Steep Stories

Tag: Norbu Tea

  • Looking for Hui Gan in High Mountain Oolongs

    “This tea had quite a bit of Hui Gan,” someone said to me once. “Who’s Hui Gan?” I asked, thinking they were referring to a Chinese scholar. Clearly, I’d never heard the term before. Several people had used it in my presence, and I nodded as if I knew what they were talking about. Of…

  • Dark Tea Déjà Vu

    NaNoTeaMo, Day 5: “Dark Tea Déjà Vu” It all started with a tweet . . . when I was drunk. Not tea drunk, actual drunk.

  • The White Pu-Erh for the Right Time.

    At the end of June, Portland, Ore. was dealt one of its most severe heatwaves in recent memory. And I got the flu during it. A mere week ago, we were dealt another STRONGER heatwave . . . and I got the flu again. That’s eerily coincidental. Luckily, I caught this one in time and…

  • Old and Clean – A Pu-Erh Perplexion

    Okay, learning time. Everyone knows about black tea, green tea, oolong, and so on . . . but I’m sure there are some newbies passing by this article that don’t know what pu-erh is. Well, I’ll tell you, but I’ll keep it brief. In short, it’s heicha (dark tea). Or rather, tea that’s meant to…

  • The Ballad of Wild Bourbon Black

    After covering more barrel-aged teas than I ever thought possible, it was only a matter of time before an idea struck me. It wasn’t actually my idea, though. The lead blender at Smith Teamaker suggested several years ago, “Why don’t you try it yourself? Get a barrel and just roll with it.” Not his exact…

  • The Dog Days of Summer, Sipping Darjeeling

    Over the course of the Summer, I was occasionally called upon by my brother and his wife to watch this li’l guy. Why does he have a cone on? I’ll get to that… Bro and sis-in-law were called away this time to take on the wilds of Canada with her family. I housesat and dog-sat…

  • Three Words: Japanese. White. Tea.

    This all started a year ago, and it’s all Greg’s fault. By “a year ago”, I literally mean a year ago! Like, last August. And by “Greg”, I mean the dude behind Norbu Tea. One fateful day, in August of 2013, I noticed he had retweeted something interesting. Alas, I’d seen the update too late.…

  • White Buds Pu-erh

    White Tea Week, Day 7: “White Buds Pu-Erh” Okay, technically, this is cheating. It’s not really a white tea. Hear me out. Just yesterday, I covered aged white tea. The process for that is relatively simple. Find a cool, dry place to store it, keep it covered airtight…and forget about it for five years. Awesomeness…

  • Smoked Tea with Friends

    Days like this are frustrating. One casually glances around at different tea vendors, and then…it happens. There is a particular tea that catches the eye and doesn’t let the gaze turn away. That was my reaction to Norbu Tea’s Jin Xuan Xiao Zhong. (Try saying that name three times fast.) The extensive bio said everything…

  • I Can’t Believe It’s Almost Not Oolong

    Norbu Tea has been one of my go-to hookups for weird teas for – well – almost as long as I’ve sipped. Greg Glancy seems to have a palate similar to mine, or at the very least an unrelenting geek-ish lean for teas with stories behind them. I finally had the pleasure to meet the…