Grumpy Beastie's Other Lair

Tea Month 2026: Tea 21

Tea Review
Name: Yunnan "Qing Xin" Taiwan Varietal Red Oolong Tea
Brand: unsure, vendor: Yunnan Sourcing
Type: oolong
Loose leaf

Notes:
Despite the name of the tea, the info sheet says it was imported from China. This is another light roast, but it's heavily oxidized. The tea leaves before they were brewed smelled sweet, but not fruity. The tea was a dark amber color with a faint citrus smell. The taste was very similar to a black teas that are labeled "breakfast tea." Some people could taste a nutmeg like flavor. I did not.

Rate
Appearance: 7
Aroma: 8
Flavor: 8

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

Tea Month 2026: Tea 19

Tea Review
Name: Clouds & Mist Green Tea
Brand: unsure, vendor: Ohio Tea Co.
Type: green
Loose leaf

Notes:
This was the first tea we tried at the May tea tasting. The name is very fitting. It is a very light light tea, both in color and flavor, with a mild bite at the end. We also got to try it cooled, which mellowed out the aftertaste and it got a bit of a nutty flavor to it.

Rate
Appearance: 7
Aroma: 7
Flavor: 7

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Tea Month 2026: Tea 17

Tea Review
Name: Formosa Black Tea
Brand: unsure, vendor: Tao of Tea
Type: black
Loose leaf

Notes:
This was another tea from Taiwan. I did not write enough notes to describe this properly, but according to Tea Guy, Taiwan has a program to incentivize farmers to experiment with different ways to cultivate tea and bring out different flavors in the tea. And this tea is possibly part of that. This one was grown in such a way that it has a fruity flavor. All of us experienced that slightly differently. For me, it tasted and smelled a bit like raspberry hard candy, but everyone either tasted something similar to raspberries or citrus. It's a very light black tea, flavor wise. We did two infusions of this one. With the first infusion, it was a very dark amber color and the fruity scent was very strong. For the second infusion though, the color became more golden and the fruity scent was gone. Tea Guy said this happened because the more you brew it the more it brings out the tannins I'm the tea. He also said this one makes an excellent iced tea.

Rate
Appearance: 8
Aroma: 7
Flavor: 7

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

Tea Month 2026: Tea 15

Tea Review
Name: Gaba Oolong Tea
Brand: unsure, vendor: Boulder Tea Co.
Type: oolong
Loose leaf

Notes:
This was my other favorite from the March tea tasting. It's another selection from Taiwan. I, unfortunately, did not get all the details written down for this, but this tea is exposed to nitrogen gas in someway while it's growing to increase the amount of GABA in the tea leaves, which is supposed to make it more relaxing. It is considered an afternoon tea. We dubbed it the cookie tea because it smells like brown sugar and tastes faintly of nutmeg. While still being a light roast, it is darker and a lot closer to being a black tea than the Tung Ting Oolong was. The later infusions of this tea we tasted had the same color, scent, and flavor of the early ones, just stronger.

Rate
Appearance: 9
Aroma: 9
Flavor: 9

Overall Rating: 4.5 stars

Tea Month 2026: Tea 13

Tea Review
Name: 2015 Guan Yang Gong Mei "Wild White" Tea
Brand: unsure, vendor: Yunnan Sourcing
Type: white
Loose leaf

Notes:
This tea is one of the two that I had at both the tea tasting in March and the one earlier this month. It is another tea imported from China. "White Wild" usually means that the tea comes from older trees. This is an aged tea. The 2015 in the name is when the tea was originally harvested. It is also minimally processed. At the first tasting, we tried six different infusions of the tea, and at the second tasting we did two. At both tastings, I noted the color changing from a golden yellow at the first infusion and getting a deeper, more amber, like a light black tea color with further infusions. I also noted at both tastings the strong smell of the leaves and how the flavor of the tea is sort of thick and fills your mouth, kinda of like thinned down honey. It was also the second tea at both tastings. Here is where things differ. At the tasting in March, I describe the flavor as starting off like a mellow, light black tea, getting more of a bite as the infusions when on, with the sixth infusion being described as having a "nutty" flavor. At the more recent tea tasting, I described the taste of the first infusion as "almost like a light black tea with a lingering not quite honey after taste" and the second infusion as more "grassy/dry hay." Did they taste different because we had different teas before them on the different days or was it that on the second tasting day, Tea Guy did shorter infusions/brewings, or both? I do not know.

