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Oolong Owl drank Black Tea by Shan Valley

1271 tasting notes

Total miss for me – maybe I need to play with the steep times, temperature and water amount?

I found this CTC black to be really bold, robustly strong and woodsy. The woodsy vibe is sharp, like red rooibos, but a heavier dark wood rather than that red woodchip taste of rooibos. End of sip is a moderate amount of astringency with a bit of smoke. Reminds me of coffee, but the elements of coffee I don’t like and the woodyness.

I had some high hopes for this one as the other reviews have been good, but this was a total pour out for me. I’ll give this one another shot at a later time and adjust the rating.

Preparation

200 °F / 93 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 g 6 OZ / 177 ML

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I’m a tea blogger – The Oolong Owl
www.OolongOwl.com – I do tea reviews, obsessively photograph teas with mischievous crocheted Owls and get tea drunk. I am also a crochet and knitting designer at Awkward Soul Designs.

To contact me for reviews, check out details at OolongOwl.com/about or email me at [email protected]

I was raised on floral oolongs and green teas, mostly “beauty” teas. Early on as a kid, I can guzzle an entire pot of tea (or two) at a Chinese or Japanese restaurant.
These days I like adventurous and interesting tea blends. I’m fearless in trying new teas! I’m into oolong, pu’erh, white, green, black, guayusa, mate and herbals. I’m not into red rooibos but I keep buying it anyway.

The tea brand that got me started into loose leaf teas was DAVIDsTea. I used to live in Vancouver Canada and had access to their shop, however that is now limited since I moved to southern California.

However, the perks of living in the US is ultra cheap, fast shipping! Since then, my tea stash insanely expanded.

Other stuff I’m into that sneaks into my tea notes: Brazilian jiu-jitsu, metal music, drawing, painting, cooking, photography and nail polish.

BTW, my Steepster cupboard is not even close to accurate and I track my teas on a spreadsheet. Last update 573 Teas – August 2015.