365 Days of Tea - Day 19: Organic Whole Plant Blue Berry tea.

So I reached out to a local blue berry farm, Highland Organics because I noticed on there website they carry "Blue berry tea" and I found that to be quite interesting since it was made from real blue berries instead of artificial flavoring.

The Package. (Yes my address is actually just a black square. Makes shipping things easier)

The literature, which is very well printed and informative. I'll probably keep it forever.

 The actual tea. This is also the nicest tea sample packaging I've gotten so far. Its very solid, and reusable. Reusability is the HUGE thing, ALL companies should use reusable containers to avoid waste. If I had a big ol' BEST CONTAINER AWARD, I'd put it here.

This tea is really pretty. Its made up of whole dried blue berries and stems and leaves. Its very blue-ish purple. Its flakey and powdery, so it got all over my desk and the world. What's really interesting though, is that because of the way this tea is processed, it actually contains nearly double the antioxidants than blue berries. Keep in mind that blue berries have second highest count of antioxidants, ever. So this tea is basically super tea. Its extremely good for you.

Its a deep purple color, which is to be expected since its made from blue berries. Please ignore my desk, its full of tea, dust, and tea dust.

Smell - The smell is very subtle, but its there. It carries a very faint blue berry scent with a slight leafy overtone. There isn't much else to say about it's smell. Its good.

Taste - The taste is unremarkable. Its extremely refined, but delicate. Very smooth, I could drink it all day. It carries a pleasant blue berry favor, but it isn't sweet. It tastes very raw, and unprocessed. Highland organics really lets the blueberries speak for themselves, and they speak volumes. Although, the favor itself is as strong as something like a black tea, it still carries very well. It is not bitter in anyway and the leaves and stems carry a very faint earth-y-ness to the table.

Overall - This is really what local farms are all about. Their quality is untouchable. Their attention to details, not only because its their livelihood, but because they actually love and care about what they do. To them these blue berries are life, to me, they are heaven. We talked about possibly taking a tour in the fall of their farm, and I will definitely blog about that. I would also really love to taste their Organic Blueberry Barque.

(5 out of 5 gold tea leaves, which is something I'd only give if I felt it deserved more than 5.)

Can be found @

p.s. this makes amazing ice tea, but I didn't review that here.

365 Days of Tea - Day 17: Wu Yi Mountain Oolong.

I did things a little differently this time, but I didn't get as much of a result as I wanted. So I might not do it again for a while. It might be more effective later on though. Basically what I did was create a poll of teas that I could review, and had people vote on it. Although I know I have quite a few readers, I didn't get many voters. (Total of 11 voters) I think that perhaps I'm being a bit too interactive for this early on.

I also made a major mistake and didn't photograph the tea before brewing it, but this is something that wont ever happen again. I was just excited to try it and didn't even think of it. (It's partial because it was such a small sample, too)

Wu Yi Mountain Oolong is a special oolong grown in the Wu Yi mountains of Fujian, China. Its suppose to be such high quality that it is usually saved for honored guests in China.  Its considered an "Artisan tea" and some variations of it are considered the most expansive tea in the world. The plants are bred from three bushes that are around 1,000 years old. Its suppose to be a very delicate, and smooth. A very different concept from regular oolong. It should still contain a roasted favor, but much less strong.

Smell - It doesn't carry a very strong smell, considering its meant to be a more gentle flavor. Its very woody, with a slight mossy scent. It smells like a very far off woods, on a windy day. Its very nice.

Taste - Its a very delicate tea, very smooth. It taste very leafy, with a nice roasted undertone. I wouldn't recommend it as an ice tea, but I think it would be a perfect mid-after noon tea with a light lunch. Its very easy on the stomach, too. Its not harsh in anyway, probably as light as a white tea.

Overall - I found this to be quite nice, although, for something supposedly being the most expansive tea in the world, I don't see it. Its very possible that the company I got this from isn't selling the same quality of product. (Considering the price on there website..) So perhaps I'll have to give Wu Yi Oolong another try in the future and compare this with that. With all that being said though, I still think this oolong is a good tea.

(3 out of 5 tea leaves.)

Can be found @ 

I have to apologize for this post, I made a lot of unusual mistakes. If I can get more of the tea, I'd like to take my own photograph for it.