Mandala Tea

Five steeps in and I’m floating. Feeling the sheng energy within me. I love this stuff. So smooth and sweet, aromatic and smokey and a little fruity. Thick mouthfeel, swish it around in my mouth and then it goes down smooth and warm. Wonderful.

Edit: I just came down from my cloud after stabbing myself with the pu’er pick while breaking off more of the tuo cha, it hurt like hell but it’s nothing a bandage won’t fix. I guess this is what happens when you’re a newbie in dealing with breaking pressed pu’er.

Aroma of steeping tea: The aroma reminded me of camping in the great outdoors. It was very smokey with lots of woodsy smells reminding me of damp moss, citronella and sandalwood. At this point I’m very excited, this is exactly the type of thing I was looking for.

Taste: The smokiness is the dominant flavor, but there are a lot of other things going on. I get hints of tangy lemon, crisp mint and eucalyptus and a very pleasing bittersweet nature. This tea has a very thick and full mouthfeel, there is a lot of substance to it. Throughout the course of steepings the flavors have seemed to stay mostly the same, just becoming a little more muted with each steep…but that doesn’t mean the tea becomes boring. There is more going on in this tea than I can really even name. This is a truly exciting tea (not to mention the level of energy its giving me is unbelievable, don’t drink this one too late at night!).

All in all, I’m very much enjoying this one and I’m happy with my purchase. This one was a bargain.

Early morning cuppa. Instead of the usual in-your-face bold cup of caffeine overload (coffee) that I would normally go for, I decided to brew up something gentle to ease me into the day. It’s a peaceful morning here in Pennsylvania, the birds are chirping and there’s a light fog as I sip this mellow goodness and stare into the woods behind my house. Life is good. Good morning Steepsterites!

I got my first order from Mandala today and I could barely contain the excitement. Inside my package were some very generous bonus goodies including a tea needle, thanks so much Garret.

First steep:
The aroma of the steeped tea produced the scents I am accustomed to in a typical silver needle, which are nectar and hay. There was also a bit of that “aged” smell along with it. As for the taste, all the flavors were subtle as I expected. The most dominant flavor to me is that of a crisp, sweet and slightly tart apple, with just the slightest bit of pu-erh earthiness. Some hints of spice are also present.

Second steep:
The apple flavor has turned more towards pear, and there are hints of sandalwood and a trace of camphor. Along with that, there is also some maltiness.

And I’m gonna leave it at that for now, I’l take it to further steepings some other time but for now I’m just too excited about trying my other new teas! This was a truly unique and delicious tea experience, I quite enjoyed it.

thank you thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sharing this tea with me! Seriously – this tea is AMAZING. There is enough for one cup and MANY resteeps I’m sure! I have never tried a tea like this before – perfect for my indecisiveness tonight.

How to brew… I looked on mandalatea’s website and followed their instructions to start with 1 minute and add 15 seconds for each subsequent brew.

The liquor is very very light. The smell is heady and piney, with an herb-like texture that reminds me of lavender. I’ll admit, the smell kind of turned me off – but when I sipped it – WOW.

The front of the sip is like pine wood but as it reaches the back of my mouth it becomes so SWEET and almost syrupy – I can’t help but take another sip. The taste at the end of the sip is not piney at all, it transforms almost into a marshmallow texture and flavour. Such a unique change in a split second – I am loving this!

I am falling head over heels in love for good pu-erhs – this is such a treat to try!

I’ll update this note as I resteep. :)

Wow. I might sound crazy but I’ve just had a full-blown religious tea experience. I started out drinking it casually watching Dr. Who honestly having no intention of picking apart the flavors but this tea commanded my full attention. It pulled me into a completely new space. I paused the tv, closed my eyes, and just spent about 15 minutes sipping the cup with my eyes closed making taste associations because boy, the flavors and images this tea presented to me were endless. I got everything from almond cookies, to dirt, to cranberries, and beyond.
I had visions in my mind of everything from sandy beaches to mountains and lush pastures.
And the moment I even just started smelling the wet leaf I felt a real, tangible rush of euphoria and exhilaration.

Honestly, I cannot fully explain just how significant and ethereal this experience was. It was a mental quest through life and all its sensory experiences. This is what great tea is all about, it is almost beyond this world. This tea has taught me to better appreciate tea and to surrender my senses to it fully when I consume it, because after experiences like these, I truly believe that in some way that is currently unknown to me, tea is a divine plant. Call me crazy if you wish… This tea rocked my world, thank you Azzrian, thank you Mandala and thank you to whoever is responsible for the production of this exquisute tea.

My first time using my yixing pot (after a seasoning).
I sat with my Zojurishi (sp?) and enjoyed multiple steepings which were seamless with that wonderful machine from Mandala!

