1271 Tasting Notes
Yes, I love unsmoked Lapsangs! This LS is deep woodsy, orange, creamy, and malty. It reminds me of a chocolate orange. It does get dry and bitter in the later infusions. I got 7 reinfusions.
Full review, along with other Teabento black tea reviews, on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/black-teas-teabento/
Preparation
A must for chai latte lovers! This chai is premixed with honey, so it is a sticky lump that is preserved naturally for 1 year of shelf life.
The ratio takes some tinkering, I liked 8oz of milk with 12 grams of tea. YMMV on how many cardamon pods you get.
Prana Chai is fresh tasting, with a good amount of spice. No bitter or astringency despite me simmering it on the stove for awhile to get the taste right. I did not need to add any sweetener, but you might want a touch of honey.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/prana-chai-tea-review/
Great to drink now grandpa style or daily drinker, or age for later. This brick is compressed very tightly and you will need to be cautious. White tea bricks are always a disaster.
The notes are hot forest floor, honey, paperback book, light molassess, and malt. Grandpa styles gives you more of a meld of malt, milk, and floral, almost like a dian hong with 6 infusions.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2017-turtle-dove-white-tea-brick-white2tea/
Preparation
This is a killer chai made with wild harvested Canadian bits. It is higher on the spice level, yet crisp and refreshing due to the lemongrass and orange. This chai also has chaga mushroom, which adds an interesting nutty depth. This chai is great without milk or sugar, and does not getting bitter even with oversteeping. Oversteeping will turn very spicy though.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/chaga-chai-boreal-wildcraft/
Pretty Girls is a pretty solid puer that starts off with a dirty mushroom taste. With each infusion, it gets more sweet, mineral, and chocolate in flavor. I got 13 infusions, though I felt I should have leafed a bit more.
If you have a silver tea cup, Pretty Girls comes out really nice as it cuts through the early mushroom infusions.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2015-pretty-girls-shou-puer-white2tea/
Preparation
Natural Redhead is an interesting black steeped gongfu style. Blindfolded, I could be fooled it was a ruby black as it had strong fruity notes. Later infusions get malty, woodsy, and orangey. Gongfu steeped pushed to the limit I got awesome clean, floral, and orange aftertaste.
I found grandpa style/ western to be okay, but boring in comparison.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2017-natural-redhead-black-tea-cake-white2tea/
Preparation
This is a cute sheng with a lovely soft sweet profile and a lightly creamy body. It is floral and fruity, with always a looming astringency threatening to happen if you steep it too aggressively.
I did 200F and got 8 infusions, with the final being very astringent. This is not a tea to forget about steeping and a good test of your steeping technique if you go higher on temperature. You can play it safe on a lower temperature, but also keep in mind this tea is pressed super tight – so it’ll take awhile to open up.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2016-space-girls-sheng-puer-crimson-lotus-tea/
Preparation
2017 Teabook raw is a tea for someone who hasn’t tried or is intimidated by puer. This tea is quite flexible to steep, I even used boiling water and stewed in a travel tumbler for an hour. The cake is pressed lightly, so you don’t even need a tool to break off pieces.
The notes are quite light, with notes of citrus pith, dew, and cotton.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2017-teabook-raw-puer/
Preparation
I was actually impressed with this tea. For the price, it is quite solid aged white.
The flavor is of paperback books, honey, and woodsy. The final infusions got dark and slightly medicinal. Some more age likely will get more medicinal and date notes. I love the colour of aged whites as they steep up light gold, then finish off dark like a black tea.
I should really buy a couple cakes to stash to age, maybe at the next Teavivre sale.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2012-fuding-shou-mei-white-cake-teavivre/
Preparation
100 gram brick and 9 squares are huge portion sizes for white tea! This brick is also hard to break due to the big leaf and tight pressing. Excercise caution!
I got 13 infusions, and likely more if I stove boiled it to finish. I got notes of linen, aloe, tulips, wood, honey, and a bit medicinal in the end. It is not as sweet as other white teas. I plan to let this brick age, otherwise right now it is pretty daily drinker like.
Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2016-chocobrick-white-black-tea-white2tea/
Are you gonna try the oolongs? I’ve been curious, but I am on the fence.
I have 5 of their oolongs. A review will be coming eventually.
Sweet!