Hello hello! Today I’m shedding light on which tea vendors you should or shouldn't trust in 2017. This is a grey area and is a topic that isn’t discussed publicly, mainly because it touches on controversies that repeatedly come up in the tea community. Essentially, when a tea company sells their house-pressed puer, are they selling what they say they are? I can go ahead and cut to the chase and say that there’s no real clear answer, but you can equip yourself with the right set of tools to be more cautious next time you buy that $20.00 old arbor Bing Dao tea cake… The Claims First I must share with you what brought this discussion up.There’s been discussion over a tea company that’s selling a sheng puer at $150.00 USD, and made with tea trees that are 1,000-1,600 years old. With their price point they're selling it for ¢0.28 a gram. This company (lets call them ‘Oolong Inc.’) is also selling a five year old sheng puer sourced from 1,000 year old tea trees for $80.00 USD. Fortunately for Oolong Inc., another company tried to pave the way for them by selling old-ass tea tree sheng puer. Last year a tea company infamously (lets call them ‘ChaI Corp.’) tried to sell a 100g tea cake for $60.00 each. What made this tea infamous is that Chai Corp. claimed this tea was from tea trees that were over 1,800 years old. This created discussions everywhere in the tea community, and has sparked a discussion that hasn't really gone away. The Bull Shit Lets be realistic here. For starters, the typical age for ‘old arbor’ tea trees is anywhere from 100-200 years old. Sometimes, and rarely, they can be older. However, the three oldest tea trees alive today are 1,700 (which died last year), 1,000, and 800 years old. These trees are quite rare and are often hard to come by considering all that they’ve been through. Since the oldest tea tree alive today is currently a century old, you can automatically dispel any claims of tea that comes from anything nearing the 800 year old mark. Last year, Yunnan Sourcing did some investigating and found that Chai Corp.’s ‘1,800’ year old tree turned out to be a famous 400-600 year old tea tree, and is protected by the Chinese government. To add to this, it’s even a federal crime to pick tea from this tea tree. At this point, you don’t need any more information to be convinced that Chai Corp’s claims were bullshit. Oolong Inc.’s claims are completely bogus and here’s why. If some of the oldest tea trees in China are between 800 and 1,000 years old, you can automatically discredit any of their teas said to come from trees that age, or any older than that. You can also discredit them because of how much they sell this tea for. So lets assume that there’s a farmer in Yunnan that has secretly grown a large orchard of tea trees that has survived close to the age of Christianity itself, and for over 30+ generations. And also lets assume that they have this collection of old tea trees. One, they wouldn’t be able to sell tea from these old ass trees for ¢0.28 a gram, much less $10.00 a gram. This tea would be so rare and inaccessible that they wouldn’t be able to sell any more than a few beengs of it, much less a tongs worth. It would be so rare that you could only sell it at auction and private deals, and would never see the light of day on the public and online market. Why Do They Lie? There’s a lot of misinformation out there. Although I blame the seller for endorsing ridiculous claims, it doesn’t stop there. For starters, its been documented by many tea companies that the tea markets in Yunnan are cut-throat, especially for non natives. Since tourism in the tea mountains is skyrocketing, a lot of locals associate foreigners with being wealthy. A lot of tea farmers are dirt-poor, and they sometimes oversell their product just to make a sale. With this, a lot of people get taken advantage of and often lied to when they go to the markets. So with that, here are some of the other possibilities to think of… The company bought from a farmer who lied about his claims The company tasted one tea, and was sold another (bait and switch) The farmer was telling the truth but due to poor translation, 160 year old tea trees turned into 1,600 year old tea trees The company bought tea from a 3rd party, and was lie to by the 3rd party The farmer actually believes in his claims and isn't lying. A lot of times, farmers are told by professionals false estimates on the age of their trees based on little to no fact Although none of the reasons listed above are the tea companies fault, they automatically endorse those falsehoods by selling the product. Even if the tea company was lied to, I still hold them accountable because they should have some basic knowledge over the product they’re selling. After all of this, if they don’t really know what they’re selling, then it makes me question their accountability with their other products as well. Who Should I Trust? With the recent controversies with Oolong Inc. and Chai Corp., it’s not unreasonable think a 10+ year old tea company would be trustworthy. However, what should you look for when buying tea and who should you believe? Although there isn't a black and white answer, here are some things you should look out for. For starters, look at the tea company in question and research their background. Almost anyone can find vendors and sell tea their self, but how does any specific tea company stand out as credible? Lets look at an example… Company A - Created over a decade ago by an e-bay seller of factory cakes, who sold them as a passion project. After 2-3 years of this, ‘Company A’ bought their own domaine, flew to China, and pressed their own puer cakes. ‘Company A’ has been traveling to China every year since and oversee the production of their tea (Yunnan Sourcing) Company B - Owns a tea house and becomes a youtube personality and endorses pseudo medicine practices. ‘Company B’ specializes in oolong, green, black, and white teas. ‘Company B’ started selling their own in-house puer cakes a year ago. Based on ‘Company A’ and ‘Company B’, who should you trust when buying puer? When considering the trustworthiness of a company you should consider their background in tea, what kind of tea they specialize, and importantly, how they acquired the tea itself. Did this company pop-up overnight without prior knowledge of tea? Is this company located in the United States, or are they located in China? What about White2Tea? White2Tea is a company ran by a guy who goes by the name of 2 Dog, and it’s important to mention him in this because he plays a role in the trustworthiness we have with tea companies. He’s made a name for himself by selling puer with western appeal, and most notable, for the way he markets his tea. Surprisingly, he releases tea without telling you what it is or where it comes from. His store works on a pricing system that operates like this: The more money you spend on a tea cake, the better the quality and the older the tree— Which also creates a bit of controversy because people don’t always trust the integrity of the seller. And without a fair amount of research, how can you trust someone who sells a $200.00 tea cake with little-to-no information to go off of? There’s only one way to judge a company like White2Tea, and the only way you can truthfully decide if any company is being honest or not. It’s whats in your cup. Conclusion In conclusion, theres a lot of deception in the tea community for quite some time now, and now that tea is becoming more popular, it’s more important now than ever to know where your tea comes from. There’s no real clear answer (although sometimes there is), and this topic always generates discussion. Fortunately, you hold the power to decide where you’re going to buy from. If you are not completely sure, remember to always ask questions, and sample as many teas as possible. Theres only one truth teller in this equation, and that’s whats in your cup. “Blissfully Tea Drunk"

Hello hello! 2016 is about to come to an end, and while there has been a lot of negativity over the past twelve months, there was also a lot of positivity. Sometimes it’s easy to be wrapped up in all of the negative, especially when social media and news outlets give off the perception that the world is ending. In reality, the world isn't ending. You woke up this morning, and you’re still here. So come join me to help celebrate some of the things that helped make 2016 not so bad, and helped make everything right again! This is the best of 2016! Before I go on to announce the winners, I just want to point out that besides the winner, the nominees are champions as well. The people who won, barely won by a hair’s width, as everyone mentioned here has been a positive influence in the world of tea… Best Tea Education The winner of this category has shown what it means to share tea information in the most neutral way possible. Not only did they bring up discussions that were helpful and insightful, they also go out of their way to make sure everyone feels as educated as they can by making their information accessible for any and all readers in the tea community. [Win] Tea DB @ TeaDB.org T-ching Blog @ tching.com World of Tea @t worldoftea.org Best Pottery This artist is being showcased for excellence in diversity and creativity by creating pottery thats not only tea ware, but also art. Severo Vostok Om [link to artist page] Best Tea Blog The winner selected has succeeded in making tea literature a pleasant experience, not only for their assessment of a certain tea, but interesting discussion topics that they bring to light. This person pushed the boundaries for their work in tea related content and is recognized for taking the extra step for making the most creative content in 2016. [Win] Cwyn - Death by Tea anon - A Tea Addict’s Journal Pau Murray - Two Dog Tea Blog Char - The Oolong Owl Amanda Wilson - Rambling Butterfly Thoughts Hobbes - The Half Dipper Georgia - Notes on Tea Best Oolong The following won for their excellence in sourcing an exceptional oolong for 2016. • [Win] Yunnan Sourcing recognized for Spring 2016 Chou Shi Dan Cong • Yunnan Sourcing recognized for Autumn 2016 Competition Grade Tie Guan Yin of Gande Village • Tea Urchin recognized for 2016 Snow Qing Xin • Taiwan Sourcing recognized for Spring 2016 Competition King of Jin Xuan Jade Oolong Best Tea Subscription This company won for their wide range of variety, education, and value of product given in monthly increments. [Win] Tea Box Express White2Tea Dachi Tea Co. Eco Cha Excellence in Innovation The winners creativeness brought a brand new light to the world of tea, and kept exploring new possibilities which became exceptional realities. This company not only did something thats new to the market, they keep motivating their audience in stunning ways. [Win] Bitter Leaf Teas - Recognized for their photography & customizable pottery Liquid Proust Teas - Recognized for their rum-barrel aged puer ‘Rummy Pu’ White2Tea - Recognized for their White-Black tea cake blend ‘Hot Brandy’ 2016 Internet Community Award Its an honor to award Char, aka Oolong Owl, the 2016 Internet Community Award. Oolong Owl took it upon herself to start Tea Chat, an IRC chat on Slack and has reached out to help bring more people together. Oolong Owl also takes it upon herself to get involved in the online tea community everywhere she goes, and does it with an open heart. 