Comparing The Effect of Different Sized Brewing Vessels

I've been brewing tea with my tiny gaiwan lately and I have noticed a pattern. The tea seems to taste better than I remember it tasting in my slightly larger gaiwans. As it turns out, I just happen to have a much larger gaiwan that is the same material as my tiny one, which naturally … Continue reading Comparing The Effect of Different Sized Brewing Vessels →

Ruby 18 Comparison Tasting

I recently had my first ever Ruby 18 black tea and so the natural next step is to do a comparison tasting. I ordered a sample from Mei Leaf recently as well as a sample from Harney and Sons with this very comparison in mind. I didn't realize until halfway through that I have never … Continue reading Ruby 18 Comparison Tasting →

Comparing Two Silver Needle Teas: Fujian and Ceylon

A few months ago I made an order for tea samples directly from a farmer in China. He sent me samples of almost every kind of tea that is grown in Zhenghe County Fujian Province including Silver Needle or Bai Hao Yin Zhen. I recently made an order with Harney and Sons and when I … Continue reading Comparing Two Silver Needle Teas: Fujian and Ceylon →

Blind Tasting Three Matchas

I recently won a giveaway of Daily Matcha from Mizuba and it gave me the idea to do another round of Matcha tasting, but this time with a twist. I wanted to taste them blind and see which one I liked the best. With some assistance from the lovely Mrs. Tea Journey, I had three … Continue reading Blind Tasting Three Matchas →

Tasting Three Kinds of Gyokuro

I recently had my first experience with Gyokuro. So naturally, the next step is to do a comparison tasting. I have three different Gyokuros on hand, so I decided to try all three in a horizontal tasting session. Those teas are: Gyokuro Hoshino from Path of Cha, Gyokuro ChaMusume from Nio Teas, and Gyokuro from … Continue reading Tasting Three Kinds of Gyokuro →

Three Senchas from Nio

I recently ordered a Sencha sampler pack from Nio Tea, which came with 12 sample size packs of different senchas. Today is as good a day as any to break some of them open. I think the plan is to go through these three at a time so I can get my thoughts out there … Continue reading Three Senchas from Nio →

Wakocha – Tasting Two Japanese Black Teas

The dive into Japan continues, this time with a lesser known style of tea. Today I am drinking two kinds of Wakocha, which is Japanese black tea. I have posted previously about a smoked Japanese black tea, but these two teas are unsmoked. The teas are Sakura Midori and Benifuki Black, both from UNYtea. While … Continue reading Wakocha – Tasting Two Japanese Black Teas →

Comparing Traditional Vs Modern Tieguanyin with Marco from Steap’d

This post will be a little bit different from my usual posts, and that is because this tea session was done over an Instagram live stream with my good tea friend Marco of Steap'd. This was my first ever live stream and because of that I didn't get to write any notes or take many … Continue reading Comparing Traditional Vs Modern Tieguanyin with Marco from Steap’d →

Gong Fu Vs Western Style Brewing

I recently realized that I've never done a proper side by side comparison of gong fu brewing vs western brewing. There's no better time than the present. I used a tieguanyin gift tea that I have a good amount of and used the brewing parameters from the Mei Leaf website for ball rolled oolongs to … Continue reading Gong Fu Vs Western Style Brewing →

Cheap Vs. Expensive Tea – Dong Ding

I recently purchased some Dong Ding Oolong from Tillerman Tea, who specialize in Taiwanese teas and are known to have high quality Taiwanese oolongs. I also have a tin of Dong Ding that I purchased from my local Asian grocery store (AGS). I am always cognizant of value, so I thought I would do a … Continue reading Cheap Vs. Expensive Tea – Dong Ding →