Rate
Appearance: 8
Aroma: 9
Flavor: 7

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

In March and yesterday, I was lucky enough to be part of tea tasting presentations. Both were lead by same person, who I will be calling Tea Guy, since this is a public post. Seating was limited to 10 people at both events. The two I went to were hosted in the small meeting room at the library, but he does travel to other spaces to hold these events. It was two hours of discussing tea in general and sampling seven different teas from Tea Guy's collection. (There were two overlapping teas, so between both events, I've gotten to sample 12 new to me teas.) Part of what made these so enjoyable was that Tea Guy is not a tea snob or an elitist. He just really loves tea and wants to share tea with others.

I will do individual reviews of the teas we drank in separate tea review posts, but this is what we discussed otherwise.

One of the first things we discussed were the seven different kinds of tea (that are made from tea leaves, so no herbals, etc) and how those processes differ: white tea, green tea, matcha, oolong tea, black tea, and fermented/dark teas. At the first event, we got to take home a little chart with the explanation as well. We also briefly discussed the existence of yellow tea, which wasn't on the chart and we aren't likely to come across as it's rare and some people don't consider it it's own tea.

Fermented or dark teas are teas like pu-erh and Liu bao. According to Tea Guy, their names are based on what region of China they're produced in and each producer/farm has their own method.

We also discussed caffeine content in tea. The basic take away there is trying to calculate how much caffeine is in tea is way more complicated than coffee. And while there are general guidelines to help people make choices, caffeine content varies wildly within types, let alone between them. Also fun fact, when tea leaves sprout, they have all the caffeine in them they will ever have and it remains stable and no amount of aging will increase it. Though smaller leaves tend to have more caffeine per volume.

Brewing did not have as many hard and fast rules as you'd expect. Water temperature really isn't important. It's easier to overbrew bagged tea then loose tea because of how finely the leaves are chopped up. Water quality is important in that, if you don't like how your water tastes, it will not make tasty tea. Tea Guy prefers a tea basket over a tea ball because the tea doesn't get as smoothed together. When he tests a new tea he hasn't drank before, his first brewing of it is a heaping teaspoon of tea per 16 oz of water for three minutes, then adjusts for future brewing. Basically, the correct way to brew is to your taste.

Tea Guy does have tea vessel brewing preferences. He prefers a glass teapot for white teas and lighter teas, a clay teapot for fermented/dark teas that benefit from the heat retention, and a gai wan for everything else.

The tea tasting itself was pretty simple. Tea Guy brewed the tea and told us what we would be drinking. We each were poured tea in itty-bitty tea cups and sampled the tea, then discussed what we thought it tasted like as a group. We were also given paper and pens if we wanted to write anything down. There was also an assortment of cookies for snacking or palette cleansing.

All the teas we sampled were imported from China & Taiwan. One day, Tea Guy would like to do a tea tasting where every tea was from another country.

The vibes of the groups both times was very different. The group in March was very rowdy and a couple of people there were very pushy with their opinions. The group yesterday was so very chill. It was great.

The last thing we talked about was tea vendors. Tea Guy recommends never buying tea from eBay. These are the places he recommends:

Tao of Tea

Eco-Cha - especially for oolongs

Boulder Tea Co. - they can be hit or miss

Ohio Tea Co. - this is his highest recommended vendor, especially because most of their teas can be bought in one ounce quantities.

Yunnan Sourcing USA - this is not recommended for beginners because of the overwhelming amount of information they provide, but they do sampler /variety boxes and they are the best place for tea supplies.

Bana Tea Co. - more specialized stock

And I hope to go to another one in the future.