2016 National Community Award Crimson Lotus Tea is being awarded with the honorary 2016 National Community Award for excellence in bringing their local community together. Crimson Lotus Tea is ran by the couple Glen and Dawa, who make it their mission to bring exceptional teas to the market. Above all, they try their hardest to welcome as many people as possible with open arms, and do their best to make sure that every tea drinker they meet feels like they’re apart of a bigger family. Glen and Dawa really do set an example of what it means to run a company in 2016 - by being as positive and as friendly as one can be. They not only do this on an interpersonal level, they spread this nationally by the people that they reach… 2016 International Community Award It’s my pleasure to award Andrew of Liquid Proust Teas with the 2016 International Community Award. Andrew roams through out the tea community and personally reaches out to every one he comes across. Andrew not only invites you to a warm friendship, he personally takes it upon himself to make sure that you have the best tea and knowledge possible. Earlier this year, Andrew took it a step further by donating teas, for free, to those who were new to puer. Later, he started accepting donations to help make sure that everyone has a chance to try tea the right way. Andrew is known in the the community on an international level, and his passion and love for the community comes from a selfless place in his heart. People like Andrew help made 2016 an amazing year for tea, and has helped connect people from all over the world to the amazing world of tea… Best Aged Puer The following is being showcased for their excellence in releasing an exceptional aged puer. This puer was not only clean and in excellent condition, but carried exceptional flavor which was accessible for all tea drinkers. [Win] Crimson Lotus Tea - 2000 Old Warrior [Photos by Crimson Lotus Tea] Best Shou Puer The following won this award for their excellence in shou puer, and showcased the best in quantity, body, quality, and tasting profile. [Win] White2Tea recognized for 2015 Pretty Girls Whispering Pines Tea Company recognized for 2015 Lord of the Lakes Crimson Lotus Tea recognized for 2000 Old Warrior Yunnan Sourcing recognized for 2016 Yunnan Souring Green Mark [Photos by White2Tea] Best Sheng Puer The following winner is being recognized for their excellence in sheng puer, by bringing the best in quality, quantity, body, and tasting profile. This tea is a tier of excellence that is rarely brought forth into the market, and is one that definitely stood out above all the rest. [Win] Bitter Leaf Teas - WMD 2016 Spring Mansa White2Tea - 2016 Tea Don’t Lie White2Tea - 2016 Heart of the City Crimson Lotus Tea - 2016 Beneath an Emerald Sea Pu-Erh.Sk - 2016 Naka Crimson Lotus Tea - Slumbering Dragon [Photos by Bitter Leaf Teas] Best Puer Production 2016 The winner for this category is being recognized of their work in 2016. The winning company produced the best spring production of puer tea in 2016. They not only produced one incredible tea, they produced many incredible teas that were released in a single setting. [Win] Pu-Erh.Sk Crimson Lotus Teas Bitter Leaf Teas White2Tea The Essence of Tea Yunnan Sourcing [Photo by Pu-Erh.sk] Company of the Year All of the following companies are recognized for their excellent work in 2016. All of these tea companies worked tirelessly to bring you the best teas possible, and without their innovation, the tea community wouldn't be where it is today. These companies are shaping the future of tea as we know it. However, one company stood out just a bit taller than all of the rest. With their ingenious marketing and their delicious teas, it’s an honor to announce that the tea company of the year is… [Win] White2Tea Pu-Erh.Sk Yunnan Sourcing Crimson Lotus Tea What-Cha Taiwan Sourcing [Photo by White2Tea] Final Thoughts So there you have it! This has been an incredible year for tea, not only because of those who won, but also because of those who were nominated. Whenever you look back to the year 2016, try not to let the major events in the media suck you in a down spiral of negativity. Remember that the world of tea has brought us all together and has harmonized us all (unless you’re a 30 y/o Californian who claims to have created dragon tea balls, after only the minimal 5 years experience in tea, and take down other companies Instagram accounts in the process - you ass hat we still remember). I advise you all to sit back, take a deep breath, sip some tea, and let yourself get blissfully tea drunk… [Disclamer - I was not paid by any of the parties nominated or any of the parties that won. Or bribed. It would be nice to be bribed, as I can easily sell my soul for some good gushu. Or Lana Del Rey concert tickets]

Hello hello! Christmas is tomorrow, which means the only people working will be movie theatre workers and Chinese buffet employees. And while I'm at the movies and eating an endless line of mediocre ethnic food, a lot of you will be spending time with your family. I’m sure that many of you on holiday break from school, or work, and are forced to visit people out of obligation. Yes, I'm one of the fortunate ones who has family that either lives too far to visit, or are either six-feet under. In my free time this weekend, I’ll be getting trashed on all sorts of tea, and of course, complain about politics on a throwaway account on Reddit. While I get as tea drunk as I can, I might as well give White2Tea’s new ChocoBrick Raw Puer a try to see if it’ll make a spot in my Christmas line up. Opening I was amused opening the sheng puer, mainly because the box resembled a box of candy. The print and design on the box was fun to read, and without seeing any actual tea at this point, I was already entertained. When I opened the wrapper to this tea, I was further amused by the fact this iron brick had nine sections of tea, which appeared to be easy to break apart; News flash — it wasn't. After using my Hulk-like strength on this brick, I finally pulled out my pick to stab indents around one of the squares, which made it easier to break apart. Each of these nine individual squares weigh around nine grams each, so to use my ratio of one gram of tea per fifteen millimeters of water, I had to further break down this square of sheng puer. After breaking apart this square, I was able to scrape enough tea together to fit my parameters, and in return, created around three grams of tea dust. [Click on Image to Enlarge] Steeps 1 - 6 At the beginning of my session, I first picked up on light notes of grass with a floral undertone. As my steeps continued, a grass flavor came out from these floral notes and left the aftertaste of cream. Around the third and fourth infusion, this tea became notably sweeter, and the floral notes began warming my mouth like a pollinated lily growing wild in a pasture. However, all of this changed when the fire nation attacked. Heh, actually, remember when I earlier mentioned that I created a lot of tea dust while breaking apart this tea? Well, because of that, I ended up with a lot of tea fragments in my vessel. All of this means that at forty seconds, I had to repeat these infusions multiple times because everything was coming off strong as hell, and all at once. Steeps 7 - 12 Everything with Sheng Chocolate was still coming off punchy, with an ever so slight bitter undertone. After the seventh steep, the tea lost its punch and was able to increase my infusion times. Now with order being restored in my cup, this tea was giving me a velvet like texture that was coating my tongue. Along with the velvet like texture came with the notes of dry grass and, oddly enough, cat nip— Yes, cat nip. You probably think this is strange, right? Well I thought it was strange as well! Anyways, as my infusion times kept getting longer and longer, this tea started losing its overall profile. At the twelfth infusion I was ready to move on from this tea. Although I could have kept using this tea further on for a few more infusions, I decided that it was time to go ahead and draw my conclusion. Conclusion I think that the 2016 Chocobrick Raw Puer is an exceptional daily drinker, especially considering that its only $14.00 USD. Although I was easily amused at this tea’s presentation, I personally can’t imagine spending much more money on an iron brick because of how much of a bitch they are to pry apart. This tea came at a surprise because of how great the material used in this brick was. It was not only complex, it had excellent texture which is something that is uncommon for a tea at this price point in todays market. This is an excellent reflection at the kind of quality that White2Tea presents to their consumer base. However, I immediately take off points for this being an iron brick. Maybe its just me, but I get irritated when amazing material gets used in iron pressed teas, because it usually doesn’t present the material in the best way. Overall, I think this tea presents a fun experience for anyone who enjoys sheng puer, and you don’t need to be an expert tea drinker to have fun with it. So while you’re stuck in a room with family that you’re not happy being around, and while you’re around family members that you secretly wish would drop dead, I will be spending time drinking tea. I’ll be home in my pajamas, watching TV, eating Chinese food, and getting drunk on more than just tea, I can almost guarantee that Chocobrick Raw Puer will be apart of my Christmas line up… Rating - 8.0

