

White Pu’erh: Mandarin Orange from New Mexico Tea Co – Tea Review and Experience

White Pu-erh: Mandarin Orange is an aged white tea pu-erh presented inside a real mandarin orange! This tea is from New Mexico Tea Company. The description of making this White Pu-erh: Mandarin Orange tea: “From the careful plucking of centuries old tea bushes, to the rolling on wide wicker baskets to the natural wood fires used to flash heat the mandarin orange peel, everything is done entirely by hand. Firing the orange peel serves to kill any microorganisms that may be present.” Okay, that is hardcore. However, I purely bought one of these oranges because it seemed really cool and crazy that there’s tea… Continue reading, hoot!

Organic Japanese Puerh from Butiki Teas – Tea Review

Organic Japanese Puerh is a unique offering from Butiki Teas. I’ve never heard of a japanese puerh, so I had to add this tea to my cart with my last Butiki order. DRY LEAF: The tight, chippy looking black leaf smells a little like cocoa and tobacco. STEEPED (Gaiwan): Lovely reddy peach amber colour! First infusion: I did a 5 second steeping with boiling water using a gaiwan. The flavor has a light, crisp and clean coffee note. There’s some other flavors going on too that remind me of roasted chestnuts and barley teas. End of sip is a light sweetness –… Continue reading, hoot!

Tropical Pu’erh from Kally Tea – Tea Review

Tropical Pu’erh is a pu’erh and shou mei white tea blend with tropical flavoring. This interesting tea comes from Kally Tea, an online loose leaf tea seller. I won this tea as part of a giveaway that was posted on Steepster. I got to choose which tea I wanted, and it was a difficult choice with all of Kally Tea’s interesting line of teas. I went with Tropical Pu’erh as it sounded very different and unique. DRY LEAF: Tropical fruit punch smell coming from this tea. I was expecting a more pu’erh smell, but it’s not present. Interesting presentation with the… Continue reading, hoot!