Steep One: 30 Seconds (after an initial rinse)
Light, Juicy mouthfeel, Dry in back of throat, Mushroom flavors, Spicy, Creamy, and my favorite flavor.. Leafy!

Steep Two: 45 Seconds
Leafy, Oaky, More Creamy than first steep, Autumnal Flavors and aromas like being in the woods after a light rain in Autumn! Love it!

Steep Three: 1 Minute
Leafy aromas with an amazing mossy flavor again the wet leaves in Autumn flavors but more prominent!
Drier, Earthy, Hay, Tingly, Mushroom.

Steep Four: 1:15 Minutes
Light, Clean, Milky, Nutty

Steep Five: 1:30 Minutes
Weaker on flavor in this steeping, Mellow, Leafy, Sweetness coming out!

Steep Six: 2:00 Minutes
About the same as the last cup but sort of getting weak. I went for another steep anyway.

Steep Seven: 2:30 Minutes
Mossy, Juicy and now Fruity!

Steep Eight: 2:45
No real flavors present although a light golden color. No notes taken, by this time I was absorbed into a movie (Red Tails – GREAT movie!)

Overall I was surprised to find I did not get any of the chocolate notes as in the description but was not disappointed! I think I will allow this to age quite a bit and re-visit it later on.
I did enjoy it very much and there were some wonderful flavor notes and a few surprises even once I began to think it was past it’s steep-ability!

A nice tea with mellow flavors through out that over all remind of me my favorite season! You can’t beat that!

On another note. My husband at first said it smelled fishy. Again that FISHY word but I proved something to him and myself.
I said rather than fishy think of it as MUSHROOMY!
He disagreed so I made him go get an organic mushroom from the fridge!
He took a bite and said OMG your right!!!

I think the two flavors are similar in some ways but distinctly different enough. Plus for most mushroom is more palatable to stomach than “fishy”.

ALSO he drank with me the entire time! I was sooooo shocked and happy!
:)

Quick note – watching a movie – but I am sucking down cup after cup of this stuff – its SO good! Malty yumminess! Good with rock sugar too!

I am exhausted and the day is only half over considering I got up at a reasonable time today. However I know I will have my second wind around midnight so I have a ways to go.

So I began my day with this tea by accident. I had ordered two yixing pots from Mandala and one was called Black Pearl. Instead of that I got this but I am not unhappy about it. I almost ordered this with my yixings and other offerings but took it out of my cart to stay under my budget. You see the black pearl tea in the 4 ounce quantity is almost the exact same price as the yixing pot! Needless to say I wrote Garret and said I would keep this tea and get the second yixing soon. So happy accident. The best kind!

The first thing I thought when I saw the tea was “wow those are some big balls”. Okay if you are done laughing – they really are large when compared to say gunpowder green or jasmine pearls etc. So I now have a very immature and yet affectionate name for this tea.

I had two steeps this morning then ran errands, went to our tiny local Asian shop, grabbed some Pad Thai noodles, some siriacha sauce, ube ice cream, and white rabbit candy. No really knock out teas there but its not like I need more tea.

Then I came home, seasoned my yixing pot which is now soaking, and am having my third steep.

The tea is awesome. Toasty, chocolate notes seem to be what really grab me. I also enjoy the malty notes and the grain notes as others have mentioned. It has more than endured three steeps and I project can go at least 2 if not 3 or so more.

I stepped 4 pearls in my Kali Tea cup with infuser (8 ounces).

First steep 1 min, then 2 min on steep two, steep three I was distracted by several things, my daughter’s soup I was making, neighbors dog loose, a fire truck showing up down the road at another neighbors, (hope she is okay), etc and so on.

This steep got a good 10 minutes or more and it is SO rich SO yummy yet it is not astringent, nor bitter! WOW!

Perhaps I won’t be able to get those other steeps since I totally over steeped this one yet on smelling the leaves they still seem to have far more to offer! The leaves now have a lovely vegetal aroma to them! The following steeps will be interesting indeed!
More to come if I remember to note more.

Being brave tonight and trying my first mini tuocha, courtesy of Amy oh and helpful advice from both her and Garret!

To begin with… I am in love with this rice-scented bit! Dry, there was a bit of an indication of what was to come, but once the boiling water hit the tuocha, my mouth started watering. It smells so good! So I’m very excited :D I can also smell a nice earthiness. I wish it would cool down faster so I could drink it….

I started with a ~15s rinse with boiling-ish water, and then a first infusion of about 30 seconds. The tea is pretty dark from just that short amount of time, so I’m glad I didn’t go with 45! The aroma is still earthy and rice-scented, yum.