Hello hello! The first day of winter is only three days away, and since winter is coming, so is the cold. Where I live the weekend is supposed to get freezing cold, and with temperatures below 32ºf and a chance of rain, so you could say that it may freeze over this coming weekend. So what does all of this mean for me? For starters, I’ll be complaining about something that I cant change. However, there is something I can change as far as my weekend goes. In my forecast, I predict that there will be 100% chance of a session with Bitter Leaf Tea’s Ice Queen. This is a nine year old Bing Dao sheng puer that will definitely be drank by me, but will this cold named hot tea be enjoyed by you in this freezing weather? Here’s what to expect when Ice Queen comes into your forecast… Steeps 1 - 4 First, before I started my session, I took a deep breath of this tea and noted that it smelled brilliantly of sweet sugary green grapes. I started to chill out with ice queen by giving 6.5g of this tea a quick rinse. Before sliding into my session, I took a deep breath of this teas wet leaf and noticed that it smelled of a deep sour Concord grapes. Now with that out of the way, I went to dethaw my lips. At first, this tea had so much going on that I had to slow down my sled and pay closer attention to what was in my cup, but After a few more steeps, I was able to dethaw the frost that was sleeting over my vision of this tea. Ice Queen hit the front of my tongue with the sweet taste of sugary dates, and left the front of the tongue with a cooling sensation. It then glided its way the back of my throat and reminded me of a roasted honey - an amber like consistency that felt like a bourbon infused syrup. To top everything off, it left my tongue was coated in a deep-green oil that warmed every tastebud in my body. Steeps 5 - 8 I continued to snow-plow on to my fifth infusion, which surprised me because the oil coating that I noted earlier sharply dropped off and was no longer noticeable. Fortunately, the tasting notes of dates transformed into the tasting notes of a biting aged barrel of whisky. Although this tea was still full bodied, the remanence of roasted honey became more raw, and the syrupy mouth feel was dissipating all together. On the bright side, I could now feel this tea in my chest and it was making me feel like I was melting by a fireplace. Steeps 9 - 12 Just when I was expecting this sleigh ride to glide blissfully down a snow-capped mountain, it dove right off the cliff and plummeted into a pit of deeply roasted pile of sencha. My the ninth infusion, almost all of the boisterous aspects of this tea were completely gone, and the only thing left was a biting green tea with the aftertaste of honey. In other words, the Polar Express laid down its tracks and by the twelfth infusion, made its way to the North Pole - leaving everything else behind. Conclusion Ice Queen started out phenomenal, mainly because it hits your tongue like a sheet of acid. Then suddenly, it mellows out into something that is pleasant all its own, but not nearly as superior as its beginning steeps. Although this tea’s later steeps were incomparable to its golden start, it was saved by its internal warmth that made you feel like you were wrapped in a blanket by the fireplace. To add, I was thoroughly impressed by the fact that this is a nine year old Bing Dao, mainly because of how clean and well preserved is it. To add, this tea didn't possess any musky basement notes nor was it dusty. Whoever had this tea clearly took great care of it. Overall, I think that Ice Queen was a great experience because not only did I get to drink something so euphoric, I was enraptured by the way this tea made me feel which only left me wanting more. If you get the chance to experience its euphoria for a short period of time, its up to you to decide rather if Ice Queen will be in your weather forecast or not…

Hello hello! 2016 is coming to an end and thankfully so. John Oliver expressed my sentiments with perfection: “Fuck 2016!” There were so many things that happened over the course of this year that absolutely bombed, even worse than the Samsung Note 7 (pun intended). Lets also not forget about how the internet went apeshit over the Cincinnati Zoo (again, pun intended), or how the Democratic National Convention lubed up Bernie Sanders real good for a galactic butt-fucking. I mean, how could we not forget how Donald Trump - well, I’m going to leave that one open ended. I’m still holding out that all of this was a dream that we’re anxiously waiting to be jolted from. Can we sacrifice him to get Maurice White, Alan Rickman, or even David Bowie back? No? Damn. Despite the vast sea of negativity that 2016 brought us, there was just as much positivity to counteract the darkness. The world of tea had an incredible year, and with this being my first year in tea I'm glad I started now more so than any other year. In fact, I’ve really polished myself up in tea-dusted fingertips with my muffin-top flopping out of my unbuttoned blue jeans as I gorge myself on puer thats too good for me. With that mental image in your head, lets move forward into what made this year so great. The following are some of the exceptional entities that shined the light on 2016, and made that $200.00 beeng a justifiable purchase. Here are the nominations on 'The Oolong Drunk Awards' for the best of 2016…. Excellence in Tea Education - The following are nominated for their incredible work with spreading knowledge about tea, along with discussing issues that created and sparked conversation. T-Ching Blog @ tching.com TeaDB @ TeaDB.org World of Tea @ worldoftea.org Best Tea Blog - The following are recognized for their excellence in reviews, fun articles, or other tea related literature that is entertaining to read - fact or fiction. Cwyn - Death by Tea anon - A Tea Addict’s Journal Pau Murray - Two Dog Tea Blog Char - The Oolong Owl Amanda Wilson - Rambling Butterfly Thoughts Hobbes - The Half Dipper Georgia - Notes on Tea Excellence in Innovation - The following are nominated for their creativeness in bringing new light to the world of tea. These people push boundaries for their work in tea related content, and are recognized for taking steps that no other tea company have taken before. Liquid Proust Teas - Recognized for their rum-barrel aged puer ‘Rummy Pu’ White2Tea - Recognized for their White-Black tea cake blend ‘Hot Brandy’ Bitter Leaf Teas - Recognized for their photography & customizable pottery Best Tea Subscription - The following are nominated for their wide range of variety, education, and value of tea given in monthly increments. White2Tea Eco Cha Tea Box Express Dachi Tea Co. Best Oolong - The following are nominated for their excellence in oolong. Yunnan Sourcing recognized for Spring 2016 Chou Shi Dan Cong Yunnan Sourcing recognized for Autumn 2016 Competition Grade Tie Guan Yin of Gande Village Tea Urchin recognized for 2016 Snow Qing Xin Taiwan Sourcing recognized for Spring 2016 Competition King of Jin Xuan Jade Oolong Best Shou Puer - The Following are nominated for their excellence in shou puer, and showcased the best in quality, quantity, body, and tasting profile. Whispering Pines Tea Company recognized for 2015 Lord of the Lakes White2Tea recognized for 2015 Pretty Girls Crimson Lotus Tea recognized for 2000 Old Warrior Yunnan Sourcing recognized for 2016 Yunnan Souring Green Mark Best Sheng Puer - The following are nominated for their excellence in sheng puer, and showcased the best in quality, body, energy, accessibility, value, and tasting profile. White2Tea - 2016 Tea Don’t Lie White2Tea - 2016 Heart of the City Crimson Lotus Tea - 2016 Beneath an Emerald Sea Bitter Leaf Teas - WMD 2016 Spring Mansa Pu-Erh.Sk - 2016 Naka Crimson Lotus Tea - Slumbering Dragon Best Puer Production 2016 - The following are nominated for their excellence in releasing multiple spring teas in a single setting. The following companies not only released a single incredible tea, but rather, released an ensemble of exceptional and extraordinary teas for their 2016 productions. Crimson Lotus Teas Bitter Leaf Teas White2Tea The Essence of Tea Yunnan Sourcing Pu-Erh.Sk Tea Company of the Year - The following are nominated for their excellent work in 2016. All of these tea companies worked tirelessly to bring you the best teas possible, and without their innovation, the tea community wouldn't be where it is today. These companies are shaping the future of tea as we know it. Congratulations to these companies nominated for their best year yet. What-Cha Pu-Erh.Sk Yunnan Sourcing White2Tea Crimson Lotus Tea Taiwan Sourcing ~ Other awards will be given out this year, four of which have no nominations, as there is still deliberation on who should be nominated for those said categories — winning will be open to anyone. Here are the following categories that will receive winners for the best of 2016… Best Pottery Best Tea-Related Instagram Feed The 2016 National Community Award The 2016 International Community Award Winners will be announced December 28th, 2016. Congratulations to those that are nominated, as you are all winners for making 2016 such a great year for tea. Tune in to see if you or your favorite selections will win! “Blissfully Tea Drunk” ~ Disclaimer The following are nominated for their work in 2016. I’m not represented or promoted by any entity, as this is a non-profit award. This was done in part to shed light on the exceptional work done by said entities, and the winners are selected unbiasedly. Any attempt to bribe/persuade yourself to win will automatically disqualify you from running.

