laurenpressley

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laurenpressley drank Hawaii-Grown Oolong by Samovar

I have been waiting for this tea for some time but I didn’t even realize it.

But first: I had an experience that wasn’t as great as I’d hoped with a Samovar order. I emailed about it and they were totally awesome! I love the company even more now and plan to order a lot more tea from them. Well done, Samovar.

Back to the tea: it’s great! I’ve done a few infusions and it went from being a fairly standard oolong to being nearly sweet. I need to do a more focused study of it, with much more attention to temperature, time, and number of steeps, but even without that I can say with confidence that this is my favorite oolong.

That, and the leaves are crazy! They’re not curled up the way many oolongs are and they’re HUGE!

2010-10-10 18:53:10 -0400

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ashmanra 2010-10-11 09:19:09 -0400

Thank you for letting us know they have good customer service. That is importnant to me when I order anything. I have just fallen for Wild Forest Oolong from Southern Season but they are sold out and it is hideously expensive!

Ricky 2010-10-11 19:21:18 -0400

Yeah, Samovar really has to step up their shipping. I didn’t really bother to hassle them with it though. In a previous order all my samplers burst. They didn’t put it in a plastic bag so the contents was everywhere. I lost 50% of it, but I left it alone. One of the tins didn’t budge open. They sealed it shut on both sides so I had two ends. In my recent order, they didn’t put any bubble or packaging paper to keep the contents in place, so everything was shifting from one side to another. Luckily I didn’t order any glass teapots or it’d be disastrous.

laurenpressley 2010-10-12 14:45:41 -0400

ashmanra: it’s nice to have a place to share experiences!
Ricky: oh wow! that’s not good at all! my experience was that everything in the black tea sampler smelled and tasted of the lapsang souchong tea, even though they were sealed well. since i don’t like the LS tea at all it made the sampler a bust for me and they were very good in working with me afterward…

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Bio

a tea drinking geek librarian

I’ve been into tea, at some level, since college with a first tin of loose tea brought back by my parents from Oxford. My love of tea increased with a visit to Boston and a chance cup at Tealuxe. Since then I’ve only gotten more interested in tea and have developed more of an appreciation for it.

I went on a (near) tea fast in 2009 when I was pregnant, and am only now really reintroducing tea at the levels I was drinking it before. I’ve lost some of my tasting edge, but that just gives me an excuse to drink even more. :)

tea rating guide
(updated 12/2010)

100: a perfect cuppa. these are the teas I’ll keep in my cupboard and tend to be one per type of tea.

90-99: will definitely get more of this tea

80-89: likely to get more and perhaps it will become a favorite with time

70-79: very good, depending on my mood or the season

60-69: wouldn’t actively try to get this tea, but also wouldn’t avoid it in a tea shop or restaurant

50-59: run-of-the-mill tea for me

40-49: decent, would hit the spot in some moods, but probably wouldn’t purchase it for my cupboard

30-39: okay, will try again, maybe

20-29: meh. I’d try this tea again if no other were available

10-19: drinkable, but a forced cup

0-9: didn’t even finish the cup