Fox and Moon Tearoom

The packaging for this tea is a little annoying. It’s in cellophane bag that can’t be resealed, which is placed inside a little cardboard box. The bag rips easily and it makes it hard to keep the tea fresh or from spilling. All the tea settled to the bottom while all the lemongrass and berries rose to the top making scooping an even serving a challenge.
Onto the tea it’s self. The tea base is pretty neutral. The herbs all merge into one unidentifiable flavor. There is a flatness in the finish. I’m not a fan.

Sipdown!
Cold steeped the rest of this today. Without getting too political over my tea… it’s inauguration day and the first time we have had a woman for VP. I don’t know much about her or have an opinion on her, but I support having more women and diversity in office. People were wearing pearls and converse in solidarity. Converse hurt my feet so I don’t have any and I’m not a pearl necklace kind of girl, so I decided it would be fitting to celebrate this American milestone by drinking pearls instead. And also because I can’t play nice and do things the way everyone else does. Watch me rebel drink some tea!

I couldn’t stand having one serving left of this tea kicking around in my cupboard, so I dumped the whole thing into my thermos. That part about the jasmine flavor being super weak in my last tasting note… I take it back. Could have been a combo of over leafing and cold steeping, but the jasmine was pretty strong. It also had a good amount of caffeine and I started getting a little jittery drinking this on an empty and hungry stomach. Still, I did enjoy the cup. I might pour more water in and resteep it overnight or I might be bored of it in the morning and decide to dump it for something else.

11 months since my last entry for this tea. The jasmine has given out. The first steeping had to be dumped, the second was drinkable after the pearls started to open and the third was probably the best, but still not amazing. It still had a little bit of that jasmine tang somehow, but the flavor was so light.

Got this tea as a holiday gift! I had seen Fox and Moon vending at a local arts market, but since there was no way to smell the packaged tea and get an idea of the quality, I passed on a purchase. The back of the package has suggestions for what type of material you should steep each tea in, which I haven’t encountered with any other tea before. I think the suggestion for this tea was glass, but I used my routine steeping basket instead.
The pearls are slightly bigger than other jasmine pearls I have had. They unfurl fully when in the steeper basket. The tea has a slight sweetness to it. The jasmine flavor is clear and crisp, but I’d say it was a medium on strength. I’ve had stronger jasmines in the past and I love a strong jasmine. This is a nice tea, but it isn’t standing out for me against other jasmines I’ve drank.

I hope all of my Steepster friends had a nice Thanksgiving….

I’m back home after hanging out with my BF in Berkeley and I really wanted a wuyi oolong this afternoon for some reason (maybe it’s the gloomy weather)?

I got this tea at the SF International Tea festival three years ago and am just finishing it off now. It’s a bit of a wimpy tea, and probably the only oolong I’ve had that doesn’t seem to resteep well, which is pretty odd, especially for a roasted tea of this type.

I am enjoying a pot of it, definitely has the nice roasted, stone fruit taste you get from a Tie Lou Han. I can’t say that I would recommend buying it from this vendor, however.

This tea was purchased at the San Francisco International Tea Festival a few months ago. Evidently Fox and Moon is a traveling operation of sorts and does not own a regular store or a tearoom (in spite of the name). I really wanted to try a Tie Lou Han and this wasn’t cheap, I think it was $12/oz.

My sweetie is a fan of oolongs, but only likes the darker ones and does not think much of green oolongs or green tea, for that matter. I steeped this one up at his request this afternoon.

For a wuyi tea, this is a bit on the lighter side (more of an orange color). It has a delicious roasted caramel type of aroma and we are finding some essence of almond in the flavor. This has a nice minerality quality with cocoa notes and a bit of peach. The aftertaste lingers and is nice and sweet. I have had this tea a few times before now and the first steep is delightful, but it does not re-steep well which seems very strange for a darker oolong of this type. Because I know it doesn’t resteep well I just brewed this up Western style today in the glass teapot.

I think I will need to go to Red Blossom or elsewhere to see how their tie lou han compares. It is definitely a lovely tea but I took a few points off for the fact that it doesn’t resteep well. I may also put the leftover leaves in the fridge and try cold brewing this one.