Hello hello! In my last review I wrote about Old Reliable by White2Tea. This is White2Tea’s first year to release their own house-blended shou puers, and since I already went over Brown Sugar I thought I’d give Pretty Girls a go! Pretty Girls was the most expensive shou puer pressing in White2Tea’s release, and at $40.00 a beeng I had to find out what made this tea so special — and since it’s described as ‘our best blended shou’ on their site I had to get my hands on this beeng. I was incredibly impressed with Old Reliable, but will Pretty Girls hold up? Lets find out! Opening When opening this 200g beeng I could smell the light scent of a forest floor. When opening the wrapper, it even looked like a forest floor was thrown into a blender and pressed into a disk. It’s appearance was rich in color, and more so than other ripe teas that I’ve looked at. I took my puer pick and went on to break apart 6.5g of tea for my 100ml vessel. One thing I noticed was that this cake felt drier than Old Reliable, and was packed tighter as well. Even when breaking it up, I created more tea dust than I’d like to admit. Steeps 1-4 Before I started my session with this tea, I did a quick rinse to wash away any impurities that could be resting on this cake. After that, I proceeded to my first infusion. The first tasting note I picked up on was the notes of cedar wood as well as a soft sensation of wet leaf pile. As I continued my steeps, these notes progressed into something creamier and smoother. I was surprised by this because along with the creaminess, came sweetness with trails of bitterness. I’ve barely started my session with this tea and I was already impressed. Steeps 5-8 As I continued my sessions with this tea, so did its appearance. At the fifth steeping, this tea’s soup became noticeably darker. This is something that also caught my attention because other shou puers by White2Tea didn’t brew up as somber. As well as this teas warm colored soup, the creaminess that I noted earlier sharply turned into the notes of caramel. This was the exact moment that this tea’s body peaked as its body continued to fill the room. Pretty Girls notably left a candied-caramel aftertaste that lingered on my teeth, and seemed to stick around in the deep corners of my mouth. Even after letting my mouth rest for ten minutes, I could still taste lasting sweetness that stay glued to my teeth. Steeps 9-14 Pretty Girls was in it for the long haul as I pushed its infusion times past the minute mark. This tea’s powerful body started to calm down as my soup started to turn from a black-brown into a golden brown color. It still had notes of an autumn leaf pile, and the after sweetness of candied caramel. But on this tea’s fourteenth steep, it was done. Pretty Girls packed up its bags, hauled a cab over, and left the scene of the crime. Overview Pretty Girls is arguably White2Tea’s best house blended shou puer. It’s transformation was incredible, and left me wondering why I haven’t ordered a beeng of this tea earlier than I did. Something that stood out to me about Pretty Girls was the fact that it was denser and had a more profound sweetness, something that was completely unexpected. However, picking apart this tea was rather difficult and created a lot of tea dust. Besides that, this tea is one that I’m considering to re-order for the long haul and is one thats greatly under appreciated. I hope that this is a tea that you get the chance to brew for yourself, and see why Pretty Girls is a mother f*cker…. Rating - 9.7

Hello hello! Now that we’re being thrown right into Fall, grocery store isles begin to fill with pumpkin spice and salted caramel. As each year goes by, the pumpkin spice fad grows larger and larger. A lot of people drink pumpkin spice in the fall because it signals that winter is coming, and more importantly, summer is over. As we make the long and narrow path into winter, it’s time to warm things up a bit! There’s no better way to warm up than to drink a warm tea. Shou seems to fit the bill, and further, so does Old Reliable by White2Tea. Opening When I first opened my beeng of Old Reliable by White2Tea, I thought it looked rather odd. This was my very first ripe puer and was surprised at the jumbled mesh of brown leaf I was looking at. Furthermore it possessed a peculiar odor - dirt with a hint of smoke. To my surprise, this beeng broke off pretty easily, as I broke off 6.5g of this tea to use in my 100ml vessel. Steeps 1-4 On my first infusion, this tea immediately hit me with a mix of dirt and Earth, with a sweet aftertaste of cedar tree bark. It was also very smooth and continued to get richer and richer. Along with the tea getting richer, there was also a note of tobacco hiding behind the sweetness which mixed beautifully well with the earthy notes. Steeps 5-8 The liquor of this tea got noticeably dark.The strong taste of earth started to phase away as rich notes of wood and tobacco took over. Another aspect of this tea that taught my attention was that it’s smoothness started to really stand out. It glided past my throat and could easily be felt in my chest as it made its way to my stomach. Around the ninth steep though, I started to break out in a sweat as my nerves started to calm. Every time I drink this tea, I start to break out in a hot sweat because of this teas energy. Although this tea is calming, its quick to hit my system with everything that it has. Steeps 8 - 12 Old Reliable started to calm down as the body of this tea started to disappear. On these longer steeps, a caramel-like tasting note slowly made its way to the surface as the cedar and earthy notes started to phase away all together. Although this tea’s body started to weaken, it’s sweetness was still present and made itself known up to the last infusion. It finished off with a light and sweet tobacco finish that left me disappointed when it was gone. Overview Overall, I think Old Reliable is one of the easiest shou puers to drink. On top of that, I also think it’s one of the best. For the price of this cake, I’m blown away at the quality of this tea. The tasting profile was rich and complex, but wasn't too complex that a new tea drinker wouldn’t be able to detect everything thats in this tea. To add, I’ve even gone through an entire beeng of this puer and already ordered a few more to replace it! This was one of my favorite shou puers in my collection because not only is it a daily drinker, it’s also an excellent tea. There’s no other shou like Old Reliable… Rating - 9.6

Hello hello! Fall is just around the corner, and with a change in seasons comes a change in tea. Just like in our personal lives, tea changes. A tea won’t taste the same if made seasons apart, much less months apart. Right when you think you’ve figured out a tea or a region of tea, theres always something that comes up which defies what you previously thought. Just like in life, people change and people grow. However, with change and growth, there are still things hiding in the depths of our soul that we want to face, or may never face. It’s a facade, or another aspect of yourself that you may never discover. So in today’s review, I would like to share with you how I had to change and how we can all relate to Alter Ego by Bitter Leaf Teas… Opening - Here in front of me I have a 250g brick of 2016 Spring Mansa Huang Pian. While looking at this tea, I see two cats in disguise on the wrapper. However, when I opened this tea, I was met with a neifei , which is a small paper slip of paper that’s typically used to identify a puer. What struck me as odd about this is that this neifei is that it was a completely different style and design than Bitter Leaf Tea’s traditional neifeis. This is because this tea was sourced by Bitter Leaf Teas. I liked this brick because it was particularly easy to break apart. Typically bricks have a tight compression, but this one was very simple to pry apart and was nearly hassle free. Alter Ego was off to a good start. Steeps 1-6 - I started my session with Alter Ego with a quick rinse, the proceeded to my first steep. I used 6.5g for a 100ml vessel, with water at a temperature of 180ºf. My first impression of this tea is that it has a light and broth-like body, with a salty aftertaste that left echoes of moss in my mouth. After steeping this tea a few more times, a plush sweetness emerged from the saltiness which helped leave a warm lasting sweetness in the cheeks of my mouth. As I continued onto my minute-long infusion at steep six, this tea was in full swing. Although this tea was full bodied, it was still very smooth and left a sweet impression. Steeps 7-12 - My session with Alter Ego started to wind down around the eighth infusion. Unlike other puer teas, every single tasting note in this soup was still detectable. One thing about these later steeps that really caught my attention was how warm the broth was. Although this tea was fading out, it was still warm and until my last steeping with it. It made a nice transition from full, to weak, then disappeared completely. It had an incredible transition, which is something thats hard to find in most newer puers. Conclusion - Overall, my session with this tea was very memorable. Not only did it make me think, I was blown away at the quality of this tea, especially for the price. These bricks weigh 250g, and for the price of the brick its one hell of a steal. If anything, this tea is probably one of the best values of tea that I’ve seen all year. Sometimes with tea, you sacrifice quality for price. However, Bitter Leaf Tea’s did an amazing job at sourcing a tea that doesn’t sacrifice anything. Yet again this is another offering from Bitter Leaf Teas that won’t leave you disappointed. Alter Ego - Through out my session with this tea, I took the time to reflect into my own life and particularly looked back at a time in my life when I had an alter ego myself. Back when I was younger, there we’re many aspects of my life that I was never completely happy about. The main thing that comes to mind is how my heart suffered for a great number of years until I finally came to the self realization of who I was. On the outside you would say that I was outgoing, confident, and pretty happy overall. Well, just like this tea, there we’re many things different on the inside than on the outside. When I was younger my personality was completely different; I was scared, shy, nervous, and unsure of what was to come of my life. What do you do when you think one way but feel a different way? What would you do when your mind and your soul tell you two contradicting things? Would you say you we’re hiding your inner truth from yourself more than anything else? As I kept drinking this tea, I kept reminiscing to the moment that I new I had to be