…I’m too impatient to wait to try it. Hmm. I have no idea how to describe this flavour. A bit earthy, a bit rice-like, with a nice aftertaste/aroma of the scented rice. It’s really too hot for me to enjoy quite yet (although I’m sure people drink it this hot, I like my teas cooler.) It is actually a touch light on the flavour, so I might try 45 seconds with the other tuocha (but we’ll see).

Ok! It’s cool enough to try now, and it’s really lovely! Earthy but with a strong rice scent. I’m still getting used to the flavour of pu’erh, but this is quite nice and easy to drink, especially with the tasty flavouring.

I’ll try another couple infusions a bit later; time to head out for that run! Hopefully I don’t get a tummyache :D

ETA: Definitely got a tummyache while running. Unlikely caused by tea though, probably by the bag of cheese puffs (organic and gluten-free!) I ate alongside the tea :D Anyhow, second infusion for about 53 seconds once I finally drained all the water, is quite dark and has the same aroma as the previous infusion. I’m going to wait until it cools to try it out, but am anticipating the same yumminess as before :D Also, I noticed that the leaf is very interesting-looking! There’s green leaf pieces in there! Is that the flavouring herb?? (Also, glass teapot not the best idea for this pu’erh… my cup contains many floaties. I should have strained it through a secondary strainer, my bad.)

Ok, tea cool enough to drink. More earthy, less fragrant rice-y, but I still enjoy it. I think pu’erh is a taste I haven’t quite acquired yet, but I’d have to say that this one is pretty good for “beginners” because of the additional flavouring which helps to counteract that straight earthiness. (Also… I think pu’erh will be a much easier taste to acquire than either beer or coffee, neither of which I will EVER enjoy straight. Blech.)

I sampled this – quickly – at the end of a day – a few weeks ago and never logged it so I RE-tasted it today and have a little time to jot down my thoughts…

This is slightly sweet and floral but a bit black peppery and pretty PINE-e.
The after taste is a bit bark-like but more like pine-needles…with a hint of sweetness.

I do like this white pu-erh.

Many people have said they aren’t fond of certain Jasmine teas – I certainly fit in that category…at first I thought it was because I just wasn’t a fan – but over the last 2 years or so – I have noticed – I am just very picky when it comes to Jasmine’s – I guess! So…here’s what I think of this one from Mandala…

Before and After infusing I could smell a little Jasmine in addition to a little something else…it sort of smelled like Apricots or something like them! The pearls UNpearl near perfectly.

This is a very mellow, sweet and smooth, near buttery-textured Jasmine. It’s NOT soapy AT ALL and it’s not overly floral tasting either. It has a pleasant aftertaste and as nice and even from start to finish!

This is right up there with all of the things I look for in a Jasmine.

High remarks and ratings from me!

A little something to cleanse the palate? Ok! YAY!

This has a sweet yet hay-like taste to it. It’s sort of grain-E but in a satisfying way.

It has a natural hint of sugar…not really cane sugar or stevia but perhaps more of a coconut crystal type sugary taste to it. That’s the part I like…the hint of that little something that sets it aside from the others.

Nice!

I forgot I had this sample until I went digging around in my stash the other day – anyway thanks for this one Garret!

I don’t believe I’ve ever had a light roast red robe before so I was eager to try this one out this morning. I used my xiying teapot that I have reserved especially for wuyi oolongs. This is how you know you have fully entered the realm of tea nerd-dom! lol.

My first two steeps of this were very light. I only used a pinch of tea but the teapot is pretty small, about 6 oz. After a quick rinse, My first two steeps were around 30 seconds. I got a very light yellow colored infusion. The flavor of the tea reminds me of peaches, with a light mineral quality and just a tinge of roastyness from the charcoal. It is very delicate compared to the darker roasted red robes (or da hong pao).

Steep #3. I have noticed now that the wet leaves smell absolutely incredible, like roasted fruit. I decided to go for a steep of 1 minute. The infusion is still very light but the longer steep seems to have brought out a sweeter, thicker flavor in the tea. Compared to the photo on Mandala’s website my tea liquor is still fairly light and does have a bit more of a floral quality than a darker red robe. Still not sure I used enough leaf.

Steep #4 – 3 minutes. This is my favorite infusion so far. More fruit notes coming up in the tea. Lots of minerality in this one which seems a bit earthy and almost sparkling.

This is a really nice tea, I think I may prefer the darker red robes, or maybe that is just what I am used to? I will definitely use more leaf the next time I try the experiment. This was neat, I’m glad I got to expand my horizons a bit. :)

After posting about the Wild Fresh Buds from In Nature this evening, I know that I had tried a very similar looking tea from Mandala tea, but, when I looked for it on here, I couldn’t find it. I don’t know if somehow it got lost in all the updating that is going on, so, I decided to post about it again… so consider this a backlog.

