1271 Tasting Notes
This robot tea infuser is super cute to use. It can sit in your tea cup and steep your loose leaf. It kinda looks like the robot is in a hot tub or peeing in your cup! So much fun! However, as a functional tea infuser, not so much.
The tea made from this infuser was very noticably weaker in taste. The design is not roomy enough to let the tea leaves expand, making a weak cup compared to a more functional basket infuser (ie, Finium basket / DavidsTea Perfect Tea infuser). The little arms on the robot make it hard to cover your mug to maintain water temperature while steeping.
The holes on this infuser are kind of big, letting little bits escape. With that said, I wouldn’t use this with finer teas, like a CTC Black, rooibos, and many herbals, unless you want to drink leaf.
A really fun infuser, but probably best to put on display with your tea ware for fun. Maybe a gag gift for a fellow tea drinker, but not functional at all for making good tea.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/kikkerland-robot-tea-infuser-oolong-owl-teaware-review/
Yum, I quite liked this tea – probably as I love tropical blends and pina coladas! It’s a delicate vegetal green tea with smooth coconut. Magicienne has a fresh juicy pineapple finish with a hint of tang. The pineapple is quite flavorful and works well with the buttery green tea. I wish I had more, I’d love to try this iced!
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl – featuring a Magician in Training Tea Owl! http://oolongowl.com/magicienne-tea-ninas-paris-oolong-owl-tea-review/
Preparation
I haven’t had this tea inawhile – I forgot how yummy this one is! Its creamy, chestnutty, roasty, and a little sweet. A perfect cup while I work on my knitting. I think I’ll be keeping this in permastock!
If you didn’t catch the blog review, http://oolongowl.com/sweet-roasted-chestnuts-black-tea-from-creha-tea-via-yunomi-us-tea-review/
An awesome 2014 pu’er! Starts off very smooth and milky. After a few infusions there are pear notes, steamed leaf, charred earth, vegetal and sweet. A little astringency is present in the later steepings. In addition, 46 & 2 has lots of party time pu’er pump to it! I love the smoothness, the flavor notes and the wild tea ride it took me on!
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2014-white2tea-462-raw-puer-oolong-owl-tea-review/
Preparation
Last time I had this tea was 7 months ago. I was feeling like some rough ripe pu’er before my meal and after and what a meal! BBQ beef tritip, roasted potatoes and homemade new york cheesecake with my home canned strawberry preserves ontop!
Felt this pu’er changed a bit in flavor – it was much less fermentation, clay and abrasive notes. Actually sipped in with a bit of smoothness, which was a change from the woodsy, campy, charred charizard earth notes from before.
My original review – http://oolongowl.com/2012-dragon-jing-mai-puer-yunnan-sourcing-oolong-owl-tea-review/
The tea went really well with the meal, but majority of it I drank with and after dessert. Pu’er with cheesecake? Why not. Pretty happy with this little shu pu’er cake, especially since I paid like $6 for it.
Preparation
Oolongtastic!
Love this oolong – it’s got amazing texture with lots of thick creamy fluff with a light finish. The creamy mouth feel lingers for a long time too! The flavor is sweet with buttery, pine nuts, and orchid notes. Later infusions there is a bit of dryness, but keeps the flavor going.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/zhushan-oolong-goe-tea-via-tealet-oolong-owl-tea-review/
Preparation
Of course I had to choose this tea as part of my Simple Loose Leaf Selection club. PU’ER!
Hot, it is mostly ripe pu’er flavored backed with coconut with a light fruity finish – good if you want some pu’er with a tropical twist.
Iced – this is where this tea shines – it’s fruity mango papaya upfront, coconut finish with an interesting earthy background. Kinda similar to drinking a black tea, but more rich and earthy. I’m sure I could serve this to my iced tea friends and they’ll dig it.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/june-simple-loose-leaf-tea-selection-club/
Preparation
I’m liking how every Jalam Tea cake I get, though all raw/sheng, are all very different.
This pu’er starts off very delicious – light at first, developing a stronger flavor at end of sip. Hay, juicy vegetable stalks and buttery corn notes. There is also a milky texture that is really nice. However, with each infusion Meng Hun gets more crisp and astringent.
I also found the recommended water temp of boiling water made the tea dry by the 3rd infusion, and really dry in later infusions. I preferred 185F, but the flavor wasn’t as strong, but no dryness until the 7th infusion.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/meng-hun-unfermented-puer-jalam-teas-oolong-owl-tea-review/
Pu’er cake unwrapping woes.
Preparation
That rascally owl, making such a mess! :O
I’m obsessed with your owls :) where did you get them?
@madametj I make ’em! https://www.etsy.com/shop/AwkwardSoul
as soon as I get into puer im signing up for this club.
I had a feeling. So cute!
I needed a tea travelling mug that could hold in heat (or cold) well – so i decided to get DT’s new exclusive carry travel mug.
It indeed holds temperature very well for hours and hours, no matter what temperature it is outside. The strainer part is very cool – there is a basket as well as a filter under the lip – so you can drink using either or both. It is also leak proof!
my issues:
The lip is on the fat side to drink from, so not that comfortable to drink especially if the tea was steeped with boiling water. I do have a small mouth, so maybe others will have a different experience.
The secret compartment to stash tea does not keep my tea dry. It does okay if the travelling mug is stationary, but if its rolling around in your bag the leaves will get wet.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/carry-travel-mug-davidstea-oolong-owl-teawave-review/
I have their 12oz timolino and I almost always brew my tea in a pot before pouring into my timolino. And I too have a small mouth and I find that the lip of it is on the thicker side, so I always drink straight from the timolino itself.
It’s a nice mug! And I love their timolinos so much, I gave the burgandy travel mug to my sister and she loves it as well!
I tried sipping out of the body itself and totally burnt my face! This thing keeps tea really hot! I was looking at the zojirushi ones at the Tea Expo and but felt they had too many working parts to open the lid and locking buttons.
Review rating bump.
This is really good iced and makes for a good blending base. My first review was this tea hot and it was just to woodychippy (like red rooibos) and astringent for me. Iced, its more mellow with the elements I disliked are gone.
I also steeped this with equal parts of a fruit herbal and had a killer fruity iced tea!
His identical robo-twin is sitting right beside me! (Mother’s Day from my son that’s more fun to look at than to use, but I smile every time I see him!)
ROBOT TEA ARMY ATTACK! pewpew!
They’re too cute to do much damage…he doesn’t even scare the cat!
I’ve got this one too! I don’t use it though just because it’s small and looks hard to clean.