myself. Although something may look traditional on the outside, like this tea, the truth of it all is something completely unexpected ended up turning out for the better. I remember growing up such a certain way, that I was afraid that something horrible would happen to be if I was completely honest with myself. But the moment that really made me face my inner self was a great and momentous depression took over and made me look at myself in a way that I never had before. But when I started to look at these inner truths, I started to get sick. Like I said, my brain was so focused on telling me one thing that when my heart and soul tried to tell it something different, it created a storm inside me that I was instantly thrown into. I spent two weeks incredibly sick — unable to eat, drink, or even leave the bed. The stronger the storm got, the sicker I became. Thunder turned to sadness, lightening turned to vertigo, and the hurricane brought on nausea. This ‘hurricane’ was so large and so strong that there wasn't even an eye to this storm. After three weeks have gone by, I questioned if this storm would ever end, and would I ever see then end of it. There was an alternative to leaving this hurricane, but that meant saying a fine goodbye to everything else I knew and love. That meant I’d have to let this storm consume me, and say goodbye to life altogether. Do I live through the storm or do I end it by ending ‘it’? At the brink of my sanity, I battled the storm as long as I could. I had already lost a bunch of weight and I was missing so much of life that I was ready to exit the storm. Then, I looked in the mirror one last time and came to a last and final conclusion — I may be tired putting up this fight but I'm not goddamn quitter. So, with one foot in font of the other, I tried my hardest to walk out of this storm. I realized that the best way to walk out of this hurricane alive was to accept the truth that was trying to kill me — the truth that created this inner storm. With all my strength and all of my might, I looked in the mirror and took a long and hard look. Was I saw was a version of myself that looked neglected, and all I needed to do was love it to make it well again. After thinking long and hard, I pushed my mind aside and poured out as much love as I could to the guy standing in font of me in the mirror. I held the truth out in front of me, and all I had to do was say it for this storm to be over. With a deep breath I said it with every ounce of strength I had. “I like men.” As soon as I said it, the storm clouds started to fade away and soon after, the storm was completely gone. I opened my bedroom window and was met with a ray of sunshine, all with a sense of pride and satisfaction. With enduring everything that I went through, I survived. Just like this tea, there are many things about ourselves that we will continue to discover which will defy any exception we had thought of previously. Alter Ego by Bitter Leaf Teas redefines what Huang Pian material can really do. This tea, even after multiple sessions with it, still manages to surprise me with a new expectation of what it means to be drinking tea. So take this tea, sit down, relax, and try to think more about what it means to be the truest version of yourself. Look in a mirror and be sure to love the person thats always looks back at you… Rating: 9.0

Hello hello! Usually when I review tea I describe its strengths and weaknesses, then finalize the review by concluding if the tea is worth ordering or not. However, today is going to be very different. In today’s review I’m going to put two of Crimson Lotus Tea’s beengs against each other. While these teas are undeniably great, one will definitely stand out. If we put Jingmai Love and Beneath an Emerald Sea in the ring against each other, who will come out as victor? Lets find out! Steeps 1-4 Before I send these teas into the ring, they must start training at the crack of dawn. Both teas woke up to a quick rinse and was given a few minutes to wake up. I used 6.5g of each tea in a 100ml vessel and used a water temp of 180º. Jingmai Love was awake and ready to start its training. Jingmai Love started its pre-workout steeps with a light vegetal body that carried a warm undertone. As this tea kept waking up to the third and fourth infusions, it kept revealing its strengths that made up its palate - a broth like base that made the tastebuds droll as the tea glided blissfully down the back of my throat. Its muscles were savory as it kept pushing past its pre-workout, and left a light bitterness at the tip of the tongue — which arose due to the immense strength that this tea was waiting to release. Beneath an Emerald Sea started its pre-workout steeps by knocking everything over that stood in its way. It entered the room with a heavy herb infused vegetal body that was so thick, it overpowered everything in sight. As the Emerald Sea continued its pre-workout, it kept getting more and more oily and left a slight bitter undertone. However, unlike it’s opponent, it had a slight layer of tartness that left a fruity impression that Emerald Sea quickly hid away, as it didn't want its opponent to think it was anything less than powerful. Steeps 5 - 8 Emerald Sea moved from its pre-workout to its actual workout. Emerald Sea’s routine included jogging, weight lifting, and practicing its moves on the punching bag. Emerald Sea did this by coming off more oily than it did before, which led to it unleashing an immense herb like tasting note that was too strong for the tastebuds to handle. All of Emerald Sea’s characteristics started to morph into each other which made it rather difficult to detect each and every individual flavor. Emerald Sea gave its workout an oil and broth like finish as it made its way to the arena to start planning its strategy Jingmai Love took a different route than Emerald Sea, as it started its strength training on the lighter side to build more stamina. It started its strength training with a broth like green body that filled every corner of the room that it was in. The further Jingmai Love was pushed, the rougher it became as it slid past the tastebuds leaving a warm blanket over the tongue. Jingmai Love took an unexpected turn in its weight training by releasing a waxy texture that only made itself know when it was pushed past the minute and a half mark. Jingmai Love was starting to unleash something fierce as it contained all of it’s energy into something unexpectedly strong, which was evident by the faint herby and bitter drops of sweat that it left behind, as it packet up its gym equipment and started to strategize a game-plan. Steeps 9 - 12 Jingmai Love and Emerald Sea made its way to the boxing arena, which was full of prospectors that were awaiting a match of a lifetime. Promoters started placing bets on each of the teas, and since both were newcomers this year nobody really knew what to expect. Emerald Sea and Jingmai Love made it to the arena and started preparing for the upcoming fight, and finished up last minute business before taking center stage. Now, Emerald Sea started to mellow out in the dressing room as it released the bulk of its energy earlier on during its workout. It was light, smooth, but not as sweet as before. Although Emerald Sea still held onto its green body, everything was disappearing as it reached its twelfth steep. On the other hand, Jingmai Love was still releasing a great amount of energy in these later steeps, which only kept growing its strength and power. When Jingmai reached its twelfth steep, it was still able to keep going and notes of a thick and herb-like coating still present. Yet, due to its stamina by holding out on releasing everything at once, Jingmai was able to hold onto its flavors until the 16th steep, when a light vegetal green tasting note was the only thing this tea was able to give. The Ring - Jingmai Love and Emerald Sea were called out into the ring. They both entered the arena as the audience roared with excitement. They made their way past the judges, head held high and confident they’d defeat each other. They promptly put on their boxing gloves, put on their head gear, and climbed over the ropes into the ring. Both teas stood as they watched the announcer make his way to the center of the ring with microphone in hand. “We have Beneath the Emerald Sea weighing in at 200g a beeng, and Jingmai Love weighing in at the same. Tonight, we are going to witness the most anticipated event in the history of professional sheng productions, for the heavy weight sheng championship!” the announcer shouted with enthusiasm and excitement. “Are you rrreeeeaaaaddddyyyyy?” He continued. The audience went wild with excitement as the announcer built anticipation. “For the thousand in attendance, and the millions watching around the world. From the capital city of your tea vessels, lets get ready to RRUUMMBBLLEE!!!!” The crowd was ecstatic, which only made Jingmai Love and Emerald Sea even more pumped to take each other out. Then, without a moment to spare, the bell rang and both sheng went to the middle of the ring. Both teas went at each other as Jingmai Love started to jab at Emerald Sea. Emerald Sea defended itself by holding its fists to his face, then caught Jingmai Love by surprise when he threw his arm around and punched him at the side of his jaw. It was a clear uppercut! Jingmai was unable to block the punch and quickly stumbled his way backwards. He clearly underestimated Emerald Sea’s power. Emerald Sea kept coming at Jingmai at full force as Jingmai was up against the ropes with his gloves up - parrying the punches as they came. Jingmai was too blindsided to barely make a move. He tried his best to throw any jabs in at Emerald Sea to try and rise above him, but at this point it seemed pointless. All he could do is wait Emerald Sea out. As Jingmai Love’s patience grew thinner and thinner, he had to think of something to get Emerald Sea off of him. Then, he hooked Emerald Sea on Emerald Sea’s ribcage which took him aback. Emerald Sea started to lose breath and was growing weak, but regained its breath and went back towards Jingmai Love, threw a cross with his stronger right arm, and knocked out Jingmai Love. The referee made his way to Jingmai Love as Emerald Sea went to the neutral corner, and waited for a response out of his opponent. The referee bent down by Jingmai Love and started counting down to eight. “One. Two. Thee. Four…” the referee shouted as everyone in the audience held their breath, waiting for Jingmai Love to get up. This is it. I have to get up, Jingmai Love thought to himself. “Five.” You trained too hard for this. "Six.” Jingmai Love took a deep breath. “Seven.” Jingmai Love raised his head, slowly rose up, and tried to get a good balance. Jingmai Love took a deep breath as the audience cheered him on. He went back to his corner and waited for the bell to signal both fighters to go back into their match. “Time to take this motherfucker down,” Jingmai Love said to himself as the bell rang, and charged to Emerald Sea. Emerald Sea was met with a newly recharged Jingmai Love as Jingmai Love kept coming at him with punch after punch. However, due to emitting all of his energy earlier in the round, Emerald Sea was too weak to fight back. Jingmai Love took a step back and waited for Emerald Sea to deliver a punch back. Strangely enough, he didn't. Emerald Sea was too weak to respond, but still didn't want to give up. Emerald Sea balled up his fist and took his last swing at Jingmai Love. Due to exhaustion, Emerald Sea barely grazed Jingmai Love’s chin and swung into open air. The weight of his arm swung him around as he fell to the ground — too weak to get back up. The crowd was going wild as the announcer stepped into the ring, walked over to Jingmai Love, and shouted into his microphone, “we have a winner!” The announcer grabbed Jingmai Love’s wrist and quickly raised it in the air, as everyone in the stadium cheered so loud you couldn't even hear the announcer. Jingmai Love was so overcome with joy that he was almost in shock. He couldn't believe it. I’m the champion Jingmai Love thought to himself as he stood tall, full of pride after winning the match against Emerald Sea… ~~~