This is a sweet, mellow Pu-erh. Here is my full-length review of it: http://sororiteasisters.com/2012/04/08/wild-arbor-buds-white-pu-erh-leaf-buds-from-mandala-tea/

Top o’ the morning – a nice bit of sheng for me today. I am definitely feeling perkier, more productive and happier. Hope to get some more of this from Mandala tea soon. :D

Thank you Garret for your generosity in sending me this sample. It’s always
difficult for me to review raw puerhs because I know often times they can
benefit from aging and will improve over time.

1st steep – 2 minutes: This tea is certainly ready to drink now which is great
for a raw pu-erh. It’s a lot more delicate and a bit sweet compared to other
shengs I have had. I’m picking up on a light camphor note and the orchid, yum! Clean and delicious with only a tiny hint of a sour quality (common with young
shengs). It will be very interesting to see what age does to this cake but I
don’t know if I’d want to wait 10 years to drink this. hee hee!

2nd steep – 60 seconds. This cup is a bit lighter due to the shorter steeping
time. Compared to the Mengku gifting raw it is quite delicate and light. I can
almost taste the pristine mountain air in each cup. Interesting that this is a
high altitude tea since it reminds me ever so slightly of an oolong. It’s even a
bit… buttery? I kid you not. how delicious.

3rd steep – 90 seconds. Flavor is still going strong. I really like the fact that this tea isn’t really bitter like some shengs I have tried. Now that the leaves have opened up I’m getting more vegetal notes with this one.

It’s so good and really a great value for the cake. I am getting one as soon as the tea budget allows, which will probably be next month if I am good.

Rating is based on my personal enjoyment factor which is very high!

I’m not even a big fan of jasmine tea but I finished off the rest of this sample today and it is making me feel a bit cheerful! One of the better jasmines I have had, nice and relaxing and not too strong or perfume-y.

I got this as a free sample from Mandala Tea and was by and large cursing my luck because I don’t really like most jasmine teas, I find them to be overdone and soapy and perfumey.

As far as jasmine goes this is on the better end of the spectrum for sure. I used a small handful of pearls in my infuser mug and it was fun watching them open up. I love the aroma of this and wish I could take a bath in it. I was holding my nose up to the steeped leaves and found it very relaxing. When I am feeling wealthy there’s a jasmine shower gel I like from Lush called Flying Fox and I find it sooo soothing.

The tea liquor is a light yellow and it smells nice sitting alongside me this afternoon. Good for a relaxing moment. Oftentimes jasmine upsets my stomach even though I love the way it smells, so I’ve been trying to take small sips of it here and there. It’s very light and sweet and the jasmine is fairly sublte and not too overpowering. I am picking up some light vanilla and creamy notes which is making this nice. Those of you who are really into drinking your jasmine need to check this one out.

As always I am grateful for the sample but probably won’t buy any… I do have anxiety at work sometimes so I’ll have to see how I do with it. Might be good for medicinal purposes, hee! :)

Sipdown!
I am done with this today and I will miss it, I should have gotten more in my last order from Mandala. I was impatient and had to have more of the Xiaguan FT Flame Raw before it sold out.

Anyway this tea is rich and indeed almost chocolatey, I like it when there’s soymilk added to it also. Will definitely pick up some more in the future. :) See previous notes for more info.

This is a lovely tea from Mandala that I’ve had for a little while but haven’t had the chance to post a review on. I was also having problems grabbing the larger photo for this so if anyone can get the one from their site feel free to replace it. :)

I decided to go with one long steep at 4 minutes although you can also do shorter steeps with this one. The tea is a lovely reddish brown. This is very impressive if you like sweeter, mellower teas. The predominate flavors are caramel and chocolate. The tea is medium bodied and has a lovely sweet finish with no astringency present.

A great one to sip on plain as it doesn’t need any additions. I don’t know which is my favorite black tea from Mandala, they’re all yummy!

Sipdown!
I am now done with this stuff but I need to get more – so smooth and delicious! :) See previous notes for more info…

Sipdown!
I have enjoyed this a lot, I did not have a ton left so I decided to mix a little of Verdant’s Laoshan Black in with this. I am definitely getting more at some point. There always seems to be too much month left at the end of the money, har de har har…

I was at the gym for 1.5 hours last night and am really sore – I hope to survive the day!

This is my tea of the morning, oh this stuff is so good!

Very chocolatey and malty, hoping it will wake me up soon… it’s hitting the spot with our early morning fog. see previous reviews for more details.