Hello hello! This week has started to calm down since the car accident earlier this month. Between the insurances and my neck injury, I’ve been having trouble keeping my tea drinking on its regular schedule. However, now that things are calming down, I decided to relax by drinking a shou puer. I don't typically drink shou but I was looking in my tea storage and wanted to try something different, and since it rained all week I thought Moychay’s 2006 Golden Buds Shou Puer would be the perfect choice. Last month I reviewed a tea from Moychay and was pleasantly surprised by it, so will this beeng be as memorable as the last one I tried? Lets find out! Opening One thing that jumped out at me about this wrapper is the beautiful design. Something else that caught my eye is that this wrapper is an optical illusion. When you turn this wrapper on its side you’ll be met with a face looking back at you! Anyways, when I opened the wrapper I was met with a beautiful golden-brown beeng that was easy to pry apart. The tea leafs jumped out of this beeng, and resembled the falling rain that was happening right outside my window. It appeared to be clean and well preserved, something that I praise this tea on considering it’s ten years old. Steeps 1-4 My first session with this tea started out with a quick rinse. I used 6.6 grams of tea for my 100ml vessel. On my first infusion, and before I took my first sip of 2006 Golden Buds, I noticed that this tea’s liquor appeared to be clean. When I took my first sip, I noticed was a very full-bodied taste of olive-wood that quickly filled the mouth. It was light and had a faint linger of tree bark which lasted until the fourth infusion. Steeps 5-8 Surprisingly, it was the fifth infusion of this tea when a light sweetness made itself known. As my infusion times became longer and longer, the tea became bolder and bolder. However, it still retained that heavy olive-wood flavor but started to become noticeably smoother with a velvet-like finish, which made this tea even more pleasant. Steps 9-14 Around the ninth infusion, this tea transformed into a thicker version of itself. Just when I thought this tea couldn't get more full bodied, it kept filling the room with intense notes of olive wood and tree bark. The tea’s sweetness also grew stronger as well, and started to leave a oil-like texture that continued to dance with your tastebuds long after you had taken the last sip of this tea. Unfortunately though, on this teas eleventh infusion, the cops were called to break the party and every aspect of this tea left in a hurry. Of course, one of the party goers got shot in the back as the cop felt threatened. If the cops were called for a sheng party, we all know things would go down very differently… (#shoulivesmatter ) I was able to stretch out this tea until the 14th steep, but it was clear that it was well past its prime. Conclusion I would like to first compliment this tea on the fact that it wasn’t bitter and didn't fail to evolve throughout out my session with it. On a different note, this tea only retained the same tasting notes through out its session and didn’t hold a strong palate of flavors. However, although this tea held a one dimensional tasting note, its changing texture and body kept 2006 Golden Buds from being dull. Overall, I think that this is a great way to introduce a new tea drinker into a shou that has some age on it. Although this tea isn't revolutionary, it is refreshing to come home to a delicious daily drinker that will never disappoint. Rating 7.6 disclamer - This tea was sent to me by Moychay

Hello hello! This past week I got into a car accident and was rear-ended by a truck going 45mph and consequently thrown into oncoming traffic. If I could take anything remotely hilarious from this experience I’d say that it’s gotta be that a local school’s security truck was the one that rear-ended me. I kept asking myself, “do I feel safe now?” No. Not when security was going 10 miles over the speed limit and ended up messing up my neck. Thankfully I’m not more injured than what I already am because it could have gone much worse. I would like to thank pain killers for helping me cope with the damaged muscles in my neck, because without them I’d be feeling like shit. To be fair, I already do feel like shit. So with all of these shitty feelings we’ll be going over the shittiest tea in all of China - Dan Cong “King of Duck Shit Aroma” Oolong. For this review, we’ll be going over two different varieties of shitty tea, which can be found on YunnanSourcing’s website. First we have a version of this tea that’s lightly oxidized (the traditional way of making this tea) and put through a ‘kill green process’ (where tea is lightly roasted to stop oxidization) and a new variety of this tea thats not oxidized. Chou Shi, which means dehydrate, is a new way of processing this tea where this tea is quickly dehydrated before the tea has a chance to oxidize. However, you may be asking yourself why this tea has such a grotesque name. Well, this tea is an uncommon oolong which is grown in the Phoenix Mountains in the Guangdong Province of China. The soil that this tea is grown is very unusual because it has a yellow-brown color to it, and the villagers that guard this tea claim that large amounts of duck shit was added to the soil. Now we have a tea called “Duck Shit Aroma”. Regardless if this tale is true or not it still creates an interesting tale. Oxidized Shit First off, I’m going to start with the traditional “King of Duck Shit Aroma” Dan Cong Oolong. When opening this tea, the first thing I noticed was how fragile the leaf was. I was also overtaken by a powerful yet rich aroma of sweet caramel. The aroma really took me by surprised because due to the name of the tea, I was expecting something more pungent and vile. Anyways, I measured out 5g of this tea for a100ml vessel and started off this oolong with a thirty second steeping time. At first this tea came off mellow and warm. The hints of sweet caramel was exquisite and made a lasting impression as it trickled down the back of my throat. The more steeping times that I had with this tea, the more savory it became. Around the fifth steeping of this oolong the notes of sweet oolong started to feel a bit rough, and left an aftertaste of black liquorish that was so light that you almost couldn’t detect it. Although it was still pleasant it was now more savory than sweet. Towards the end, around the tenth steep when this tea started to lose its flavor, it left a diminutive bitter bite that was hiding behind this tea’s smoothness. Dehydrated Shit After my session with the oxidized version of this tea, I grew very curious how it would taste green. When I first opened my package of Chou Shi “King of Duck Shit” Dan Cong Oolong, I was surprised to see how green the dry leaf looked. It still radiated a deep lime-green appearance that almost reminded me of dry seaweed. Another aspect of this tea that I noticed was that it emanated the odor of milky sweet-peas with a magnolia flower undertone. Just like the previous session with this tea’s relative, I used 5g of it in a 100ml vessel and started off the session with a thirty second steeping time. At first, the taste of cream glided past my tongue as it left a sweet aftertaste of sugar-snap peas and magnolia flowers. I was a little surprised by this because it strongly resembled an Anxi Tie Guan Yin - a variety of green oolongs. As I continued to steep this tea it got stronger and stronger. One thing I liked about this tea was its clarity. Although it was exploding flavors in my mouth right and left, it was still clear and easy to detect everything that was coming out of the cup. Another aspect of this tea that I liked was the fact that it left a gentle and sweet aftertaste of cream that filled the space in my mouth. Even long after I had taken a sip, these notes kept lingering and refused to leave. I kept pushing steeping times and it seemed to keep going and going. I eventually put an end to my session with this tea at the twelfth infusion time, mainly because I was way beyond tea drunk. Green Shit or Brown Shit? There we’re a lot of similarities in these teas. One thing that I saw in both of these teas is that they were both temperature sensitive and didn’t respond well to being prematurely pushed into a longer infusion time. These teas also had a pronounced tasting note that lingered in the mouth long after I had taken a sip. Another side of these teas that I liked is that for an oolong, and for the fact I only used 5g of tea in each session I got a substantial amount of tea. Now that I’ve gone over the similarities of these teas, let’s go over the differences. First, I got (a longer steeping time out of the green version of this tea compared to the traditional version of this tea, it phased out a lot sooner. Second, the green version was smooth as the oxidized version had a more bitter aftertaste in the final steepings. Even though the bitterness was minimal, it was still present. Lastly, there are other oolongs out in the market that has a similar palate of flavors and steeping times as the oxidized version. Although the green version of this oolong had a similar taste to an Anxi Tie Guan Yin, its quality and flavor was as high as competition grades of other Tie Guan Yins that are on the market, but substantially more cost efficient. Overall, the experience I’ve had with these teas wasn't a shitty one, it was a golden one. I think that these oolongs are some of the best you can find on the market as far as taste and quality goes, but in the end the Chou Shi (unoxidized) King of Duck Shit Aroma Dan Cong Oolong is the winner between the two. Oh, one more thing. I wanted to thank you for reading this shit post ;) Rating Green - 9.4 Brown - 9.1

Hello hello! One of the most anticipated events in the tea industry this year was the release of White2Tea’s 2016 productions. Other tea companies announcing their pressed early in the year, such as Bitter Leaf Teas with Crimson Lotus trailing right behind them with their shou puers. However, White2Tea waited for the perfect moment once all of the other tea companies momentum died down and made a statement too big to ignore: They shut down their website. Yes, White2Tea closed down the site and replaced it with an image of a caterpillar. When the site was half way done with it’s make over, the caterpillar turned into a cocoon waiting to evolve. On the third day the butterfly emerged on the site, which meant that there was only one thing left to come from this caterpillars artistic transformation… the tea. With great marketing comes great patience as I stayed awake all night after the butterfly’s transformation was complete - and anxiously awaited for the tea with debit card in hand. Refresh after refresh, the webpage only displayed a butterfly as the clock roamed past the night. My mind filled with excitement as I awaited the upcoming teas that I was so eager to drink, much less get a glimpse at. Eventually, I rested my head on my pillow as my eyes grew weak, a result of staying up so late that the morning sun broke through the window. Suddenly, my eyes opened and the clock only ticked by two hours in my short and restless slumber. I drug my lazy self over to my computer and refreshed the webpage one last time—and viola! The online shop was now ready and open! I browsed through the beautiful selection as I read through other’s excitement on various websites on a separate window, only to learn that the tea released five more minutes after my eyes sealed shut for its short recharge. Nonetheless, I was too exited to be irritated that I barely missed the live reveal of the teas their self. The teas were (and still are) so beautiful that it took my brain a few minutes to comprehend what I was looking at. I gawked at the new selections, breathless at what I was witnessing for the very first time. After admiring the beautiful brand on their webpage I made a few selections to review for you, the reader. Out of the ones that I selected, I’m starting this new 2016 production obsession with the extravagant, 2016 Tyler. Opening The wrapper depicts a collage of various photos that give off the vibe of 60’s nostalgia; a photo that were found while the paper’s artist was in Prague. According to White2Tea this is the only beeng wrapper this year that they didn't design, instead they collaborated with New York native artist Joe Librandi-Cowan. When speaking to Joe, I asked him who Tyler is. Tyler isn’t a person, Tyler is loosely based on music that him and Paul from W2T are fans of. It’s more of a feeling - the feeling of something that sparks inspiration and something that makes you feel good. In my opinion, this is one of White2Tea’s most elegant wrappers to date. Anyhow, this beeng had a second inner wrapper that was more cloth-like than the outer wrapper. The leaf’s compression was absolutely stunning and possessed a steamy green aroma. Steeps 1 - 4 Before I began my session with 2016 Tyler, I gave it a quick rinse and let the tea sit in the vessel to let the leaf open up. After ten minutes I proceeded with my first infusion. My first initial findings were that this tea had a very soft sweet bee pollen body with a floral infused creamy finish.You could almost say that this tea was trying to reach a honey-like tasting note, but something was holding it back. Until the fourth infusion, the taste was growing stronger and stronger with the taste of bee pollen drowning the inner walls of my cheeks. Steeps 5 - 10 On the fifth infusion this tea took a pleasant turn. The floral notes quickly became prominent and became as noticeable as the bee pollen notes. Unexpectedly though the creamy notes vanished to make room for a sweet undertone of sugary sage. This undertone was very unexpected because of how quickly it stepped into the tea’s overall flavor. As the infusions kept getting longer, this tea left a room-filling aftertaste of sweet floral sage that coated the whole mouth like an oil, and stayed there for a considerable amount of time. However, bitterness hid in the shadows of the unique aftertaste, which slowly creeped up on this teas overall palate as the steeping times got longer and longer. Steeps 11-14 Eventually, 2016 Tyler started to pack it’s bags and was ready to move on. Around the eleventh infusion, this beeng’s sweetness had completely ran away and the taste of green took its place. The floral notes were barely noticeable at this point, and left a note of bee pollen along with a sweet undertone of sage. As this tea was playing out its final steeps, the bitterness kept growing stronger and stronger - something that White2Tea claims will go down over time as this tea is freshly pressed. I pushed this tea to its 14th final steep, and eventually parted ways with the first taste of White2Tea’s new 2016 productions… Wet Leaf Now that the session has ended, I’m looking into this tea’s wet leaf to find out why it was so flavorful. First, I want to point out that some of the flavor that contributed to this tea is due to the fact that some of this tea’s leafs were already starting to turn red. This half-beat up red tea leaf was blended with a two-to-one ratio of young tea leafs with the occasional tea bud. Overall, just by dissecting the wet leaf itself you can see the amount of thought and experimentation that went into blending this tea. Conclusion 2016 Tyler is an amazing place to start off with White2Tea’s 2016 productions. I ended up liking this tea because it’s accessible for tea drinkers that are new to puer, but complex enough that it can help a tea drinker appreciate a tea that’s complex and high in quality. The same could be said for experienced tea drinkers in the way that it’s a complex tea at an affordable price. I think this tea has great balance and a great tasting profile. I also like that this tea has a unique taste thats not only has a great flavor, but a leaf quality to back it up. However, I still believe that this tea needs time to rest from pressing (as does any new tea) and is something that I’m looking forward to drinking again in the future. If you find yourself browsing White2Tea’s new 2016 releases and you’re questioning whether you should place an order or not, I recommend a sample of 2016 Tyler to your cart. When you get your tea, try playing a good record to drink your tea to and when you drink it see if you can feel Tyler inside of you. Play music that engulfs your soul in a fiery blaze of emotions and let those emotions consume you for the time being. Once you feel Tyler’s warm liquid making its way through your system, I hope that you come to the conclusion that this tea is just as exciting as you could have hoped for. If this is the first tea I tried on the 2016 line up, then I can tell you that we’re in for a real treat for the rest of the releases… This is something I don't usually do, but I wanted to give a shout out to Matt. Safe travels buddy! Rating 9.5

Hello hello This week has been a wild ride mainly because of the season six finale of Game of Thrones. I didn’t think this show could get any better, but it did. Without getting to much into to it, I’ll just say that my elevated levels of ‘hype’ raised my blood pressure higher than Snoop Dog on any given Tuesday. I’m glad that we have to wait another year for the next season because it’ll take that long just to calm down from all of what went on. So what do I do to lower my heart rate? Caffeine, in the form of tea of course. I decided that I’d put in a different address in the GPS for this review and go into uncharted territory. Before I go into this, I have a question to ask. When you think of tea, what places of origin do you think of first? Do you think of England? Do you think of China? What about Japan? Why yes, those are the most well known places of origin. But did you think of Russia? You heard me correctly — Russia. Tea culture in Russia is just as large as it is to anyone else of the world. They drink it and seem to be obsessed with it. However, due to politics in the current state of world affairs, the West doesn’t get to experience the greater-aspect of Russian culture. However, thanks to the internet, we can enjoy a piece of their every day life. There’s also a tea company that caught my eye while scrolling the endless seas of web pages, and that company happened to be Moychay. They seem to have a larger following in Russia, and some Russian tea drinkers rate them as one of Russia’s best tea companies. So whats the hype about? I’ll be reviewing three tea’s from out tea brothers of the far far East within the next few months. Opening I’m starting my line of reviews with Moychay’s 100g bing made of 2011 Menghai Jin Shu. As I open this wrapper, which represents a sleepy cozy fox on the front, I noticed that this cake has a beautiful compression. As well as the compression, this has a great visual of golden ripe puer that smells like musky earth. Steeps 1-6 As always, I start my session of 6.5g of tea with a quick rinse. The first thing I noticed upon my first infusion is how foggy the liquor is, and I thought it was rather interesting because I’ve never experienced this before. Anyways, my first impression of this tea was that it held a light sweet wood note with a bit of a rough finish. It had an earthy undertone that was slightly bitter. As I continued on my steeps, the teas bitterness kept coming out more and more, along with the stand-out flavor of earthy wood. Up to the 6th infusion, this tea kept growing stronger and stronger. The bitterness kept building up and almost became unpleasant. The unpleasantness, or the pleasantness of this tea if you prefer, is debatable as I’m sensitive to the taste bitter. Steeps 7-12 Notably, the flavors of earthy wood continued to keep growing. Around steep 7, when I usually draw the steeps for the longer infusion times, the bing took a Game of Thrones type plot twist. When I was starting to grow bored of this tea, the bitterness disappeared and a strong velvety huigan (which means sweetness in the mouth) emerged. Out of nowhere the bitterness completely disappeared at the ninth infusion, and the taste of sweet cherry wood overtook this tea. The way these flavors erratically change caught me completely by surprise, as I was previously assuming this tea was going to take a gritty mouth-feel at any moment. However, it defied my expectation as it transitioned to a silky smooth texture as it made it’s sugary broth known. Up until the 12th infusion, which is when the tea started to phase out, I thought I was drinking something completely different than what I started out with. Conclusion All in all, I was pleasantly surprised at Fox Trot. As I was growing tired of this tea and thought it would only stay at the consistent one demential state, it took a completely different turn and turned out to be an excellent shou. Further, Im glad this tea proved me wrong in the idea that it was flat, because I had high expectations for it. It’s not overly complex as far as flavors go, but it does have a strong body that grew sweet and strong that was saved by the longer infusion times. Considering that this tea has a price tag of around $10.00, it took me by surprise that its as good as it was. I want to compliment this tea on is it’s wide range of accessibility. Fox Trot is something that I can imagine being enjoyed by beginners and experienced drinkers alike. Lastly, I’m happy that Fox Trot is the first tea I’ve ever tried from Moychay because it really does set up a good expectation for the rest of their teas. If any of their other teas are as good as this one, I can see why they’re so popular with Russian tea drinkers. If you believe that Fox Trot is really from 2011 to not, I’d still snag a bing of it if I we’re you. For a shou to be this good at that priced, well, just try it for yourself… Rating 7.9 "Blissfully Tea Drunk"

Hello hello! This past week has been a rather crazy ride and great test on my patience. As strong willed and as patient as I am, you wouldn’t think that a silly illness would break my mental sanity down to the lowest depths of the ocean, right? I think George R. R. Martin personally concocted this down-spiral of bullshit for me. It started out as a throat infection and ended up as an allergic reaction to the steroid that was supposed to cure said throat infection. The main course - a dish of dry heaving with a side dish of coughing up stomach bile. Disorientation and vertigo being the cherry on top of this torturous pie. Now that I have a barely-passing graded bill of health, it’s safe to say I can resume life back to normal. But first, let’s define normal. I feel thankful for the online community, along with a boyfriend that went to the store for me through out the night, for keeping my spirits high. I have to give a shout out to Reddit’s tea community along with various friends on instagram for their best wishes and support. Since I’m able to drink tea again, I’m going to resume my obsession with Bitter Leaf Tea’s 2016 Secret Garden! Secret Garden is a very unique tea as its grown along side with wild banana trees. The description of this tea was enough to add it to my cart, and review it. Opening - Bitter Leaf Tea’s set another high standard for puer packing, as this tea was double-wrapped and presented in it’s own custom packed box. The photo on the cake resembles fruit on a banana tree (I assume), and has a medium to tight compression . Unlike Honeycomb, which was fairly easy to pry apart, Secret Garden was rather tight, It didn’t stop me.This was the freshest-pressed puer I’ve had to date, and it made me as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. Steeps 1 - 8 According to Bitter Leaf Tea’s website, they recommend using spring water as water from the tap might be too hard, which could negatively affect the taste of a bing. I gathered 7g of this tea for my 100ml vessel, did a quick rinse, and waited ten minutes for the tea to open up. In the first three steeps, this tea is noticeably smooth and clear. As a coating of sweet-green tea washes over your tongue, you’re left with the after taste of stone fruit. Around steep 5 this tea started to taste more and more humid which is probably the result of its recent pressing. Even lasting up until its 8th steep, it still had a strong sweetness that seemed to hit you in the face like a brick. Steeps 9 - 14 Secret Garden sharply lost its fruity sweetness and transformed into a sweet grass, with a faint floral aftertaste. As I push this tea’s boundaries with longer steeps, a bitterness is detectable underneath the freshness that refuses to go silent. I continue to push this tea to longer and longer steeps, and the harder I push it the more bitter it becomes. When I reached steep 14, the tea’s energy was still very noticeable, but all of the sweetness was gone; the only evidence of sweetness was the lasting roughness that was only brought out by these later steeps. After steep 14, which still had a noticeable humid note, it didn’t seem like there was much left for this tea to go on. It was time to hang it up for this session. Conclusion - 2016 Secret Garden is the freshest sheng puer that I’ve had to date. I was happy to drink a tea so fresh because this tea’s clarity was something that I was excited to add to my palate. However, this tea was still too freshly pressed. After already having a good handful of sessions with it, it’s still hard to pinpoint exactly that notes we’re trying to come out of this sheng. It’s recent pressing still left this bing really humid, and is something that I can’t give a fair rating on. However, the intense sweetness that was present in this bing made sure to make its own strong voice heard. To input, I think that Secret Garden is an amazing offering from Bitter Leaf Tea’s 2016 line-up. I like the way that the flavors played out in this bing because it really told me that this tea was more than two demential; its complex. However, it didn’t seem to hold up very well in the later steeps as it was easy to go bitter. I think that this tea’s potential would really come out more once it has a chance to settle down from pressing. But overall, this is just another gold star in the Book of Good Bings, currently being illustrated for your tastebuds by Bitter Leaf Teas... Rating - 9.0

Hello hello! For the past few months I’ve been observing and tasting my various sheng from the Tea Urchin. Granted, I only have three cakes and a sample from them but I haven’t been too focused on them because of my obsession with White2Tea. The Tea Urchin is a mom-and-pop online tea shop ran by a husband and wife team, Eugene and Belle. They’ve been running the Tea Urchin since 2011 and have had an extraordinary journey since then. Upon reading their blog, which is really informal about puer, you’d see that their journey goes from meeting the worlds oldest wild tea tree to starting a family with the introduction of their son Miles! Rather if you’re new or old to Puer, The Tea Urchin is an online shop that is great to familiarize yourself with. If you’ve been reading my past few reviews, you’d know that White2Tea has been an obsession of mine and I’ve been slowly exploring out into other vendors of tea - like BitterLeafTeas for example. The Tea Urchin is a name that has been thrown around on the tea community on Reddit and Steepster. However, I think its time to review one of their most well-known Yiwu teas, the 2013 Yiwu Snake Blend! Opening Look at that paper! This paper is depicts a snake about to make a meal of a hare. The paper presented loosely-compressed cake. I personally like this because lose compression makes it really easy to get the tea that you need for your session. I just really like being able to pick out whole tea leafs without damaging them. Steeps 1-3 I started this session with a quick rinse to wash away the past three years of dust collecting, but after ten minutes I jumped right in! When taking my first sips of this tea, I immediately noticed a light warmness followed by a sweet sour note - a sour note that could be interrupted as a sweet lemon peel. Along with the mix of lemony tartness and warmness, an undertone of melon was trying to make itself known. Steeps 4-6 On my fourth steep, a smokiness emerged from the warmness that originally hit my tongue. This is the moment when this tea started to reveal how complex it was, because before this point I wouldn’t have expected anything more to come from this tea. Although the lemony tartness followed the smokiness, it left a lasting sweet warmness at the back of my throat - which was very pleasant. Steeps 6 - 12 This tea started to turn bitter and was leaving a greener taste on the sides of my tongue. The smokiness was still present, but the tartness started to taste a lot sharper around steep eight. The tartness transformed from a lemon zest to a hibiscus-like sourness. At the same time, the sweet warmness started to disappear. Around the tenth steep, this tea was losing all of its flavors all together, and only left a green note that resembled grass. However, this didn't last long because by the eleventh and twelfth steep the flavor was fading away. It seems that as soon as this teas flavors changed, it was gone. Conclusion On the Tea Urchin’s site, there was a review that said this tea tasted like creme burlee. I wanted to correct that statement by saying that there’s nothing about this tea that pointed to creme burlee. However, it would be easy to mistake this tea for a pastry because of the mixture of light tartness and warm smokiness. The 2013 Yiwu Blend didn’t hold out long as far as flavor goes, but that could be a result of the larger Yiwu leaves thats in this blend. Upon dissecting this tea’s wet leaf, I was surprised to find that many of the leaves were bruised - which would probably be the cause for this tea’s sour punch. A plus to this tea is the bitterness which points to the fact that this sheng has a lot of aging potential. Overall, the 2013 Yiwu Snake Blend is a puer tea that I wouldn’t recommend for beginners. I think that many of these flavors would hit a beginner over the head, and this puer wouldn’t be appreciated as much. Despite that this puer has exceptional leaf quality, I’m not a huge fan of the flavors that arose from this blend its-self. For the larger selection of teas on the Tea Urchin’s site, there’s far more that I would rather purchase instead of the 2013 Yiwu Snake Blend. Rating 7.9 Shout-Out! I wanted to give a shout-out to Totem Tea Co. for their oolongs! They’re a tea company based in Portland Oregon that has a wide-range of different teas. They say that they try at least twenty different teas for one tea that they sell. I highly recommend their Wen Shan Bao Zhong Oolong. This oolong has a beautiful taste that is worth an order.